Covenham Sailing Club Open 2004

A sunny day with a South Westerly Force 3 breeze greeted nine Albacores accompanied by a Challenger a pair of Lasers.

For the first race PRO Andy Everett set a Trapezoidal course comprising of a long beat with three downwind legs. Following a restart it was the Albacore of John Loomes crewed by Brian Green who led to the first mark pursued by the Albacores of Matt Potter with Mark Fowler from Simon Challen with Sally Cottingham. As Challen retired on the run Potter was overhauling Loomes with excellent downwind speed. Potter retained this lead to the finish while Terry Smith crewed by Ray Coburn passed Loomes to take second place. The Challenger of Simon Wright showed it was on the pace to take fourth.

Racing resumed after lunch with a change of course to triangles and sausages. Steve Brown and Shane recovered from a pre-start capsize to make a belated start. However there were no such problems for Potter who lead from start to finish, pursued by Challen and the second visiting Albacore of Simon Elliott and Jenny Bailey. Potter went onto take line honours followed by Challen while Terry Smith benefited from a Loomes indiscretion on the final beat for third. However anyone who had failed to notice Wright’s bright orange Challenger certainly took note when the corrected times were published as Wright had triumphed to take first place in race two.

There was all to play for with all three races to count. Potter once again shot into an early lead followed by Elliott then Loomes. Challen took the lead from Potter on the third beat but was quickly hauled in downwind. The wind appeared to freshen towards the end of the day as crews tired. Challen took line honours with Potter second and Elliott in third, but how far away was Wright’s Challenger? The corrected results showed the Challenger had split the first two Albacores to come home second.

Overall Results: