British Moth Final Fling at Frampton on Severn Sailing Club
by Laura Honey 14 Oct 2009 20:39 BST
10 October 2009
The final British Moth Open Meeting of the season saw twenty-one boats gather at Frampton-on-Severn Sailing Club in brilliant sunshine, but with a light and tricky south westerly breeze. Visitors from afar as deepest Devon, Coventry, Suffolk, London, Staffordshire and Oxford met with a strong showing from the local boats to realise perhaps the most competitive fleet for a Moth Open meeting this season.
Sponsorship from Impcross Ltd, Stroud Brewery and the Frampton Moths ensured a good time for all as proceedings carried on well into the evening with live music from our very own Moth sailor 'Wild Bill' Gribble and his fantastic band 'Freefall'.
A best 2 results from 3 races included the 'Frampton Moth Personal Handicap' 3rd race, which gave all competitors a chance to be chased around the lake by the top helms! Race officer Andy Tully set demanding courses in the fickle winds.
Race 1 saw the Frampton helms dominate the top 3 positions headed by Roger Witts in 'Scruff' (871) who pulled away to a resounding victory ahead of Graham Pope in 'Graffiti Rat' (870) with Jeremy Higson (861) 'Mog' close behind in third. Current National Champion Tim Davison, using all of his skill to recover from a disastrous start, finished 5th, just behind past Champion Rob Wilder who had borrowed back his first Nationals winning boat (817) 'Painted Lady' for the day’s racing. Tim Lupton (818) 'Thing One' Junior National Champion took 6th and regular Frampton visitor Elaine Laverty in her newly acquired boat (850) 'Fly-bi-nite' claimed 7th in a very experienced field.
Race 2 ran 'back-to-back' with Wilder, Davison and Witts leading the pack to the first mark. For two laps these three battled for the lead with Witts eventually slipping back but managing to hold-off a very quick Ian Haywood (815) 'Whynot', who is now the proud new owner of 'Scruff'! At the front 'Come-back Kid' Wilder out-foxed Davison to take the win. 'Rockstar' Gribble (838) 'Atlantic Bonus' claimed fifth ahead of Higson 6th.
Race 3 the 'Personal Handicap' race saw the fleet graded into 4 groups with one minute start intervals giving the underdogs up to a four minute lead on the day's quickest helms. Gary Tompkins (862) 'Vapourer' headed the fleet for the first two laps before being caught by Davison, Witts and Mark Wiltshire (872) 'ASBO', the latter finding his form in his newly launched all wood craft from John Claridge. In the lightening breeze 'Super-Charged' Davison took the gun. Wiltshire just squeezed by Witts on the final leg to beat his buddy by a second and thereby pushing Witts to 2nd place overall in the event. Haywood, Gribble and Higson finished closely behind in this unique and exciting race format.
The final event lived up to all its expectations; very good, close racing and fantastic 'Tropical Frampton' weather yet again. Roll on next season!
A special thanks to the Frampton Topper Fleet for the race management.
Overall Results:
1st Tim Davison (846) 'Proper Job' (Medley) 3 points
2nd Roger Witts (871) 'Scruff' (Frampton) 4 points
3rd Rob Wilder (817) 'Painted Lady' (Tamesis) 5 points
4th Ian Haywood (815) 'Whynot' (Frampton) 8 points
5th Jeremy Higson (861) 'Mog' (Frampton) 9 points [best discard]
6th Mark Wilshire (872) 'ASBO' (Frampton) 9 points
1st Lady, Elaine Laverty (850) Fly-bi-Nite (Mid-Warwickshire) 18 points