Squib Nationals at Weymouth Sailing Club

Squib Nationals at Weymouth Sailing Club - Overall

by David West 4 Jul 2009 19:26 BST 27 June - 3 July 2009

108 teams for the Squib nationals in Weymouth © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

Well they did it! For a while it seemed that launching 108 Squibs at Dean Reddyhoff Marina was going to be tough. However, by dint of a great system, some very hard work and leadership from Alan McDine, a record number of Squibs were in the water by 4 pm on the day before the Championship, feeling their way through a sea mist into Weymouth Harbour. Away from the mist, the sun shone brilliantly and the forecast was for some very hot days to match the very hot racing.

It looked to be the most open Championship for many a year. While the Hogans were looking for their seventh championship, they had some very serious challengers. Mike and Penny Fenwick, who took the championship at Abersoch in 2007, were in their home waters. Mike Probert, unbeatable when in the class before, had returned and came off a Cowes Week win. Twice national champions, Bryan and Jenny Riley were the lightweights and would go well in the expected light airs. Dave Best and Pete Richards were seen as heavy weather specialists but perhaps might spring a surprise.

Day 1 and A for abandonment, B for black flag, G for general recall, P for postponement. The first day was a test of patience and concentration. The start of the practice race was delayed ashore waiting for wind and when the signal was given to leave the moorings, many boats had to be towed out of the harbour including one brave soul who went back for his tally, unwilling to donate a fiver to the chosen charity, The Chesil Trust.

When the practice race eventually did get under way, the fleet was put out of its drifting misery by abandonment halfway up the first beat. After a longish wait and more recalls, the fleet got away for the first race proper, only for a massive wind shift to turn the beat into a reach. Abandonment occurred much to the displeasure of Squiblissitude 120 and Billy Ruff'n 841 who had the best start of their whole lives, laying the mark with clear water between them and the rest of the fleet.

In the end, the race was started in a wind which gradually built to a force 2. First at the windward mark was 132 Cariad Bach with Alan Johnson and David Garlick who set off into the distance, caught only on the line by Dave Best and Pete Richards who sprung their light weather surprise.

Day two and at dawn there were fears that yet another day of frustration awaited the 108 boat fleet but as the fleet left the harbour there was 15 knots of wind. Such promise was not fulfilled although at least the fleet kept moving until the last beat and run.

The wind constantly moved right as it followed the sun and in contrast to the previous day, positions changed dramatically. The leaders at the last windward mark lost it by the finish. Indeed the eventual winners, Dave Best and Pete Richards in Crossfire 797, were only 22nd at the first mark and 5th at the final windward mark making through only on the last almost windless run. Second was Banshee 65, Nigel Harris and John Stephenson 2000 National Champions and 3rd was Brimstone, Bryan and Jenny Riley Champions in 1990 and 1993.

Young Freddie Warren-Smith, all of 14 years old, helmed 13 Aquabat to 37th following his 45th of the day before, escaping the fate of many boats who were actually lapped in the final very difficult conditions.

Day 3 and to the utter astonishment of the 108 boat National Squib Championship fleet, the third race started at the very first attempt, albeit under the black flag. One of the 'best' starts was that of 14 year Freddie Warren-Smith - the rising star of the Squib Fleet - who 'finished' 10th. He started right under the nose of the race officer who repaid his enthusiasm with an OCS.

The first beat was a topsy-turvy affair and some top crews found themselves well down the fleet. However, in a very difficult day, the cream rose to the top. Of the leading seven boats, six were helmed by past national champions and the remaining boat was crewed by twice Inland Champions.

At the start, the wind looked innocent enough - a warm comfortably sitting out breeze - but its innocence was more of the order of the 'Kindly Ones' - the Furies who lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom. The wind declined steadily and disappeared in the middle of the race track. It gradually and fitfully came in from the left and boats that went up the middle - as the local lore would advise with the wind from the SE - were heavily disadvantaged. Going right was even worse.

The Hogans, in Rico'shea 136, took the winners gun, followed by the usual suspects - Ghost Rider 758, Pani Munta 128, Crossfire 797, Alchemy 800, Banshee 65, Brimstone 73 with both Artemis 36 and Humphrey 823 making one of their frequent visits to the top ten.

Day 4 and as you will remember, Murphy has three laws. The first is that if anything can go wrong, it will. The second, most relevant to this day, is that any choice will be the wrong one. (The third law is the most important but, of course, by a special application of Murphy's first law it has been forgotten.)

Murphy's second law explains why the other lane in the traffic queue always goes faster that yours. It also explains why, on day 4, the choice to go right or left up the beat - or indeed up the middle - was the wrong one. Now you being a logical sort of person will be saying to yourself, "But surely the choice was not wrong for everyone?" Well you may have a point but the phenomenon that visited the Squib Fleet today is akin, for example, to the statistic that 90% of drivers think they are better than average. It is a nonsense, but there it is.

Johnson and David Garlick this time were not pipped at the post as they lead all the way round. Nigel Grogan and Daniel Cripps had a good day in second place for most of the race, dropping back to third at the finish behind Gerard Dyson and Tony Saltonstall who pulled themselves up to second from 9th. Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Ramsey in Lady Penelope 819 excelled with a 6th place after three races in the 30s. Peter White and Stuart Howells got going at last with an 8th place.

Day 4 and Thursday was not what you might call an exciting day, although it did have its exciting moments. As one Squibber said, "You'd pay a fortune for an intensive training course on starting like that." After five, six (or was it seven?) abortive starts, the Race Officer lost the will to live and sent the fleet home as the wind died away to nothing. Excellent starting practice no doubt but not much more. At least 25 boats were black flagged and a few simply just went home. Those who stayed out must have been hoping that attrition would give them a podium place.

Day 6 and a sparkling day with the wind back in its ‘normal’ place for Weymouth, South West and a lovely force 3 to 4. The very appearance of the bay made you ache to go sailing, the sun like the Riviera and the sea like Asti Spumante. Unfortunately, some 25 members of the fleet had to stay home for a while, having been black flagged the day before as Race 5 was run. A shorter course was chosen and Alchemy 800, Rico’shea 136, Pani Munta 128 and Ghost Rider 758 took advantage of the absence of other contenders to put some good numbers on the board.

Crossfire 797 and Banshee 65 came back with a second and fifth respectively in race 6 but it was too late as the Hogans added yet another Championship to their amazing record. Cariad Bach 132 was second and Crossfire 797 was third.

Overall it was a week for not accepting the ‘rules’. Chris Hogan said that quite often he had no idea which was the right way to go and if he thought that what about the lesser beings? One fleet had ‘hired’ an Olympic hopeful to brief them on wind directions and choice of course. That was a mistake! One local sailor said it always pays to go left when the wind is from the SW. It didn’t. Another said that the race officer will never set the start line close in to shore. He did.

Overall a great week, marvellously organised, blessed by the sun god all the time and the wind gods on the last day.

Overall Results:
If you were in the top ten, why not fill in our Squib Nationals Gear Guide?

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	136	Rico'shea	Chris Hogan	Mark Hogan	3	-5	1	5	2	1	12
2	132	Cariad Bach	Alan Johnson	David Garlick	2	4	-48	1	6	4	17
3	797	Crossfire	Dave Best	Pete Richards	1	1	4	13	-109	2	21
4	65	Banshee	Nigel Harris	John Stephenson	5	2	6	10	-109	5	28
5	800	Alchemy	Gerard Dyson	Tony Saltonstall	-109	6	5	2	1	16	30
6	758	Ghost Rider	Mike Fenwick	Penny fenwick	6	-11	2	11	4	8	31
7	128	Pani Munta	Mike Probert	James Bryer	7	7	3	-16	3	14	34
8	73	Brimstone	Bryan Riley	Jenny Riley	8	3	7	7	-109	15	40
9	105	Helmut Shoing II	Nigel Grogan	Daniel Cripps	-109	20	21	3	5	3	52
10	869	Tears in heaven	Peter Marchant	Andy Biddle	9	16	14	4	-109	12	55
11	789	Dream On	Brian Holland	Tony Sampson	4	21	-33	9	7	19	60
12	127	Misfire	Roger Harris	Mark Thompson	16	-25	10	22	8	13	69
13	51	Battalion	Dick Batt	Pamela Phelan	10	9	12	17	-109	40	88
14	868	By The Lee	Nic Tolhurst	Richard Tucker	20	28	11	21	-109	11	91
15	52	Bacchante VII	Gerwyn Brown	Roland Wilson	26	-67	13	28	16	17	100
16	828	White Magic	David Wines	Anthony Proctor	-51	10	15	36	19	21	101
17	761	Trophoblast	Chris Goodfellow	Marc Rawinsky	17	-41	30	20	12	24	103
18	811	Spoof	Micky Wright	TBA	11	-39	20	26	22	27	106
19	96	Moonstone	Malcolm Blackburn	Fran Blackburn	-109	17	28	15	14	33	107
20	864	No Name	Peter White	Stuart Howells	-109	46	36	8	9	10	109
21	20	Buccaneer	Sarah Everitt	Gina Porteous	15	13	18	14	-109	49	109
22	36	Artemis	Mark Wincer	Peter Hallinan	19	23	8	32	-109	28	110
23	829	Kachina Too	Michael Hughes	James Smith	14	43	22	24	13	-48	116
24	849	Essayes	Phil Snewin	Nick Spall	-109	12	43	43	18	7	123
25	838	Maximus	Max Evans	John Davies	47	27	37	-49	11	6	128
26	819	Lady Penelope	Malcolm Hutchings	Andy Ramsey	37	33	32	6	-109	20	128
27	50	Firebird	Owen Delaney	Tony Holman	28*	42	16	44	10	-109	140
28	844	Saskia V	Mark Bugler	Rima Bascombe	12	-68	34	46	17	31	140
29	58	Still Talkin	David Gooch	Kerr Sinclair	-109	44	17	12	26	44	143
30	108	Ogo Pogo	Toby Taylor	John Sharman	34	-76	42	40	15	18	149
31	124	Tasmanian Devil	Chris Arnold	Tim Arnold	24	35	-54	30	29	39	157
32	867	Cold Fusion	Gareth Evans	Linda Mathews	43	15	58	19	25	-64	160
33	72	Guy Fawkes	Phil Aspinall	Julian Briggs	52	-55	26	18	44	25	165
34	153	Aldebaran	Adrian Crook	Iain Jones	13	26	27	58	-109	46	170
35	846	Sophie	Sam Cole	Denise Sinclair	-109	66	25	31	28	22	172
36	823	Humphrey	Robert Coyle	Mel Titmus	-109	24	9	23	109	9	174
37	621	Maggaroo	Simon Vines	Jill Vines	22	19	38	-62	41	62	182
38	803	Footles	Frank Haslam	David Defeu	42	38	35	39	34	-54	188
39	781	Longshot	Jim Chalmers	Ann Chalmers	29	8	67	55	32	-109	191
40	862	Brutus	Simon Griffin	Chris Dunn	60	-79	46	38	21	26	191
41	99	Rebound	Richard Peacock	Glyne Roberts	41	34	49	37	-109	32	193
42	858	Bacchante VIII	Andy Brown	Harvey Worden	31	14	19	-109	109	23	196
43	157	Chequemate	Sarah Sullivan	Ian Simons	38	-73	61	27	24	51	201
44	510	No Wonder	Kit Noble	Tod Tolliday	-53	22	51	47	45	42	207
45	853	Echo	John Barton	Michael Barton	33	-82	44	48	40	43	208
46	755	Cybi	Richard Roberts	Judy Roberts	-109	45	29	52	27	56	209
47	822	Archimedes	Mark Heseltine	David Searle	44	54	57	41	20	-78	216
48	24	Femme Fatale	Vincent Delany	Noel Colgough	109	30	24	25	-33	29	217
49	63	Inky Finger	Dave McCune	Edwin Page	48	18	83	33	-109	36	218
50	512	Atom	Peter Johnson	David Thomson	23	-84	59	73	31	34	220
51	13	Aquabat	Freddie Warren-Smith	Steve Warren-Smith	45	37	-109	35	42	70	229
52	160	Blood,Sweat & Tears	David Lloyd	Peter Eddis	18	-64	63	51	39	61	232
53	843	Roisin	Ian Williams	Richard Delves	50	-70	70	56	23	35	234
54	808	Osprey	Chris Gear	Alex Porteous	66	31	55	63	-109	41	256
55	695	Mimosa	Simon Unwin	Judith Thomas	57	40	-74	72	30	58	257
56	842	Posh Totty	Alan McDine	Deo McDine	64	56	-66	45	36	63	264
57	120	Squiblissitude	Ted Reilly	Tom Crean	39	60	73	-74	43	55	270
58	737	Halcyon	Andy Hough	Peter Hough	59	-83	64	42	49	57	271
59	848	Caesar	Adrian Fluker	Roger Tolhurst	27	-77	60	67	51	67	272
60	30	Crimson Dusk	Robin Delves	Peter Dewhurst	49	80	56	34	61	-109	280
61	562	Capricorn	Hugh Conway	Joe Barrett	56	-78	76	77	38	37	284
62	640	Firecracker Too	Andrew Porteous	Jerry Westbrook	54	71	53	61	-109	45	284
63	812	Whirl'n Dervish	Henriette Brand	Ian Brand	35	91	47	53	-109	60	286
64	571	Bluebottle	John Thomson	Ian Berry	83	36	89	-93	35	47	290
65	841	Billy Ruff'n	David West	Andy Gaunt	63	58	-72	69	48	53	291
66	627	Firestreak	Sally Everitt	Amy Prime	72	62	41	-78	52	66	293
67	773	Artful Dodger	Robin Hasler	Phil Gray	55	63	52	59	66	-74	295
68	140	Kinard	Colin Bentley	Nigel Squirrel	32	53	50	54	-109	109	298
69	83	Easy	David White	Peter Ballam	-109	29	23	29	109	109	299
70	88	Hussy	Vernon Taylor	She Taylor	-109	61	78	57	55	52	303
71	632	Esme	Andrew Milligan	Ian Savill	28	-81	77	80	54	69	308
72	543	Polly Garter	David Hall	Ann Elliot	65	-93	65	71	37	72	310
73	152	Trio	Derek Higgins	Sean Clarkson	36	65	62	79	-109	73	315
74	40	Ruby	Kim Vasey	Chris Davison	21	72	39	76	-109	109	317
75	805	Magic Flute	Bob Smales	Peter Wood	70	74	-93	75	50	50	319
76	796	Bootneck	John Lewis	John Hepburn	58	57	40	60	-109	109	324
77	89	Klipbok	Emmet Dalton	Bryan Adams	25	47	45	101	-109	109	327
78	809	Squffy	Chris Stonehouse	Mrs.Chris Stonehouse	46	-88	84	65	57	75	327
79	736	Magic Roundabout	Michael Bradley	Carl Anderson	78	-90	88	85	47	38	336
80	487	Baby Hippo	Clive Bennett	Mark Lobb	67	59	69	-83	60	81	336
81	854	B of the Bang	Paul Hardy	Harriet Hardy	74	49	-91	82	59	80	344
82	708	Satu	Kevin Gibson	Marney Gibson	77	-101	92	66	46	68	349
83	37	Kerfuffle	Jonathon Craig	Hazel Ruane	-109	51	31	50	109	109	350
84	791	Crazy Diamond	Peter Wilson	Mark Wilson	40	75	71	64	-109	109	359
85	857	Rising Damp	David East	Christopher Edwards	62	50	75	70	-109	109	366
86	798	Why Not	Derek Jago	Jean Jago	61	32	81	91	-109	109	374
87	727	Cripple Creek Ferry	John Bryan-Williams	Hannah Bryan-Williams	81	-107	87	94	56	59	377
88	635	Zip	Frank Lovelock	Mike Duggan	84	-102	82	86	58	77	387
89	564	Quicksilver	Eddie Harper	Steve Dadd	-109	86	90	88	53	71	388
90	645	Second Wind	John Croydon	Gregory Croydon	69	48	96	68	-109	109	390
91	835	Kestrel	David Longford	Fred Angell	85	87	-95	81	63	84	400
92	542	Comet	Peter Soole	Lloyd Bulley	75	92	80	-96	69	85	401
93	77	King Sole	Glyn Deakin	Peter Jackson	-109	94	68	101	109	30	402
94	735	Iceni Rebel	Colin Hammond	Caroline Nairne	82	69	94	92	67	-109	404
95	605	Supernova	David Leverton	Diane Leverton	30	52	106	-109	109	109	406
96	581	Squibble	AdrianTemple	Steve Marriot	-109	85	85	90	64	83	407
97	688	Lizwiz	Sam Prime	Ray Prime	80	96	98	-109	62	76	412
98	332	Mayfly	Roger Horler	Bob Glover	73	100	-101	95	65	79	412
99	578	Last Gasp	Lesley Harvey	John Harvey	76	95	86	89	68	-109	414
100	470	Lapdancer	Shaun Gilbard	Garry Bowers	79	98	-99	97	70	86	430
101	608	Inquisition	Patrick Jones	Mike Beecroft	71	89	-109	101	109	65	435
102	337	Dynamite	Terence Stevens	Chris Wallace/Martin D	86	99	97	98	-109	82	462
103	86	Jubilation	Ernie Lee	Marcus Bray	68	-109	109	109	109	109	504
104	604	Speculator	James Shuttleworth	Nick Frampton	-109	103	100	84	109	109	505
105	655	White Knuckles	Peter Lloyd	Tom Lloyd	-109	97	106	87	109	109	508
106	33	Peteca	Richard Major	Chris Neil	105	-109	79	109	109	109	511
107	297	Sparkle	Robin Norman	Peter Holloway	-109	107	102	109	109	109	536
108	855	Croc	Nick Faulkner	Nick Hodgson	-109	109	109	109	109	109	545