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Craftinsure 2023 LEADERBOARD

Wayfarer Eastern Area Championship

by Tim Townsend 26 Jul 2017 11:14 BST 22-23 July 2017

The Wayfarer Eastern Area Championship, which was also the fifth event in the Craftinsure National Circuit and Travellers Series 2017, was hosted by Medway Yacht Club over the weekend of 22/23 July. Twenty three boats, including one from Holland, competed in a six race series over the two days.

The wind on Saturday was 12-21knots from the south west, while on Sunday the wind was from the west, slightly lighter in the first two races of the day but increasing to 20 knots for the final race of the event. Windward/leeward courses were used for both days giving plenty of strategic and tactical options upwind and down especially on the ebb tide for the later races on both days.

As predicted, most of the teams at the head of the Travellers Series attended, with the fleet being reinforced by a strong local fleet. Andrew and Tom Wilson, Len Jones and Jamie Lea, and Bill and Lisa Whitney headed these but were expecting to be pushed hard by Guy Marks and Mel Titmus, Dave Roberts and Mike Bryant, Brian Lamb and Sam Pygall, and Richard Stone and Catherine Gore all of whom had performed well at the recent National Championships.

Race 1 started on time and immediately turned into the expected duel between the Wilsons and Jones/Lea, the latter getting the nod at the finish. The Whitneys finished third. Game on.

Race 2 gave the fleet two options. The Wilsons, Marks/Titmus and the Townsends led in from the left side of the beat while most of the fleet went right including Jones/Lea. The left side won out. The Wilsons sailed away from the fleet to win the race, followed by Marks/Titmus and the Whitneys. Jones/Lea finished only 8th. Would that be crucial in the final reckoning?

Race three was also won by the Wilsons, pushed hard this time by Jones/Lea and Marks/Titmus. By this time the wind had increased and a few boats capsized. The fleet was also slightly depleted because of two boats damaged by collisions between the races.

Overnight leaders were comfortably the Wilsons followed by Marks/Titmus, the Whitneys and Jones/Lea.

The fleet enjoyed its traditional sail back to the club via Hoo Creek, and free beer and cake in the marquee. The evening's entertainment for competitors included a drinks reception, three course dinner and a riotous quiz compered by Mark Penny, the club's Vice Commodore. Overnight the beer marquee became the boat repair shed to try and get damaged boats out on the water the following day.

On Sunday morning all boats were back on the water, but there was a slight delay to proceedings while the race committee allowed the wind to settle and laid a course. In probably the lightest wind of the weekend, race 4 was won by Jones/Lea followed by the Wilsons and the Whitneys. Behind them positions were changing constantly, shaking up the results a bit. This result opened up the possibility of a number of winners with two races to go.

Race 5 was won by the Wilsons. Runners up were Marks/Titmus while Jones/Lea finished third. This race effectively gave the event to the Wilsons because of their consistency over the two days with one race to go.

By the start of race 6, the wind had increased again and several competitors capsized as they pushed hard to get good results. Among the swimmers were Jones/Lea. Regular readers of Wayfarer race reports will be aware that Len Jones and his crew are very good at capsize recovery; they seem to get lots of practice. However, this particular inversion occurred at the last windward mark giving little time to recover, so this race became their discard. Meanwhile, at the front of the fleet the Wilsons sailed serenely on to pick up their fourth win of the weekend, this time followed by the Whitneys and the Townsends.

Overall winners and new Eastern Area Champions were Andrew and Tom Wilson. Len Jones and Jamie Lea were runners up and have made a bulk order for mast head wind indicators in time for the next event in the series. Bill and Lisa Whitney were very consistent over the weekend and finished third.

On behalf of the visitors, Andrew thanked everybody at the Medway Yacht Club for their hospitality, but especially the race team, for a wonderful weekend of sailing. Thanks also go to the event sponsors, Chesley Storage, Craftinsure, Pirates Cave and Shepherd Neame.

The next event in the Travellers Series is the Southern Championships, hosted by Datchet Water Sailing Club on 9/10 September.

Overall Results:

PosSail NoBoatHelmCrewClubR1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
1st11093RestlessWillson AndrewWillson TomDatchet‑2112116
2nd11067RumoursJones LenLea JamieMYC18213‑1415
3rd10688Big DipperWhitney BillWhitney LisaShoreham3343‑6215
4th11050Complete FiascoMarks GuyTitmus MelBough Beach52352‑1117
5th10936IndiaHewat JonathanTBCMYC6757(RET)429
6th10673LBVRoberts DavidBryant MikeBough Beach‑95868734
7th11012IntermezzoTownsend TimTownsend JacquelineMYC114RDG‑1510335.5
8th11170WhizoLamb BrianPygell SamWilsonians46(DNS)1012537
9th10974No NameStone RichardGore CatherineMYC71268‑14942
10th11118Happy Ever AfterGaudie JohnHewat JohnWilsonians8107144(RET)43
11th10686Hercules HoundMcKenzie BrianMcKenzie LizMYC101112‑1651048
12th11080UbiqueParrish ChrisCrockett RobMYC1315(RDG)491354
13th11211Senior MomentLee MarkLee JaneMYC‑201814137658
14th10947QuicksilverColtart StewartColtart CatrionaMYC1714109‑18858
15th11183NomadWeighill MikeMartin CarlSwarkeston1499‑18151259
16th10614Loose KnotsPenny MarkPenny GailMYC161313‑19131570
17th10875Wild ThingPimm MikeDilley PeterMYC15161517‑201679
18th1759Devil's AdvocateGibbs RogerBedwell StanMYC121711(DNC)DNCDNC88
19th10618MoonshineAlexander TonyMoon JonMYC(DNC)DNCDNC11111989
20th8888DoubloonsHartmann DerkNavta Ed ‑21211821161793
21st8595 Winn Simon MYC(DNC)DNCDNC12171895
22nd10615La RiveQuaglia AlbertoKtensas A Bomford AMYC1920192019(RET)97
23rd7899Hard TackHood JonathanDavid HugoMYC181917(DNC)DNCDNC102

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