Solo Eastern Area Series at Fishers Green Sailing Club
by Godfrey Clark 17 May 2017 07:24 BST
14 May 2017
The Solo class made their annual visit to Fishers Green SC in the Lea Valley Park on Sunday 14th May, as part of their Eastern Area series and to race for the Ashwell Shield.
With the forecast of a force 3 southerly in the morning, settling west later, the course required two beats to accommodate the shape of the lake. With the start line near the club, the course held true with only the occasional short-lived shift to the west, but when the shifts came, they could be quite substantial.
In the first race local star Paul Rayson took the lead at the first mark and led the fleet around, chased by Alan Bishop until Alan ignored the forecast and committed to going hard left on the penultimate upwind and leaping ahead of Paul. They were followed round by the ever consistent Tim Lewis as the field strung out.
The second race followed a similar pattern with Steve Ede taking an early lead he would not give up, followed home by Alan and Jarvis Simpson. The field really strung out in this race with big shifts splitting the boats into sub-groups of those who fetched close to the top mark and those who had to tack several times to get there. This at least, prevented a long queue for the galley!
After a nice choice of hot meals it was debated whether the breeze was veering west as Windguru had forecast, but the course remained the same and this proved the right decision. With only the start line to re-set after the committee boat lost its anchor, they set off again with Paul Rayson making no mistake and leading all the way. Steve kept him honest to the finish with Alan again making up the top three.
After three races Steve, Alan and Paul each had three points but Paul's discarded 6th dropped him from top spot, leaving Alan and Steve both with a first, second and third place each. With no provision in the local SIs to resolve this situation it was decided to shake hands and call it an unbroken tie, rather than search for a ruling on the day.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 5649 | Alan Bishop | Girton SC | 1 | 2 | ‑3 | 3 |
| 1st | 5608 | Steve Ede | Ardleigh SC | ‑3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3rd | 5181 | Paul Rayson | Fishers Green | 2 | ‑6 | 1 | 3 |
| 4th | 5561 | Tim Lewis | Island Barn SC | 4 | ‑5 | 4 | 8 |
| 5th | 5406 | Jarvis Simpson | Brightlingsea | ‑10 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| 6th | 4571 | Richard Piper | Fishers Green | 5 | ‑12 | 7 | 12 |
| 7th | 5328 | Steve Conroy | Fishers Green | ‑13 | 3 | 9 | 12 |
| 8th | 5497 | Steven Bishop | Girton SC | ‑7 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| 9th | 4287 | Bill Brockbank | Fishers Green | 8 | ‑16 | 5 | 13 |
| 10th | 5497 | Chris Hill | Fishers Green | 6 | ‑10 | 10 | 16 |
| 11th | 5068 | Richard Coulter | Fishers Green | 11 | 9 | ‑12 | 20 |
| 12th | 5373 | Phil Sturmer | Royal Burnham YC | 14 | 8 | ‑15 | 22 |
| 13th | 5226 | Keith Smith | Fishers Green | ‑16 | 11 | 11 | 22 |
| 14th | 5020 | Nick Yana | Fishers Green | 9 | ‑18 | 13 | 22 |
| 15th | 4793 | Roger Castle | Fishers Green | 12 | 13 | (DNC) | 25 |
| 16th | 5443 | John Saddlington | Rollesby Broad SC | ‑18 | 15 | 14 | 29 |
| 17th | 4639 | Louis Lappage | Fishers Green | ‑22 | 14 | 16 | 30 |
| 18th | 4528 | Llynn Rocket | Fishers Green | ‑21 | 17 | 17 | 34 |
| 19th | 4511 | Martin Jarvis | Fishers Green | 15 | 19 | (DNC) | 34 |
| 20th | 5373 | John Williams | Fishers Green | 20 | ‑22 | 18 | 38 |
| 21st | 4844 | John White | Fishers Green | 17 | 21 | (DNC) | 38 |
| 22nd | 4076 | Paul Durbin | Fishers Green | 19 | 20 | (DNC) | 39 |
| 23rd | 3543 | Marek Antozewski | Fishers Green | 23 | 23 | (DNC) | 46 |