Busy Week for Southwold Sailing Club
by Jeremy Taylor 2 Jul 2003 07:54 BST
A Laser 4000 sailing during the Southwold Sailing Club Summer Series © Jeremy Taylor
This week has been the busiest of the season for Southwold Sailing Club. While the club has been making the front pages of the local press and appearing on local TV for less good news, its members have been busy both on and off the water showing the strength of the club. The Sole Bay Festival and the visit of the Smacks and Classic boats, which arrived in port on Wednesday afternoon, dominated the week. The club was open all week with members giving up their own time to run the bar and the races.
The yachts arrived at the end of their passage race from the Orwell. High Barbaree won the Harbour Marine Services race on corrected time. 1st Workboat was Maryll and Bona was 1st East Coast Smack. Random took line honours in the Bermudans class while Solitude took the victory on corrected time.
On Thursday the yachts took part in the Adnams sponsored Sole Bay race, organised by the club. The yachts raced around Sole Bay in fantastic conditions and were finished at the pier. The Gaffer Peggy won the race on corrected time. Maryll took 1st workboat, while Bona was 1st East Coast Smack. Arabella Rose took the prize for 1st cruiser. In the Bermudan division Sunbeam took line honours but was pipped to 1st place by the local boat Amberjack. Following the Sole Bay Race and extra race was held for the “Hotshots” sponsored by the Harbour Inn. This was won by Andrew Osbourne in Amberjack, with Bona 2nd and Sunbeam 3rd.
On Friday the yachts held their race to Lowestoft before heading back to Southwold in the evening. Kestrel won the race, with Gromit taking line honours and 2nd on corrected time, Maryll was 1st Workboat and 3rd on corrected time. In the Bermudan Class Amberjack took another 1st place, with Cygnet 2nd and Bryer 3rd. On Saturday the club organised a day of fun and games in the harbour for the crews and its own members. The first event of the day was the blindfold-rowing race, which was won, in emphatic fashion by Robert Owles and crew. This was followed by a greasy pole competition with the prize of a bottle of beer for those that made it to the end of the pole. The afternoon saw a number of games in the garden of the Harbour Inn, where the sailing club/harbour team dominated the larger smack crew team to win the tug of war competition 2-1!
The prize giving took place in the clubhouse on Saturday evening and was followed by an excellent hog roast. The whole event was a great success thanks to the effort of a number of club members, particularly Richard Symes whose weekend was unfortunately cut short during the greasy pole competition.
On Sunday morning the smacks and yachts left to cruise down to Orford, leaving the members, who had worked so hard over the week the chance to get out on the water themselves and sail race 5 and 6 of the summer series. Conditions were near perfect, with sunshine, a flat sea and gentle sea breeze that built over the course of the two races. Racing took place in Walberswick Bight, where Race Officer James Farman set an Olympic course. There was another excellent turnout with the Contenders providing the biggest fleet of 5, joined by 3 laser 4000’s 3 5o5’s a Finn and a laser 5000.
Race 1 was led from start to finish by the Laser 4000 of Richard Woolf and Nicola McHardy, they led off the start line and were never challenged, but behind them there was plenty of close racing. At the first windward mark Woolf /McHardy led from Greg and Mary Browns 5o5 and Dirk Bougard and Jeremy Taylor in their laser 4000. Down the next leg Bougard/Taylor came through to take 2nd place on the water. They held this until the next lap where the Browns regained 2nd place. Further back Tom Seppings was leading the fleet of 5 contenders from Mike Gower and Ollie Boyes. On the final lap there were further place changes as first Bougard/Taylor took 2nd place only to be passed by Mark Nowell and Rupert Taylor and the Browns. At the finish Woolf/McHardy won from Nowell/Taylor 2nd and the Browns 3rd. On corrected time Woolf/McHardy held their time to take 1st place from Mike Deveson in his Finn, with Greg and Mary Brown 3rd. Tom Seppings took 4th place and 1st Contender.
After a short break while the course and start line were adjusted the second race got underway in a slightly stronger breeze. Will Pascal was the quickest starter and found himself in an unfamiliar position at the head of the fleet up the first beat. At the windward mark Woolf/McHardy approaching on port failed to find a gap between the line of starboard tack boats and were forced to take a penalty turn. Bougard/Taylor managed to avoid the carnage and sail around the outside to take the lead, followed by Dave Houghton and John Symonds laser 4000 and Nowell/Taylor. Ollie Boyes was first Contender at the windward mark. On the next leg Houghton and Symonds took the lead and like Woolf and McHardy before them established an unassailable lead over the remainder of the race. They were chased by Nowell/Taylor and Bougard/Taylor, who took 2nd and 3rd on the water respectively. Houghton/Symonds took the race victory on corrected time, with Bougard/Taylor 2nd and Nowell/Taylor 3rd. Tom Seppings once again led the Contenders around to take 4th place on corrected time.
Overall the series is still extremely tight. Tom Seppings has established a 3-point lead over fellow Contender sailor Mike Gower, followed a further point back by Nowell/Taylor and Fielden/Symes. The trend of a different race winner every race has continued, which shows the closeness of the racing.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Class | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Contender | Tom Seppings | | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 17 |
| 2 | Contender | Mike Gower | | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 20 |
| 3 | Laser 5000 | Mark Nowell | Rupert Taylor | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 21 |
| 4 | 5o5 | Hugh Fielden | Richard Symes | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 21 |
| 5 | Laser 4000 | Richard Seppings | | 4 | 1 | 5 | 4 | DNC | DNC | 31 |
Next Sunday the Summer Series continues with races 7 & 8, first start 11am. The cruisers are off to the Shipwash on Saturday. Bookings are currently being taken for the popular Summer Party on Saturday 12th July, tickets are priced at £10 and include Summer Drinks (until we run out!), Harbour Treasure Hunt, Cold Ham Buffet, Strawberries and Cream, please call Geoff Brown on 07932 771872 to book.
The club is holding an asymmetric open meeting over the weekend 19th/20th July; this will form the first half of a series with the second event at Gorleston in September. Racing will start at 1pm on the Saturday with 2 races back to back, followed by 3 more races on Sunday, first start 11 am.
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