50th Enterprise Open at Ely Sailing Club
by Alayne Seymour 8 May 2011 20:58 BST
8 May 2011
Enterprises at Ely © K Bilham
Twenty two sailors took part in three hours of racing during Ely’s 50th Annual Enterprise Open Meeting. The trophy was the Roswell Enterprise Cup, which was presented by Mary Fyson back in 1971. Four clubs from the Eastern and Broads Area were represented: Six boats from Ely, three from Hunts and one from Dabchicks and one from Alexandra Yacht Club.
A force 4 southerly wind greeted the competitors with testing gusts causing several capsizes which became significant in the final results. All participants battled the conditions and each other with fifty five place changes during the three race series.
In the first race Ely’s husband and wife team of Andy and Hannah Wilcox lead the way from start to finish with a twenty–one second advantage over visiting pair Brian and Linda Cumming. Third were Ely’s Kevin Bilham and Jamie Cammann.
The second race saw the married couples leading the way again until the fifth lap when an unexplained capsize on the penultimate windward leg saw Andy and Hannah drop from 2nd to 4th . The Cummings the winners by 54 seconds from Kevin & Jamie who piped Keith and Katie Tyler by one second on the finishing line having followed them for most of the tussle.
The third and deciding race saw Kevin & Jamie enter an early lead only to be caught by a gust on the first downwind leg which put them into an involuntary gybe and capsize.
Brian and Linda then hit the front and sailed away from the chasing pack and won by 43 seconds. Keith and Katie Tyler and Scott Bilham with Jack Cammann went from 5th and 6th to 2nd and 3rd respectively during the final race proving that perseverance pays.
The final results were 1st Brian and Linda Cumming from Dabchicks Sailing Club with two firsts, 2nd Andy and Hannah Wilcox counting a 1st and 4th, 3rd Keith and Katie Tyler, from Hunts S.C., counting a 2nd and 3rd who beat Kevin Bilham and Jamie Cammann who also had a 2nd and 3rd but the capsize in the final race cost the Ely pair third place overall. The all lady team of Suzie Sallis and Jo Broad also from Ely took the ladies prize finishing 9th overall with a 6th and 7th to count.