RS Feva Open at Emsworth Sailing Club

It was looking good, wind had gone North, some rain came through, not enough to dampen spirits. Tide was on the way in and the committee were confusing competitors by showing that there wasn't actually enough water by sticking hard aground in the channel 20 yds from the club. No worries, 24 boats started launching (joined by 3 who sailed straight to the start from HISC - Race area was Sweare Deep 1 mile S of the club and HISC is another 3 further on). Barnaby and Ben from Bewl (is that alliteration?) took a different route to shallows exploration, a wider than planned arc away from the slipway, a daggerboard lowered a bit too much, a boat that stopped suddenly, a mast that needed a close inspection, a crew called Ben who obliged and a cold compress to the head to help recover the equilibrium - ouch!

Whilst awaiting the first start most boats entertained themselves with a decent little blast - pretty satisfying. 26 boats were ready to race and 1 was late awaiting her crew who had been competing in an athletics meeting in Guildford that morning. Well done Beth on a PB in the 800m! So total entries of 27. Then it happened, a big spike in wind and the majority of the fleet took a dip whilst experimenting with safe maximum adrenaline levels. These were still the conditions for the start. Perhaps it was the excitement that caused the lessons of tide under the boats to be forgotten but the result was a general recall. Next attempt and the majority got it right - individual recall only.

The fleet were intent on keeping the rescue flotilla working flat out. With wind against tide conditions were much hairier than many had encountered before. It seemed as if there were between say 3 and 8 boats inspecting their underwater shape in some detail at any one time. This saw at least two starting in the inverted position. One managed half of the first beat in said position! The other sailed out of their skins for the rest of the race.

First downwind had yesterdays victors, the Loveridges, powering down side by side with Vikki & Steffi. From the club seeing them in the distance the speed was more reminiscent of something like a 500 or a 29er. Vikki & Steffi took the learner 29er route in this matter and decided to see if their breastroke was up to the challenge. Loveridges smoking into the distance. Hugo & Tim realised the danger of too many gybes without the gybing strop that was still in the boat fixing yard, and reckoned that prudence called for hitting the corner and completing just the one of those manoeuvres. Sadly they hadn't worked out that if their patch of intended water had seagulls walking instead of swimming it wasn't going to take a daggerboard. One stupendous, handbrake assisted, stop later they realised sail racing is a whole lot smoother when the boat can float. That took them out what was third at the time.

Adam & Lisa Kay (Warsash) were following the example set by the weekends superquick Draycote bunch, no capsizes = cool result. Skill and nerve kept them in second. Owen Bowerman & Charlie Darling were also showing much improved ability in a blast. They nailed third. Fourth was a surprise given their inverted start! Anna Prescott and Jess Eales from Lymington staged an awfully impressive recovery for that one. Fifth place went to a boat from a fifth different club. Top home boat were Lily Summers & Islay Grant. Prizes went down to 8th so in 6th Becca Anthony/Fin Preston; 7th Hugo Tucker/Tim Collino (both boats EmsworthSC) and 8th the first Tonbridge School boat - Seb Baucutt & Will Cameron.

It was at this point that with only 14 finishers the RO decided that enough mayhem had been enjoyed and the remainder was sensibly abandoned. So instead of a sensible 4 race series with one discard we had a one race shootout. Had we known that at the start - I wonder what would have happened? More risk taking? Taking the adrenaline beyond the safe recommended levels? Hmm...

Spot prize went to Coral Crouch & Beth Garland for sheer effort and nonetheless a sad lack of success on the day. Having rushed back from epic athletic endeavours, a change in the car and a sprint out to the race area for the second race, a sail around waiting for race 1 to finish and then a lovely beat back to the club with no competitive sailing at all. Shucks - the way the cookie crumbles... The other spot prize went to a pair who had the signing off ladies and rescue fleet in a state of high alert. Tonbridge pair Finn O'Neill & David Jackson are the classes first recipients of the satnav award. On their way home they followed the wong channel and ended up at Langstone SC about a mile and a half from base - whoops. At least they saw more of the harbour than most! Epic...

All told 11 clubs were represented in this the second leg of the Southern Region Circuit. Not bad at all. Last leg is the Stokes Bay GP. Huge thanks to Emsworth SC, and all who helped (including those who just mucked in when it got exciting!).

Final thought: the on-fire Loveridges are, we believe, the first to ever manage to win the both legs of the Chichester/Emsworth doubleheader.