Asymmetric Open at Restronguet Sailing Club
by Peter Knight 4 May 2015 17:13 BST
2-3 May 2015
Asymmetric Open at Restronguet © Bill Bowers
Despite forecasts of winds over 30 knots, visitors from Southampton and Exeter made it to the Restronguet Asymmetric Open. Race officer Guy English got in a full series of 6 races, the rescue boats were busy and gusts up to 28 knots were recorded.
The B14s dominated the results while the International 14s showed bouts of exceptional speed but more capsizes and gear problems.
In the first race, ASBO (B14 Crispin Taylor, Guy Harrill) led up the first beat but were passed downwind by Demelza (B14 Peter Knight, Jane Reeves) gybing to stay in the gust cells. Demelza went on to win, with Windjammer (Int14 Peter Crockford, Will) just getting past ASBO on the water.
The second race saw Demelza leading from the start to win. The wind was hotting up, and behind both 1500 (Int 14, Liam and Tom Stacpoole) and ASBO capsized, finishing in that order on the water.
By race 3 Ronstan (B14 Tony Blackmore, Meg Baker) was on the water. They won the start and led till lap 4 in a very close race, with plenty of shifts on the beat to keep everyone in with a chance. Then a bit of trawling during the spinnaker hoist let Demelza through to win, with Ronstan second and ASBO third.
On Saturday evening the B14s took the team bus to Castaways for a great meal, with aches and pains treated with beer and ibuprofen.
Sunday had a worse forecast, and Guy English and the race team did well to get all 3 races in by 2pm before the wind got too much in the afternoon.
In race 4 "1500" stayed impressively in control to win on the water. Ronstan led the B14s all the way in a convincing performance. Demelza overtook ASBO on the final run, crossing 1 second ahead.
By race 5 and 6 there were gusts over 25 knots with some great downwind rides. In race 5 Demelza started on port to take an early lead and held this to the finish ahead of Ronstan and ASBO, with "1500" finishing after a few capsizes in 4th. Peter and Jane in Demelza relaxed after the gun having won the series and promptly capsized on the gybe-drop.
In race 6 Demelza took an early lead but then capsized and retired. Ronstan won, and achieved an impressive "no capsize" record for the weekend, ahead of ASBO, who also swam again on the final gybe. ASBO was the only boat to finish all races.
The beer after racing was particularly satisfying, watching white horses build and rain squalls chase across Carrick Roads.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Type | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 |
|---|
| 1 | B14 | 785 | Demelza | Peter Knight | Jane Reeves | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ‑7 |
| 2 | B14 | 764 | Ronstan | Tony Blackmore | Meg Baker | ‑7 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | B14 | 762 | ASBO | Crispin Taylor | Guy Harrill | 3 | 3 | 3 | ‑4 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Int 14 | 1500 | 1500 | Liam Stacpoole | Tom Stacpoole | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 4 | ‑7 |
| 5 | Int 14 | 1465 | Windjammer | Peter Crockford | Will Ausi | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | ‑7 |
| 6 | Int 14 | 1509 | 1509 | Tom Watkins | Izzy Hartland | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | ‑7 |