Solo Open Meeting at Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club

Solo Open Meeting at Leigh-on-Sea © Carol Charles

Solo Open Meeting at Leigh-on-Sea © Carol Charles

Sponsored by Mighty Oak Brewing Co.

25 boats entered the Solo Open meeting at Leigh on Sea on Sunday 19th July. The local fleet of 17 boats mainly older sub-4000 fun racers were joined by 8 newer regular open meeting travellers looking for some exciting sea sailing.

As is the norm at Leigh it was necessary to wait for the tide to cover the mud, the wait was helped by a good supply of tea, coffee and bacon rolls from the club's galley. As the tide covered the mud there was a flurry of activity and soon the fleet was afloat gathering round the committee boat while the course was being set.

The wind was a fresh 12 to 22 knots throughout the afternoon with the direction varying from South West to just north of West. The variations in direction gave some opportunities for place changing up the beats as it was important to play the shifts.

The start of the first race saw a very keen fleet bunching on the line, only one boat was recalled but Ron Lawrie suffered with a hole in the side which ended his day. The wind against tide conditions kicked up some large waves in the Ray channel which gave some excellent planing conditions on the reaches.

Some of the helms found the conditions a little too demanding and the support boats were kept busy helping those helms swimming around their boats. At the end of the two rounds Rob Lawrie took the winning hoot with Steve Ede scoring the first of his three second places.

A rapid adjustment to the course was necessary for race two. The conditions allowed for this race to run for three rounds again with a number of boats having a turn in the lead. The best of the local, sub-4000, boats sailed by John Charles scored a very creditable 4th place while the winner was Vince Horey.

As the tide had turned the race team set a very much shorter course aligned to the new wind direction for the third sprint race. After the two round sprint Jarvis Simpson took the first place.

When the results were computed we had the three leading boats all with 3 points, using the well established procedures for breaking the tie, gave the overall first place to Vince Horey with the Mighty Oak Solo Trophy.

John Charles was the best of the sub-4000 fleet in 5th place overall. All enjoyed a barbeque tea and cakes on the club balcony in the afternoon sunshine before the drive home.

Overall Results:

Solo Open Meeting at Leigh-on-Sea - photo © Carol Charles