Challenger Opens at Oxford & Grafham
by Richard Johnson 3 Jun 2004 10:04 BST
15-16 May [Oxford] 29-30 May [Grafham]
Action from the Challenger open at Grafham © Marcia Carpenter / Challenger Class Association
The words “Oxford” and “Drifter” go well together, so this year we decided to bring the regatta forward into the spring, to guarantee a stiff breeze. Did we get it? Unbelievably it was baking hot with tiny, intermittent thermally induced zephyrs of wind…..as usual!
On Friday afternoon, George Barker gave a talk about boat tuning and then a dozen boats did starting and other exercises on the water, ending with a video debrief in the clubhouse.
Saturday-and the flags were as limp as the Chairman’s wallet! Nigel Vic, the Race Officer, laid a line so long, it had different weather conditions at each end but Kirsten Pollock was in just the right place to pick a catspaw of wind and, tacking for the mark, left the whole fleet standing to win by a mile. Race two and boats crept up the beat, with Kirsten buried in mid-fleet. Val Millward was first at the mark and made the most of the reaches whilst the rest were virtually stationary, all trying to make it upwind. The next race was almost a repeat, with a little more wind. Second and fourth were John Draper and Mark Fletcher, both on good form, being separated by Judi Figgures, whose first two results were badly affected by the light weather conditions.
Day two had slightly more wind, which helped Judi to find top form and win race three, with the consistent Mark and John second and third. The final race was an exciting chase, with Tony Mayhew leading but being harried all the way by John Draper and Silver sailors Graham Hall, David Cooper and Cliff Farrell. Finally, either Kirsten, John or Mark could have taken first overall but consistency paid and it was Val who won by a point from John. David Cooper was a remarkable 6th overall to win Silver and Bronze winner Tony Lawton was 9th of 24 boats…….Its Gold for you next time boys!
Grafham had great weather, slick beach work and excellent racing. Top-form Val Millward won overall, her worst place was a third from 26 boats. David Driffill, from Ogston, came second, with the best win ever in race 4; as John Draper and Mark Fletcher raced for the line, David tacked late into a lift and beat them both by a boat width. Kirsten was always in the top 5 to come third overall. In 6th, making a welcome return to Challengers was Kevin Curtis, who port-tacked the whole fleet on the first start. Graham Hall was Silver winner and Oxford’s Patrick Mills won Bronze and came a lucky 13th overall. Luke Barraneau, second in Bronze, made 6th place in race 3, purely by intelligent sailing. A great performance in a very hot fleet and all making razor sharp starts.