Lightning368 Inland Championship at Haversham Sailing Club
by Robin Stubbs 14 Oct 2014 15:10 BST
11 October 2014
A smaller-than-expected fleet assembled at Haversham Sailing Club, Milton Keynes, to contest the 2014 Lightning 368 Inland Championships. The day dawned mistily and very, very still – just as forecast – but by the 11h30 off, the breeze had filled in to a gentle 3 or 4 knots (just enough to keep the sailors honest) and the sun threatened to shine for the duration.
The first race saw Simon Hopkins in #253, Bryan Westley in #82, 2013 title-holder Paul White in #406 and Jack Barrett in #403 try to steal a march at the pin end – which proved to be fatal as none of these featured in the final top five placings. First to the windward mark were Richard Palmer in #193, local girl Sarah Gordon in #115, Clive Evans in #29 and Caroline Key in #413. After an initially strong showing, Gordon faded, leaving the way clear for the hardened travellers. Key pulled out a blistering second lap to pull clear of the fleet by some 16 seconds, and stayed well in front to take line honours, followed by Evans who managed to sneak over just in front of Palmer. White fought back strongly from his disappointing start, putting in a fast third lap to take 4th place, edging out youngster Alexander Baxter in #49.
In the expectation that the wind would pick up in the afternoon, the fleet retired to the club house to enjoy the customarily excellent lunch.
With the breeze straying vaguely either side of due South and showing signs of gusting, the second race looked to be marginally more exciting, with lap times dropping by 4 or 5 minutes: a bunched start saw Palmer and Chris Abela in #412 tack straight off onto Port followed by a handful of others, whilst Key – adrenaline obviously still pumping from her initial win – went for a swim just over the start line. By the time the initial beat had unstaggered at the first mark, White had edged in front, hotly pursued by Palmer, Evans, Simon Hopkins in #253 and Baxter. The front runners broke clear of the fleet and produced some intriguing sailing with places changing frequently. Key slowly clawed her way back up the rankings to take 5th; Palmer held White's challenge off to take first, followed by Baxter in 3rd and Evans in 4th.
All still to play for in the final race, and the wind freshened noticeably, giving promise of some cracking reaches across the lake between buoys 5 and 8. An incident-free start saw the fleet under way, with Abela rounding the windward mark first, followed closely by Palmer, White, then youngster Jack Barrett in #403. Abela kept his lead into the third lap, hotly pursued by Palmer and White. Palmer then seemed to find another gear and drove relentlessly to the front of the fleet, leaving White behind by some 16 seconds at the finish. Key put in a massive final lap to clinch 3rd, pushing Abela into 4th.
Two bullets and a discarded 3rd were enough to see Richard Palmer clinch the 2014 Inland Championships. Caroline Key and Paul White ended even, but Caroline's initial win saw her take second place to Paul's third.
Overall Results: (top six)
1st Richard Palmer (Cookham Reach SC)
2nd Caroline Key (West Oxfordshire SC)
3rd Paul White (Draycote SC)
4th Clive Evans (Concord Ryde SC)
5th Alexander Baxter (West Oxfordshire SC)
6th Christopher Abela (West Oxfordshire SC)