Magic Marine RS400 Southern Championship at Lymington Town SC
by Matt Sheahan 28 Jun 2016 07:45 BST
18-19 June 2016
Calling the final race of the RS400 Southern Area Championships in Lymington close, would be the understatement of the weekend, possibly the season.
As Paul Oakey and Jamie Pidduck [1441] came smoking into their last gybe, around the last mark, of the last race of the regatta they were lying 4th overall.
As they emerged on port, still on the plane, eyes fixed on the finish, it was clear that they had judged their manoeuvre and the lay line perfectly.
Furthermore, they had gybed inside and overtaken Howard Farbrother and Dan Martin [1418] who had been leading the charge throughout the last race of the four races on Sunday, only to aim for the wrong leeward mark.
In less than 200m Oakey and Pidduck had leapt from 4th to 1st overall. But it was even closer than that.
Among the 41 entries for the event, Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin [1454] had their eyes on the silverware over the weekend by delivering an impressively consistent scoreline of seconds and thirds while others danced around them. Their efforts meant that they had gone into the final race with the lowest gross points yet despite delivering another solid third, they had emerged equal first with Oakey and Pidduck.
Clearly, with the rules for a tie break favouring the last to win, it was Oakey and Co. that took the biggest of the three trophies home.
Pointing at the wrong leeward mark at a critical time had cost Farbrother and Martin dearly, dropping them to 4th.
For many of us, this right royal battle for the chocolates was irrelevant as we endeavoured to run with the big dogs. But no one was complaining.
Those that remained for the final two races once the breeze and tide had built, enjoyed a full on, downhill foam up. That, and the superb close racing with nip and tuck gybes, crashes, nose dives and kite trawls aplenty.
In fact, the breeze wasn't that strong, around 16-18knots from the south west. But the building spring ebb tide that pressed against the steady breeze boosted the apparent breeze to just over 20 knots and kicked up waves made for surfing.
With 2-3 knots of tide, the mark roundings were fun too, a combination of rally style handbrake turns on a race track that felt like a treadmill.
There will be stories aplenty from this regatta, but aside from the trophy winners, among the many impressive performances was that of George Bridge and Henry Marsh sailing 1051. Not only were they probably the youngest pair in the fleet, but appeared to weigh less than a bag of crisps - without the crisps. Given the conditions they were impressively quick. In fact, frustratingly quick for the two previous owners of the boat who were racing their newer models and were forced to stare at the transom on several occasions. (No names, no shame).
On a separate tack, the organisation at the Lymington Town Sailing club was also very impressive. So too was the après-race hospitality that saw a full club bar and dance floor well into the night leading to scores of hangovers the following morning that you could have sold to medical science.
Sadly, four back to back races in champagne conditions didn't offer the cure that some required or were expecting.
So what of Saturday's racing? Light and shifty for the two races that were run. Not to everyone's taste, but once again it was still the same people that found their way to the front.
For most, the real deal was Sunday which delivered some of the best racing the fleet has seen this season and doubtless some more tall stories to fuel the next social.
More great Sportography.TV photos available to purchase here.
Overall Results:
Pos | Boat | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
1st | | 1441 | Paul Oakey | Jamie Pidduck | Portchester SC | 1 | ‑12 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 12 |
2nd | | 1454 | Jon Heissig | Nicky Griffin | Llangorse SC | 2 | 2 | ‑3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
3rd | | 1202 | Sam Knight | Sam Pickering | Walsall | ‑16 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 13 |
4th | Chaos monkey | 1418 | Howard Farbrother | Dan Martin | Queen Mary sc | 5 | ‑13 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 16 |
5th | Jim | 1189 | Steve Restall | Chris Stubbs | | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 5 | ‑14 | 29 |
6th | | 1433 | Rob Martin | Jan Martin | Lymington Town SC | 6 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 12 | (DNC) | 35 |
7th | | 1017 | Sean Cleary | Steven Tyner | Oxford SC | ‑29 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 35 |
8th | | 1439 | Kevin Podger | Heather Chipperfield | Lymington Town SC | (DNC) | 9 | 14 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 41 |
9th | STY | 1452 | Howard Eeles | Wayne Hancox | Bartley S.C. | 15 | 6 | 18 | ‑23 | 10 | 6 | 55 |
10th | | 1192 | Jack Munnelly | Jack Munnelly | Littlehampton | (OCS) | 15 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 56 |
11th | | 684 | Matt Fowler | Greg Shipley | Eastbourne | 20 | (DNF) | 5 | 14 | 8 | 13 | 60 |
12th | | 1356 | Pete Vincent | tba | Llandegfedd and BCYC | 14 | 4 | 9 | 18 | 23 | (DNC) | 68 |
13th | | 1435 | Matthew Sheahan | Ellie Sheahan | Netley | 21 | 10 | ‑25 | 15 | 16 | 8 | 70 |
14th | | 1190 | Stephen Jones | Andy Harris | Chew valley lake sc | 11 | (BFD) | 15 | 19 | 17 | 10 | 72 |
15th | | 904 | Grant Blake | Jessica Barker | Oxford Sailing Club | ‑19 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 75 |
16th | Comfortably Numb | 1390 | Andy Hatch | Dan Hawkins | QMSC | 30 | (BFD) | 20 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 81 |
17th | | 1444 | Nick Martin | Caroline Martin | Lee on Solent | 13 | 8 | 11 | 11 | (DNC) | DNC | 85 |
18th | BoatyMcBoatFace | 836 | Adam Humphrey | Jo Humphrey | TISC | 18 | (DNC) | 24 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 90 |
19th | | 1051 | George Bridge | Henry Marsh | | ‑25 | 16 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 15 | 94 |
20th | | 1184 | Tim Williams | Bob Clements | Oxford S C | 17 | 11 | 28 | 20 | 20 | (DNC) | 96 |
21st | | 854 | Chris Brown | | | 23 | (DNC) | 22 | 24 | 19 | 16 | 104 |
22nd | Harum Scarum | 1290 | David Brown | Rebecca Brown | Queen Mary Sailing Club | 4 | (DNC) | 7 | 13 | DNC | DNC | 108 |
23rd | | 1404 | Matthew Thomas | Matthew Thomas | Lymington Town SC | 12 | 14 | 16 | 25 | (DNC) | DNC | 109 |
24th | | 1333 | Liam Willis | Julie Willis | Lymington Town SC | 7 | (BFD) | 13 | 8 | DNC | DNC | 112 |
25th | | 934 | David Swift | Rob Burgess | Warsash SC | 27 | 18 | 31 | 22 | 14 | (DNC) | 112 |
26th | | 1287 | James Bowman | Jonathan Carr | Starcross Sailing Club | 32 | 17 | 26 | 28 | 22 | (DNC) | 125 |
27th | | 1236 | Mike Baker | June baker | Lymington Town SC | 34 | 20 | 27 | 26 | 18 | (DNC) | 125 |
28th | L | 1019 | Rob Corfield | Tom Dobbs | Dell Quay SC | 8 | 23 | (DSQ) | 30 | 26 | DNC | 129 |
29th | | 1322 | Gideon Ewers | Gilly Ewers | Chichester YC | 22 | 21 | 32 | 29 | 25 | (DNC) | 129 |
30th | | 1414 | Caroline Downing | Jason McDonnell | Bartley | 10 | (BFD) | 19 | DNC | DNC | DNC | 155 |
31st | Sarenne | 1060 | Pete Pickford | Chris Carpenter | Dell quay | 26 | 22 | 35 | 32 | (DNC) | DNC | 157 |
32nd | L | 1022 | Andy Clark | lukasz sieniawski | Shoreham SC | 24 | 24 | 33 | (DNF) | DNC | DNC | 165 |
33rd | | 689 | Matthew Wright | Gavin King | Thorney Island Sailing Club | 33 | (DNC) | 29 | DNC | 24 | DNC | 170 |
34th | Racing Sober | 1447 | John Cooper | Becci wigley | Lymington Town SC | 9 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 177 |
35th | | 1231 | Neil Carden | Clare | Royal Lymington YC | 28 | (DNF) | 23 | DNC | DNS | DNC | 177 |
36th | Pink Panther 3 | 527 | Andy Powell | Steve Broom | Warsash | (DNF) | DNF | 30 | 27 | DNS | DNC | 183 |
37th | | 744 | Simon Cameron | Nick cameron | Lymington Town SC | (OCS) | BFD | 34 | 31 | DNC | DNC | 191 |
38th | | 1342 | Max Tosetti | Jenny Douglas | qmsc | 31 | (BFD) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 199 |
39th | Rosie Rocket | 1256 | Adrian Bateman | Abby Keightly‑Hanson | Lymington Town SC | (OCS) | DNC | DNF | DNC | DNC | DNC | 210 |
39th | Joseon | 1392 | Chris Stanton | Louise Hosken | SURBITON | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 210 |
39th | | 1210 | Mike Partridge | | | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 210 |