Alton Water Single Handed Open

by Mark Hainsworth 25 Sep 2015 08:10 BST 19 September 2015

54 boats came to Alton Water on a fine autumnal day for what was a fun Single Hander Open.

This event served as the final event in the Eastern Traveller Series for the RS Teras and an RS Aero open as well as a shake down for some Lasers, Toppers, and even a Moth.

The intention was for three races in the afternoon but sadly the wind decided not to play ball. With a course set to try and make best use of what wind there was, the RS Aeros made best use of it and managed to complete 3 races. Sadly the larger fleets only managed 2 before the wind disappeared.

The RS Aeros revelled in the light winds. Only 9 and 7 rigs were represented with the two lightest lads deciding together to go big. Matt Thursfield, Peter Townend and Richard Watsham travelled over from the west to spend the weekend at Alton. Archie Hainsworth showed his intent in the first race beating the 9 rigs over the water, but once the visitors figured out the vagaries of the lake, and the wind strengthened a little they did not let Archie have it all his way and Pete took the second race ahead of Matt and Richard. Archie managed to catch the 9s up again in the third race, for which the wind had increased slightly allowing an extra lap to be sailed. Charlie Pearce in his new 7 rig and Malcolm Mellor were not to be outdone and battled with each other for the minor 7 places, finishing in that order. Sadly Gavin Johnson was not able to finish the third race and keep the visitors honest.

In the RS Tera Pros young Matt Taylor displayed some superb light wind skills taking both races and completing a clean sweep of wins in the series, regardless of which rig he used. Matt Smith, James Oakley and Tristan Richardson battled it out with each other for the minor places. Overall Matt had the Series win.

In the RS Tera Sports Joshua Davies had the skills and patience to win both races with Blake Tudor and Jack Oakley along with Ned Stattersfield taking the minor places. Matt Taylor had already sealed the series win in the Sports.

In the rest of the single handers, a large group of lasers and toppers entered at the very last minute, after the start sequence decision had been made. As a result the fleet spread out and many of the faster boats went ashore waiting for the slower ones to finish. The prospect of another light air race was too much for some to come back out and race the second. In the only race the majority did Arthur Brown won easily in his radial, with Mark Schofield and Josh Richardson taking second and third. Dan could not get his moth foiling so decided just to have some fun. In the second race Josh did one better finishing behind a much improved Daisy Western in her Oppie, with local RS 300 sailor Oli Harris in third.

High spirits and good humour were the order of the day and there was a level of anticipation for Barts Bash the next day. The membership secretary was testing out his new found computer skills to get the race results out and a few beers and ice creams were consumed after the racing from the excellent Regatta cafe on site.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail No	Club	Boat Type	PY	R1	R2	R3	Pts
RS Aero
1	Archie Hainsworth	1173	RHS / Alton Water	RS AERO 7	1065	1	‑4	1	2
2	Peter Townend	1093	Chelmarsh	RS AERO 9	1030	‑4	1	3	4
3	Matt Thursfield	1208	Chelmarsh	RS AERO 9	1030	‑2	2	2	4
4	Richard Watsham	1298	Starcross	RS AERO 9	1030	3	3	‑4	6
5	Charlie Pearce	1108	Alton Water	RS AERO 7	1065	‑7	6	5	11
6	Malcolm Mellor	1020	Hickling Broad	RS AERO 7	1065	‑6	5	6	11
7	Gavin Johnson	1455	Alton Water	RS AERO 9	1030	5	7	(DNF)	12
RS Tera Pro
1	Matthew Taylor	1747	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	1	1		2
2	Matthew Smith	984	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	2	3		5
3	James Oakley	2261	RHS	RS TERA PRO	1351	6	2		8
4	Tristan Richardson	676	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	3	6		9
5	William Caiger	2440	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	4	5		9
6	Tim Hire	745	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	5	9		14
7	Lucy Greenwood	2526	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	11	4		15
8	Issy Taylor Jones	1X1	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	7	8		15
9	Oscar Cubitt	4161	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	10	7		17
10	Dylan Collinbourne	678		RS TERA PRO	1351	9	10		19
11	Harey O'Sullivan	2315		RS TERA PRO	1351	8	12		20
12	Josie Ruffles	2355	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	12	13		25
13	Joshua Alldis	X		RS TERA PRO	1351	15	11		26
14	Will Doble Thomson	2527		RS TERA PRO	1351	13	14		27
15	Henry Lloyd	2302	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	16	15		31
16	Drew Bessy	1854	RHS	RS TERA PRO	1351	14	DNS		32
17	Natasha Cubitt	2138	AWSC	RS TERA PRO	1351	DNC	16		34
RS Tera Sport
1	Joshua Davies	2661	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	2	1		3
2	Blake Tudor	2897	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	1	4		5
3	Jack Oakley	2612		RS TERA SPORT	1457	6	2		8
4	Ned Stattersfield	2325	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	5	3		8
5	Samuel Balker	2472	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	4	5		9
6	Joseph Balker	2743	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	3	7		10
7	Dylan Mcpherson	2442		RS TERA SPORT	1457	7	6		13
8	Felix Powell	1484	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	9	8		17
9	Abby Hire	2025	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	8	9		17
10	Thomas Ward	8	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	12	10		22
11	Oliver Johnson	2167	AWSC	RS TERA SPORT	1457	10	DNS		23
12	James Russell	2086		RS TERA SPORT	1457	11	DNS		24
Mixed
1	Josh Richardson	128714	AWSC	LASER	1091	3	2		5
2	Oli Harris	513	AWSC	RS 300	985	4	3		7
3	Daisey Weston	5889	RHS	OPTIMIST	1665	14	1		15
4	Arthur Brown	179741	RHS	LASER RADIAL	1135	1	DNS		20
5	Jack Berry	47222	RHS	TOPPER 4.2	1353	16	4		20
6	Mark Schofield	206805	AWSC	LASER	1091	2	DNS		21
7	Martin Hawkes	43369	AWSC	TOPPER	1340	15	6		21
8	James Hawthorn	45335	RHS	TOPPER	1340	17	5		22
9	John Russell	183408		LASER	1091	5	DNS		24
10	Richard Maidstone	146653	AWSC	LASER	1091	6	DNS		25
11	Phoebe Twigg	198993	RHS	LASER	1091	7	DNS		26
12	Theo Harris	RHS 6	RHS	LASER RADIAL	1135	8	DNS		27
13	Mark Smith	572	AWSC	RS VAREO	1071	9	DNS		28
14	Will Taylor	RHS 14	RHS	LASER 4.7	1195	10	DNS		29
15	Elliot Berry	47450		TOPPER	1340	11	DNF		30
16	Freddie Woottan	RHS 15	RHS	LASER 4.7	1195	12	DNS		31
17	Joe Ward	158599		LASER	1091	13	DNS		32
18	Dan Patter	3418	RHS	MOTH FOILING	570	DNC	DNS		38