505 Open Meeting at Shotley Sailing Club
by Richard Williams 6 Aug 2009 09:30 BST
1-2 August 2009
Ten teams arrived at Shotley Sailing Club on Saturday morning to compete in the annual 505 open meeting, dubbed by local sailor Terry Scutcher as ‘The Big One’!
Race officer Doug Brown got the fleet away promptly in marginal trapezing conditions around a windward-leeward course. Teams choosing the favoured left side of the beat had the advantage by the windward mark. The fleet separated downwind with some electing to ‘wire-it’ while others deciding upon the more traditional direct route. Terry Scutcher and Christian Diebitsch demonstrated good pace and perhaps took advantage of local knowledge to win ahead of Charlie Walters and Dougal Cram, with Tim Bird and Richard Nurse taking third.
The second race followed a similar pattern to the first, with familiar faces appearing at front of the fleet. After holding the lead for much of the race, Charlie and Dougal were unlucky to drop three places on the last downwind leg. Terry and Christian finished first, closely followed by Tim and Richard with Richard Williams and Paul Davies third.
By the third race, the wind had strengthened but was still oscillating. Richard and Paul were leading by the windward mark and held on for two laps before being overtaken by Charlie and Dougal, who went on to win the race.
Conditions for Sunday’s racing proved to be challenging for all with the wind varying in strength and direction throughout the day. However, this ensured close racing and plenty of place changing. Despite the tricky conditions, the top three from the previous day’s racing all posted consistent results in both races, with Terry and Christian taking the event by one point from Charlie and Dougal. Tim and Richard sailed consistently to finish third, three points behind.