2014 Bottle Boat Championship at Waldringfield Sailing Club
by Roger Stollery 20 Sep 2014 20:01 BST
31 August 2014
A marvellous radio sailing event, with some spectacular performances, made this a day to remember for all 24 competitors, supporters and the many spectators that lined the banks of the beautiful River Deben.
The scene
17 races were run at Waldringfield Sailing Club in ideal conditions: warm and sunny weather with a NNW wind blowing 4-10 mph against the tide, parallel to the shore in front of the clubhouse. These conditions allowed some spectacular offwind planes by these swing rig powered one designs. It also gave the opportunity to use the strong tide in the middle of the river for easy beating on the 120 m sausage course, sharing water with yachts, ten times as big, which were cruising by.
The morning racing
Previous champion, Rob Vice, sailed furthest out into the middle of the river in Race 1 to get the best of the tide and was first at the windward mark and lead from thereon from another previous champion, Bernard Kufluk. In Race 2 it was a 'Vice Squad' benefit with Rob winning again, closely followed by his son CJ. Bernard was not to be outdone and came back to win Race 3. The wind got up in Race 4 and the BOTTLE boats were flying downwind, which prompted young skipper, Angus Collingridge to shout "stop sailing away", as he could not keep up with his boat! This race belonged to his dad, Wayfarer sailor and last year's champion, Neil; however in Race 5, he had an incident early in the race and let Marblehead sailor, Alan Viney, take first place ahead of the consistent CJ. Race 6 went to Alan's son, Graham, who won from Rob and Alan. Lunchtime was welcomed by several skippers who had suffered gear failure in the limit big rig conditions. Rob 11, Alan 17 and Bernard 18 were top of the leaderboard at the break.
The barbecue
A relaxed lunch was enjoyed by 74 competitors, their families and new WSC members thanks to the efforts of Jo McArdle, Mick and Margaret Lake.
The afternoon racing
With broken gear mended and batteries replaced, there were less breakdowns and the pace of racing speeded up. Rob continued to dominate by winning Race 7 and 9, but let Bernard win Race 8. Alan Viney won Race 10 from Tim Norris and Graham, but it was young CJ's consistency that allowed him finally to get to the front and win Race 11. Graham got his 2nd win in Race 12, from Wayfarer sailor, Mike Pert, but let Rob win Race 13. Mike finally made it to the front in Race 14, but then let Rob win again in Race 15 from Marblehead sailor, Peter Dunne. Graham won Race 16 with Bernard 2nd which was crucial to the final results, bringing him to within 4 points of CJ who was lying in 3rd place overall. Bernard won the final race, but CJ could only finish 5th and so lost his 3rd place on count back.
The prize giving
WSC Commodore, David Copp presented the prizes and thanked competitors for putting on a great spectacle and the race team for organising the event. PRO Roger Stollery thanked all members of the race and barbecue team teams individually and the winner, Rob thanked Roger for not only masterminding this event, but for the design concept of the class, which is low cost enough to allow children to take part.
Overall Results:
1st Rob Vice (Guildford) 32pts
2nd Graham Viney (Guildford) 44pts
3rd Bernard Kufluk (WSC) 56pts
4th CJ Vice (Guildford) 56pts
5th Alan Viney (Guildford) 74pts
6th Tim Norris (WSC) 80pts
7th Noel Fraser (WSC) 89pts
8th Mike Pert (WSC) 106pts
9th Peter Jackson (Abington Park) 123pts
10th John Fish (WSC) 133pts
11th Peter Dunne (Guildford) 144pts
12th Dot Fraser (WSC) 194pts
13th Gary Sanderson (Abington Park) 205pts
14th Peter Shepherd (Abington Park) 217pts
15th Neil Collingridge (WSC) 232pts
16th Matthew Lake (WSC) 236pts
17th Charles Curry-Hyde (WSC) 237pts
18th Various WSC members 281pts
19th Robert Norris (WSC) 301pts
20th Simon Kernthaler 303pts
21st Angus Collingridge (WSC) 312pts
22nd George Barton (WSC) 334pts
23rd Henry Kernthaler 339pts
24th William Sudell (WSC) 350pts