505 Open at Shotley Sailing Club

Despite the doom-mongers' predictions of no wind, two fabulous days sailing were had at this great venue. Tans - and tan lines - were generously topped up in preparation for the forthcoming Nationals and Worlds (Lyme Regis and Santa Cruz California).

5 races became 6 by popular consent on the Saturday evening, and all 6 were completed. 8-12 knot breezes characterising the Saturday - the Sunday was breezier, with 10-15 knot winds. Sea-state was pretty sloppy, with 1 to 1.5 ft waves Courses were all windward/leeward with a spacer mark by the windward mark, and the start line as a gate 200 yards up from the leeward mark.

Racing was dominated by local team Terry Scutcher and Christian Diebitsch. Winning all six races, they made the victory seem easier than perhaps it was. Combining strong pace and height to windward, with blistering downwind form they were regularly in front by the end of the first lap. Although Martin Hodgson and Adrian Coates, and latterly Charlie Walters and Dougal Cram managed to close them down to 10/12 boatlengths on a couple of occasions, they usually looked secure in the top slot when it counted.

Stone based pairing Martin and Adrian looked pretty solid in second slot - with a series of second places, broken only by Dougal and Charlie's second place in race 4. Charlie and Dougal - well a bit of the curate's egg, really. A fluid Saturday night, followed by a much welcomed breakfast (surely a contender for the Y&Y club breakfast challenge) saw their Sunday form much improved, with bursts of upwind pace pulling them clear into 3rd slot.

But they had to work for that - Rob Napier and Matt Bristow were with (or in front of) Charlie and Dougal at some point in most races. As were Chris Dando and Donald Sloan who showed real speed in the marginal trapezing. Ian Pavey and Richard Trotter from nearby Stour SC sailed well, especially on Saturday, showing what can be done with an older boat. In Sunday's extra breeze Francis Cram and Simon Lake looked to be developing some decent pace in Simon's new boat (the one from the stand at Alexandra Palace). As Santa Cruz promises to be breezy, it could be a good regatta for them.

Over the small swell, the runs provided much interest, with the greatest diversity of angles/styles yet seen (with Rob Napier and Matt Bristow often taking distance by running square and surfing the waves as deep as possible, while everyone else "heated-up" to get the crew on the wire). Christian also seems to have developed a magic technique for playing both guy and sheet on the spinnaker from the middle of the boat - perhaps it is just long arms..! - but whatever it was, they certainly had dominant pace downwind.

It was also good to see Olav Schluter from the Javelin fleet back for more, after his success crewing for Richard Lord at Datchet last month. This time, crewing for Tom Clayton, and sleeping at the prestigious Hotel Volvo. At time of press we understand that he is signing up with Tom for Santa Cruz. With only 23/4 stone in the boat, can someone borrow them a Goldspar Mast.......??

Many thanks to all at Shotley, especially Tom Clayton for being event organiser. We look forward to coming back next year. So all to play for at Lyme. See you there.

Overall Results: (6 races, 5 to count)