OK Grand Tour event 3 at Castle Cove Sailing Club

Charlie Cumbley and Richard Burton in the OK Grand Tour event at Castle Cove (Weymouth Dinghy Regatta) © WSC

OK Grand Tour event at Castle Cove (Weymouth Dinghy Regatta) © WSC

OK Grand Tour event at Castle Cove (Weymouth Dinghy Regatta) © WSC

The third instalment of this years' GT series took place over the weekend 9th/10th July at Castle Cove sailing club under the banner of the Weymouth Dinghy Regatta. The weather ranged from windy and grey, to windy and sunny, to windy and rainy and back to windy and sunny again so just about every range to keep everyone happy... if you like it windy.

Race 1 got underway out on Weymouth bay in a nice f5 with the occasional short set of waves designed to wipe out any speed you may have got up. Richard Burton led at the first mark by the narrowest of margins from Dave Bourne and Charlie Cumbley, with Chris Arnell and Tony Woods in hot pursuit. Charlie got past Dave down the second very broad reach to put pressure on Burt and these positions were pretty much held till the last leeward mark.

Burt picked a particularly bad wave to execute his gybe on before the short beat to the finish and promptly capsized allowing the slightly sniggering Charlie and Dave through to finish in that order with Burt taking third. Special mention should go to 'Coach' Rushworth who, having been lent a fully rigged boat to sail for the weekend, went for a swim and never returned!

Race 2 followed pretty much the same pattern but without Burt going for a swim and Charlie leading the way after rounding the windward mark in second. The whole fleet were closer this time round as everyone had found their groove although Charlie did find that little bit extra on the downwind leg to gain a bit of a lead. Finishing positions were the same as in the 1st race, Charlie, Burt, Dave, Chris and then Keith Byers getting the better of Tony.

Race 3, well, you can guess. Charlie, Burt and Dave arrived at the windward mark all pretty close together with Charlie and Burt extending a little on the offwind legs. One bit of excitement occurred on the second upwind with Dave just putting on a little more Cunningham when, snap, there goes the halyard, and an elegant capsize to windward to the sound of much cursing. Charlie and Burt fought it out to the finish with Chris taking 3rd, Keith in 4th and Tony in 5th.

Saturday night in the club was a little tamer than would normally be the case after the days exertions and if the truth be known, it was actually the more experienced members of the fleet that stayed up to the early hours drinking while the young bucks were tucked up and in bed by 11, cuddling their Chinese takeaways.

Sunday morning was wet, windy and didn't look very enticing at six o'clock in the morning with a lot of mist cutting visibility down to about 300 metres. Thankfully, the mist cleared and the rain stopped so we could get out there and knacker ourselves again, although this time we'd all be racing inside the harbour to cut down on the long beat back after. Conditions were pretty much the same as Saturday but being inside the harbour the waves were a lot more manageable.

Race 4 followed Saturdays pattern with Burt, Charlie and Dave all rounding within a whisker of each other followed by Tony and Keith. Dave waved goodbye to Burt and Charlie down the reaches as they commenced their battle out in front and Tony started to put pressure on Dave on the offwind legs with Dave just doing enough on the beats to keep him at bay. Charlie won with Burt a close second, Dave held off Tony even with the added obstacle of a flying Osprey and Keith came in 5th.

Race 5 and this time Burt was out to prove a point. Again the trio all rounded the windward mark within a whisker of each other, very closely followed by Chris. Burt lead all the way to take the win from Charlie, with Chris getting the better of Dave on the offwind legs to take 3rd. Tony Woods won the battle with Keith to take 5th.

The final race was more of a battle for the lesser places as Charlie had it sewn up but Burt didn't care, maybe wanting to make amends for his first race cock up. Burt and Charlie got to the first mark first and shot off to resume their battle while Chris rounded in front of Dave followed by Tony, Gavin Waldron and Deryck Lovegrove. These positions were held to the end with a lot of tiring sailors happy to see the final finish line.

So, final podium positions were Charlie, Burt and then Dave who happily takes on the report writing duties that he seems to be making his own. If he eventually takes over the reins there will be some changes. No downwind legs, and the guy who wins, writes the bloody report!

Many thanks to Castle Cove Sailing Club and Weymouth Sailing Club for a brilliant weekends racing in testing conditions with a hell of a lot of boats to deal with, so well done to all the volunteers that made it all happen.

What's next for the OK class? Well, a massive contingent of 26 boats now head off to the World Championship at Quiberon in 2 weeks time for an all out assault on the top ten places. Will we have another British World Champion? Watch this space!

Overall Results: