Lionel Wilkinson Memorial at Snettisham Beach Sailing Club

by Tim Coleman 1 Jul 2009 06:48 BST 20-21 June 2009

Snettisham Beach held their annual Lionel Wilkinson Memorial Regatta for monohulls and combined with it was their Enterprise open meeting. The four races were split over the two day event with back to back racing. Conditions varied greatly with periods of very light almost non existent winds with black clouds gradually moving in bringing moderate squalls and rain on the Saturday. Sunday brought brighter weather with lots of sunshine but the winds were once again shifty and variable in strength.

The decision was made that all the boats would start together with the Enterprises competing in both the Lionel Wilkinson Regatta and their own Open Meeting and this simplified the race officers’ job which was hard enough with the variable conditions. Choosing a course with such variable winds proved to be a tough job and two races started with such sudden wind shifts so close to the start giving significant advantages to those at the right end of the line to take advantage.

The triangular courses created real challenges for the asymmetric rigs who sometimes had difficulties carrying their gennickers on the close reach and found some of the very broad reaches too broad for a direct course. This gave advantage to the Enterprises and the single sail boats but when the wind shifted the advantage would switch and the tables turned. Variations in wind strength had a similar effect giving the Enterprises an advantage as the wind dropped but when it picked up the faster planning hulls of the Asymetrics had the upper hand.

Thus the varying conditions meant that no one class of boat had significant advantage and the shifty conditions created significant advantages for those who could read the conditions. This is born out in the results with the top helmsman being consistently in the top section of the fleet.

First place went to James case of Wells SC who sailed very well, a worthy winner of the Lionel Wilkinson trophy with two 1sts and a 2nd to count and a 3rd for his discard. Second place went to Jasper and Laura Barnham of SBSC who were consistent with three 2nds and a 4th.

Winner of the Enterprise open was Graham Kirkup of Hunts sailing club who finished 7th overall in the Handicap but was the first Enterprise in 3 of the 4 races. Tim and Jo Coleman of SBSC were second placed with the three 2nds narrowly beating Richard and Maureen Denny who had a 1st and three 3rds.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	PY	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	BiteFinger	Phantom	1255	James Case		Wells SC	1045	2	-3	1	1	4
2nd		Laser 2000	2042	Jasper Barnham	Laura Barnham	SBSC	1089	-4	2	2	2	6
3rd	Big Bad Wolf	RS400	1340	Sam Neal	Lawrence Riches	Brancaster Staithe SC	952	1	-8	5	6	12
4th	Horse	Streaker	1619	Ian Bradley		Ouse A SC	1162	-9	1	4	8	13
5th	Tiger 2	Laser 2000	22169	Paul Norris	Jo Bland	SBSC	1089	5	6	-7	3	14
6th		Laser	82472	Fergus Barnham		SBSC	1078	-12.5	4	8	4	16
7th	Slippery Cleat	Enterprise	23224	Gandalf Kirkup	Ben Best	Hunts SC	1116	7	7	-9	5	19
8th	Mr Wobbly	Enterprise	23163	Richard Denny	Maureen Denny	SBSC	1116	10	5	-11	10	25
9th	Wild Goose	Enterprise	20202	Tim Coleman	Jo Coleman	SBSC	1116	8	-13	10	7	25
10th		RS700	906	Andy Holland		Hunstanton SC	857	6	17	6	(DNC)	29
11th	Nifty Fifty	RS200	1224	Mark Pogmore	Sue Pogmore	SBSC	1059	3	(DNF)	3	DNC	32
12th	Wacky Racer	Laser 2000	22244	Steve Chapman	Sue Moffat	SBSC	1089	-15	10	13	9	32
13th		Laser 2000	21268	David Crossman	Rosie Charnley	SBSC	1089	-14	9	14	13	36
14th	Aquarius	RS200	494	Bruce Riches	Kirsty Page	SBSC	1059	12.5	-14	12	12	36.5
15th	Wake Watcher	Laser 2000	2279	Guy Tasker	Rosie Tasker	SBSC	1089	11	11	(DNC)	DNC	48
16th		Enterprise	5619	Tim Brown		SBSC	1116	20	16	(dnf)	15	51
17th	Swamp Donkey	Enterprise	10220	Paul Carr	Howard Tollington	SBSC	1116	19	18	(dnf)	16	53
18th		Phantom	994	Adrian Tebbutt		Hunstanton SC	1045	(DNC)	DNC	17	11	54
19th		National 12	3259	Ian Nolan	Matthew Nolan	Hunstanton	1093	16	12	(DNC)	DNC	54
20th		Laser	168742	Paul Pearson		OASC	1078	(DNC)	DNC	16	14	56
21st		Laser 2000	22254	Laurence Daniels	Unknown	SBSC	1089	(DNC)	DNC	15	17	58
22nd		Laser 2000	2934	David Whitmore	Emma Whitmore	SBSC	1089	17	15	(dnf)	dnf	58
23rd	Wat for Me	Laser 2000	21840	Bryan Halsey	Joshua Halsey	SBSC	1089	21	(DNF)	dnf	18	65
24th		Laser	126201	Alex Daniels		SBSC	1078	22	19	(dnf)	DNC	67
25th		Laser	189084	Finlay Barnham		SBSC	1078	18	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	70