XOD End-of-Season Races at Itchenor Sailing Club
by David Priscott 2 Nov 2009 11:46 GMT
Competitive end of season for XODs at Itchenor
Over the last couple of weekends the season came to an exciting climax for the XOD class at Itchenor Sailing Club. The Beadle Bowl is awarded to the top XOD in the Saturday series that runs from mid-summer. Of the 27 boats that competed in the series, seven had a chance of taking the trophy as the last race started. As the fleet set off down harbour in a strong wind in became apparent that only one of three of the contenders would be victorious. Ted Roose was sailing Thora superbly upwind to edge out Wenda, not a contender, at the windward mark. Wenda’s superior downwind speed enabled her to overtake Thora at the leeward mark. It was the same story at the next two marks. All the time the two other contenders, Peter Taylor’s Felix and the Lawrence brothers’ Catherine were not far behind the leaders. At the final mark it could hardly have been closer with the leading four boats rounded within a few seconds of each other and well clear of the rest of the fleet. At the gun it was Wenda that took the race but the trophy would be decided by the positions of the next three boats. Thora was second, Catherine third and Felix fourth which resulted in all three having the same series points. So it came to a count back with Catherine emerging as the victor.
During October the Autumn Trophy is competed for by over 20 XODs. As the final race of the season arrived it was clear that one of three Xs would be the winner. The consistently performing Thora (Ted Roose, Chris Blevins and David Priscott) was again in the mix; this time with Damian Ash who is now successfully deploying Wenda’s possibilities and the real “dark horse”, Ilex sailed by Stu Haill. It was these three who set the pace right from the start in very light airs on Saturday afternoon. A decisive moment came when Ilex went hard aground near the Chalkdock beacon. This left Thora and Wenda to fight it out. Although Wenda established a significant lead that she held to the finish, the crew on Thora were content in the knowledge that their second place was sufficient to take the Autumn Trophy.
Overall Results:
Beadle Bowl
1 Catherine (Peter and Stephen Lawrence) 15 points
2 Felix (Peter and Anne Taylor) 15 points
3 Thora (Ted Roose, Chris Blevins, David Priscott)
Autumn Trophy
1 Thora (Ted Roose, Chris Blevins, David Priscott)
2 Wenda (Damian Ash)
3 Harmony (John and Linda Tattersall)