Firefly Inlands at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

Spectacular finale to 2009 Firefly season

The Firefly Inland Championships saw some 44 boats turn up at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club on October 31/November 1 for a spectacular end to the Firefly 2009 season.

With gale force winds forecast overnight, the race officer was keen to get as much racing as possible done on Saturday, scheduling four races.

In classic Firefly style, the fleet started the day with two general recalls and a black flag which saw some hot contenders for the title binned from race 1.

Finally after a clean start, Alex Davy/Jonquil Brookes (Harwich) led the fleet round the windward mark. Fran Gifford/Susanna Bickford led for a while, which set them up to win the overall ladies prize.

It was eventually won by national champions Nigel Wakefield/Emily Saunderson (Gosport). Wakefield/Saunderson won the next two, which took place in a dying breeze.

Further down the fleet, huge mark rounding manoeuvres were the order of the day with many places to be gained by sailing around all the trouble.

It was all change on Sunday as huge gusts whipped down the course.

When the wind dropped to a mere 25 knots, the fleet launched. Wakefield/Saunderson led convincingly round mark 1 and were able to get far enough ahead to stop and re-attach a shroud prior to finishing to take the Inlands title.

Behind them chaos ensued as the class chairman capsized at the windward mark allowing Steve Greaves/Caroline Edwards and Jamie McEwen/Josie Palmer to get away down the reach while Davy/Brookes, Stuart and Jane Hudson and others had to bear away to miss his rigging.

With gale force gusts sweeping the course, very few risked gybing at the wing mark.

Some 20 boats did the three laps and got to the finish line - all with a tale to tell. The race finished with Greaves/Edwards second, Andy Cornah/Hamish Walker third and Rosie Davey/Giles Bradford fourth.

The second race was equally, if not more, dramatic. Calamity befell Greaves/Edwards and Cornah/Walker with Cornah’s sail falling off the gooseneck during a capsize and ripping at one of the seams, and Greaves’ mast breaking at the spreaders for the second Inlands in a row!

The Hudsons won the second race and Mark Tait/Penny Hooper came in second in his 1948 vintage boat. Wakefield’s third place spoiled his clean sweep for the weekend - his first and presumably the last capsize of the season was to blame.

Cornah righted his boat and finished the race 8th under jib alone.

Two races was quite enough as the wind showed no signs of dying and six masts had already broken or bent.

Those members of the fleet who showed the necessary moral fibre to complete both races retired proudly to the bar to start the tall stories sessions. It was a brilliant Inlands, with the full range of sailing conditions from force 1 - force 8, excellent race management and a hospitable reception at the club.

All 88 competitors - including 20 students from Bristol and UWE universities - were entered into the prizedraw to win a brand new Rondar firefly. The prizedraw will take place at the end of season party on November 14 with celebrity guest Steve Mitchell doing the honours.

See the NFA website for details about the party - tickets are available from Jo Mason through the website.

Overall Results: