Solo Spring Championships at Oxford Sailing Club

by Claire Clark 14 Apr 2008 07:38 BST 12 April 2008

The inaugural Solo Spring Championships take place at Oxford © Mike Shaw / www.fotoboat.com

With an already full open meeting calendar, the Solo class decided to add an event to its “majors” thus the “Spring Championships” were born. Oxford SC were in full support and offered to host the event.

Despite forecasts of 10-15mph the 50 strong fleet were greeted with white capped water and a steady force 4 to 5 but bright sunshine and generally blue skies.

Olympic style courses were to be the order of the day.

Race 1 got away after 2 general recalls with the black flag being brought into play for the 3rd start. After the first triangle Charlie Cumbley (4858) had established an early lead over Richard Pye (4357), Lee Sydenham (4422) and Steve Ede (4774). At leeward mark after the downwind leg Cumbley had retained his lead over Pye but Chris Goldhawk (4501) and Vince Horey (4730) had taken 3rd and 4th places. Cumbley increased his lead to win easily from Goldhawk in 2nd who had overhauled Pye who finished 3rd.

With race 1 winner deciding to take a quick dip within the last minute of the countdown, race 2 got away cleanly. MacGregor was the early leader ahead of Pye in 2nd. The chasing pack were Horey, Ede and Goldhawk. On the 2nd downwind leg the leader McGregor capsized allowing Pye to catch and overtake to take the lead at the start of the final beat. With McGregor recovering before Cumbley and Horey caught him, he tacked off onto starboard immediately after rounding the leeward mark, whilst Pye continued out to the right side of the course. McGregor must have chosen the favoured side as at the finish line he crossed ahead of Pye who had held off a chasing Cumbley who had recovered remarkably after his misfortune at the start to finish 3rd with Horey 4th.

With much of the fleet favouring the committee boat end of the line, Pye headed for the pin end where there was lots of space and was not challenged off the start line. However his fortune was short lived as the rescue boat informed him that he’d been OCS at the start. At the windward mark it was Cumbley that led ahead of McGregor with new chasers Simon Jones (4866) and Andy Fox (4748) in close 3rd and 4th. There was some place changing during the first triangle with Chris Brown (4861) taking 4th place and McGregor dropping to 5th. With tired bodies and minds the fleet started the last beat with Cumbley and Jones vying for position all the way, as they approached the finish line it was Jones that had a boat length advantage over Cumbley to win. Fox held onto 3rd with McGregor claiming back his 4th place.

With a 1st and 2nd Cumbley had secured the overall event.

Many thanks to everyone at Oxford SC for hosting a very successful event, and thanks to Fotoboat for being there to capture all the action.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	4858	Charlie Cumbley	Teign Corinthian	1	3	2	3
2	4832	David McGregor	Hayling Island	8	1	4	5
3	4357	Richard Pye	Draycote Water	3	2	51	5
4	4501	Chris Goldhawk	Chew Valley	2	7	8	9
5	4861	Chris Brown	RYA	4	11	5	9
6	4774	Steve Ede	Ardleigh	5	5	51	10
7	4748	Andrew Fox	Crosby	17	10	3	13
8	4730	Vince Horey	King George	9	4	51	13
9	4388	Nigel Snedkfer	Chew Valley	18	6	7	13
10	4866	Simon Jones	Teign Corinthian	13	15	1	14
11	4712	John Clark	Draycote Water	6	8	51	14
12	4833	Ian Harridge	Nantwich	12	19	6	18
13	4422	Lee Sydenham	CYC	7	12	51	19
14	4769	Peter Hammond	Salcombe	10	9	51	19
15	4336	Colin Newton	Staunton Harold	11	14	51	25
16	4487	Richard Siggers	Shustoke	28	13	13	26
17	4665	Jonathan Jowett	Littleton	19	16	12	28
18	4741	Steve Jones	Littleton	16	20	14	30
19	3845	Bob Suggit	Barnt Green	29	22	10	32
20	4578	Neil Wilkinson	Shustoke	15	18	51	33
21	4120	Godfrey Clark	Fishers Green	27	26	11	37
22	4660	Keith Smith	King George	24	51	15	39
23	4836	Rob Wilder	Tamesis	20	27	19	39
24	4865	Ian Morgan	Weston	51	32	9	41
25	3385	Gareth Griffiths	Island Barn	26	28	16	42
26	4659	Tim Wade	Spinnaker	25	17	51	42
27	4160	Ed Morris	Spinnaker	32	24	18	42
28	3814	Peter McCrea	Draycote Water	23	23	51	46
29	3550	Bob Ashby	Oxford	30	21	51	51
30	4504	Phil Wheeler	Spinnaker	36	51	17	53
31	4867	Chris Goswell	Burghfield	31	31	51	62
32	4810	Andrew Smith	Draycote Water	34	30	51	64
33	4662	Chris Giliard	Sheffield Viking	14	51	51	65
34	4280	Simon Mackrory	West Oxfordshire	33	33	51	66
35	4738	Alastair Raynard	Carsington	21	51	51	72
36	4735	Daniel Goodman	Kingsmead	22	51	51	73
37	486	Adrian Hollier	West Oxfordshire	51	25	51	76
38	4740	John Davey	Teign Corinthian	51	29	51	80
39	4087	Dave Ernest	Rudyard Lake	51	34	51	85
40	1872	Paul Bristow	Burghfield	51	35	51	86
41	4853	Martin Allen	Bewl Valley	35	51	51	86
42	4555	Geoff Batcheder	Maidenhead	51	36	51	87
43	4762	Anthony O'Connor	King George	37	51	51	88
44	3462	Julian Wigmore	Oxford	51	51	51	102
44	4255	Ross Lonsdale	West Oxfordshire	51	51	51	102
44	4441	Andrew Joysey	RYA	51	51	51	102
44	4499	Joe Goyder	Oxford	51	51	51	102
44	4714	Mike Ball	Papercourt	51	51	51	102
44	4835	Will Loy	Littleton	51	51	51	102
44	4859	Mike Hobin	Oxford	51	51	51	102