Comet Trio National Championship at Mayflower Sailing Club

Mayflower Sailing Club, Plymouth welcomed the Trios for their Championships at the beginning of September. Seventeen boats came to the line on the Friday in near perfect conditions, sunshine and a firm Southwesterly 4. The course was laid inside the breakwater by the Race Officer Mark Evans with great expertise. True beats, good angles on the reaches and decent legs were a feature of the day and all subsequent Races.

Race one saw last years runners up Chris Holliman and Jerry Collingwood lay down the Gauntlet with a confident win from reigning champion Peter Scott crewed by Ryan Spring, an Exe junior member who had never set foot in a Trio prior to the Race.Third were Mike and Jonathan Davies.

Race two saw the first two positions reversed but with Symon Garratt and Graham Sykes now slipping into contention with a third. Guest helm Tony Blackmore crewed by the experienced Lin Abbott started to get the hang of things with a seventh place. The afternoon was rounded off with a cracking reach in to the Hoe and back to the Club.

A tour of the Plymouth Gin Distillery was organised by the Club in the evening from which the competitors tottered after sampling the Navy strength (57%) offering at the end.

Saturday dawned wet and windy and an early decision was made to abandon sailing for the day, allowing the fleet to sample the delights of Plymouth for the day.

A gusty 4/5 greeted us on the Sunday but the Sun was shining and with that psychological boost a somewhat depleted fleet put to sea. Race 3 saw Peter Scott start to tighten his grip on the event with a win over 5 Alive. Past champions Bob Horlock and Andy Prytherch finished third enjoying the more boisterous conditions.

Race 4 was dominated by Symon Garratt and Graham Sykes who appeared to be in control until the final leeward mark when an errant Spinnaker drop allowed Scott and Spring to pounce, recording another win and with it the Championships. Chris and Jerry's hopes faded with a capsize when tacking, while Bob and Andy recorded another third, with Tony Blacmore fourth.

The Fleet was entertained by the sight of Peter and Ryan lowering their mast to re-reeve their spinnaker halyard in a now strengthening breeze, anything to avoid capsizing and immersion!

The final race saw the wind gusting to over 30 knots. The leader at the windward mark was Tony Blackmore and Lin Abbott followed by James Blackmore, There followed to wild reaches which will remain etched in the memory. The gybe mark became a scene of devastation with rescue boats at full stretch and the Race officer wisely shortened after two rounds. The race was won by Andrew and Caroline McAusland with James Blackmore second and Bob and Andrew third.

It was a weary fleet who arrived back at the Club that afternoon.

Despite loosing the Saturday it was a terrific Championship, well organised by an enthusiastic and welcoming club. We had a worthy winner with Peter and Ryan and we will all be thirsting to knock them off their perch next year at Exe.

Overall Results: