Wayfarer National Circuit Event at Blackwater Sailing Club

by Steve Collins 19 May 2008 21:55 BST 17-18 May 2008

Twenty crews competed in the first UK Wayfarers National Circuit Series event of 2008 at Blackwater Sailing Club on the 17th and 18th May. This event doubled up as the Eastern Area Championships and was convincingly won by Quentin Strauss from Upper Thames SC crewed by Martin Hare from the home club.

The National Circuit Series is a new innovation for the Wayfarers’ 50th Anniversary Year and consists of five high quality open meetings at; Blackwater SC, Warsash SC (also the South Area Championships) 14-15 June, Waldringfield SC 2-3 August, Upper Thames SC 27-28 September, Bough Beech SC 8-9 November.

Competitors will count their best three results in the series out of the five, and the winners will be awarded the brand new Hartley Laminates Trophy. Two of the new Mark 4 Wayfarers built by Hartleys featured at Blackwater, and Mike McKechnie crewed (and coached) by Graham Ireland proved that the Mark 4 can be as fast as the fastest in the class when it is sailed well,

The competitors enjoyed two days of fiercely competitive racing at Blackwater in a force 3-4 easterly to north easterly breeze, on excellent Olympic courses laid by the Race Officer, Commodore Barry Foulds and his team. Conditions were grey and overcast on Saturday and sunny and bright on Sunday, but there were some big shifts and much place changing on the beats on both days. Although Quentin and Martin won all four races, they had to work hard in every race to do so, and the other places on the podium were not decided until the final race. In the end Roger Challis and Mark Johnston of Wadringfield SC, squeezed past Mike and Graham of Shoreham SC to take second overall.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	7588	Q Strauss	Martin Hare	-1	1	1	1	3
2nd	9174	Roger Challis	Mark Johnston	3	3	-5	2	8
3rd	10510	Michael Mckechnie		-4	2	4	3	9
4th	875	Simon Clayton	Rachel Clayton	-5	4	3	4	11
5th	10201	Brian Lamb	Jo Wicken	-11	5	2	9	16
6th	968	Gordon Harris	Simon	2	-11	7	8	17
7th	8888	Graham Barker	Robin Barker	-10	6	6	5	17
8th	9068	Colin May	Sarah Willis	7	7	-8	6	20
9th	8686	Guy Hacon	Keith Vincett	6	9	-12	7	22
10th	9558	David Roberts	Mike Bryant	8	8	9	(22 DNF)	25
11th	9812	John Goudie	Tim Kift	9	10	-11	10	29
12th	9780	John Ward	Glen MacIndoe	-16	13	10	11	34
13th	9977	Mike Pearce	Kevin Mullis	12	12	(22 DNF)	13	37
14th	8200	Matthew Lake	Margaret Lake	14	14	-15	12	40
15th	10000	Liz Feibusch		13	15	-17	14	42
16th	10418	Cath Longhurst	Tracey Newman	15	-16	16	15	46
17th	7597	Phil Stacey		-17	17	13	17	47
18th	10508	Steve Collins	Kath Collins	-18	18	14	16	48
19th	9595	Patrick Daly	Matthew Greenwood	-19	19	18	18	55
20th	10300	Paul Trueman	Mark Griggs	(22 DNF)	22 DNC	22 DNC	22 DNC	66
20th	9033	Tipper	Robert Lloyd	(22 DNC)	22 DNC	22 DNF	22 DNC	66