Laser Radial Inlands at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

On the first weekend of November seventy-five sailors travelled to Chew Valley despite the weather forecast for what is the last National Radial event of the year.

The journey was rewarded as the host club put on an excellent event with the bad weather only appearing when competitors were packing up their boats on Sunday afternoon.

Three races were held on the Saturday using a triangle, sausage and windward finish course and sailed in moderate breeze. Alex Townsend led round the windward mark but was overtaken on the first reach by Jon Emmett. Townsend who is new to the class eventually slipped back to seventh by the finish.

Peter Gray however managed to hang onto second from a determined Steve Cockerill who had been pushing his way through the fleet, but had to be content with third. Fourth place went to Michael Thomson after holding off the challenge of Stephen Broom.

The second race saw slightly less wind and with an extremely biased line, several general recalls and the introduction of the black flag. On the third attempt the fleet got away and with an even larger shift to the left, those at the pin end of the line nearly laid the windward mark.

Hugh Reynolds who has been away from the class showed he still had the boat speed to lead Cockerill round the windward mark. Cockerill moved into the lead by the end of the first lap with Emmett closing the gap in third.

These three battled it out, with Emmett eventually moving past Reynolds, but as they neared the finish the wind went right, extending Cockerill's lead and allowing Reynolds to just pip Emmett on what was now an extremely biased finishing line. In fourth place was last year's runner-up, Guy Tipton, crossing the line a fraction of a second before Edward Green.

Race three saw the wind almost completely disappear and once again it was those on the left who faired best, having come into the first mark in good pressure.

Tipton led round the first mark but couldn't stop super fast junior Andy Brooks from taking his first win. These two managed to pull clear of the fleet with Brooks establishing a commanding lead by the end of the race.

With the breeze remaining very shifty, it was extremely close with Thomson just pipping Emmett on the line for third, giving both of them another consistent result. Fifth was Laura Baldwin in her first Radial event since the Worlds in July.

Day two arrived and the forecast gales once again managed to stay away for the last two races. Race four was led from start to finish by Emmett. Top youth girl Suzanne Hamilton was looking very good up the first beat but just lost out on the last shift to put her behind the chasing pack.

It was then a dog fight for places two to five with no more than a couple of boat lengths separating anyone down the last run. Tipton was on the charge and sailed away with second up the last beat. Race winner Brooks took third and Thomson got another consistent result with a fourth. Dominic Hutton who had been second for much of the race had to be content with fifth.

A win in the previous race gave Emmett the Championship with a race to spare but with the wind strength increasing he stayed out for the final race. With the breeze building, two rounds of triangle, sausage, were sailed. The real fight was now for second, with Cockerill needing to beat Tipton by three points, to better him overall, and with a longer race it was very unlikely Tipton would finish out of the top five.

Simon Matthews, Sacha Course and Laura Teague crossed the fleet on port but continued to sail through the first shift, allowing Emmett to take the lead and ultimately his third race win.

Tipton made an extremely poor start after tangling with Cockerill at start time. Cockerill rounded mark one just inside the top ten, with Tipton in the mid-teens, and thus more than two boats separating them.

Cockerill worked hard to push his way up to second and could only watch at the finish to see how far Tipton had got through the fleet. Third went to Rob Jackson and fourth was James Gray, just holding Titpon to fifth in the final race and therefore third overall.

The battle for fourth and fifth was also very close and was also the fight for top youth. Brooks' sixteenth in the last race was just enough to hold off Thomson by a mere point. Another speedy youth Green took sixth overall.

Top lady in eighth overall was Jane Singleton, who put in a consistent performance, never finishing out of the top fifteen. Top youth girl was Suzanne Hamilton, just fifteen points clear of Andrea Brewster. There was no surprise when Cockerill finished top master.

Results:

1st Overall Jon Emmett      Weir Wood         6pts
2nd Overall Steve Cockerill Emsworth Slipper 12pts
3rd Overall Guy Tipton      Oxford           13pts
4th Overall Andy Brooks     Elton            27pts
5th Overall Michael Thomson Emsworth Slipper 28pts
6th Overall Edward Green    Llanishen        33pts

1st Junior       Andy Brooks
1st Female Youth Suzanne Hamilton
1st Male Youth   Andy Brooks
1st Open Female  Jane Singleton
1st Open Male    Jon Emmett
1st Master       Steve Cockerill