GP14 Open at Hampton Sailing Club
by Claudia Wheeler 12 Sep 2011 08:57 BST
11 September 2011
GP14s at Hampton © Claudia Wheeler
The weather forecast was predicting very strong winds with hurrican Katia having already crossed the Atlantic and already on its way to England.
Twelve boats started the first race and, quite quickly, it became obvious that the two lead boats were not from Hampton, but from two different clubs Papercourt (near Guildford, Surrey) and BTYC (Wembley, off the North Circular). After a tough race, number 14014 helmed by Mark Wolf, crewed by Alex Dotsch and was leading for 4 laps came second because he lost time on the leeward mark, sailing too close to the bank. The winner of that first race was boat number 13316 helmed by James Ward and crewed by Richard Whitehill. They were last year winners. In third place was boat 10737 helmed by Kevin Anderson and crewed alternatively by Maddie and Sadie Anderson. By then several boats had retired beaten by the pouring rain.
Race 2 started promptly at 1.30pm. The winds were getting stronger and we were delighted that boat 14035, from HSC, helmed by Simon Girven and crewed by Tim Given won that race.Boat 14014 which had a bad start suddenly leapt into action on the last race gaining a second position while boat 13316 was in third postion. Two boats completed 3 laps and two boats did not join the race as the winds were even stronger by then.
Race 3 started at 3.15pm and only 6 boats completed that race. Some spectacular capsizing were entertaining a public which had come to support David Walliams swimming for Sports Aid and was supposed to swim by the club sometimes in the afternoon. He did arrive just as we finished the last race having swam from Lecklade and aiming to reach Big Ben. We were thrilled to see him from the balcony and it added some dimension to what had been a very exciting day. In that last race, boat number 14314 came first, thus becoming the overall winner, followed by boat 13316 and in third position was boat 10737.
Overall Results:
1st Mark Wolf and Alex Dotsch (BTYC Sailing Club)
2nd James Ward and Richard Whitehill (Papercourt Sailing Club)
3rd Kevin Anderson, Maddie Anderson, Sadie Anderson)
4th Richard Page and Maureen Dance