Thornbury Sailing Club Annual Regatta
by Paul Craig 12 Jun 2012 07:07 BST
9-10 June 2012
Thornbury Sailing Club's annual regatta took place over the weekend of the 9th & 10th June in difficult conditions. With storms lashing the west country on the eve of the event, and a forecast for strong but easing winds on the Saturday, and for very little breeze on Sunday, many chose to stay at home. For the 50 boats who did made the effort, they were greeted by sunshine and 25-30kts, with the odd 30kt+ gust.
RO Steve Hobbs opted to postpone the dinghy starts in the hope that the breeze would drop, and so set the Cruiser fleet off on their race. The Hunter Impala of Bill Beere got away to a quick start, with the Heol 7.4 of Tony Page trying to recover by flying their kite straight from the windward mark, a tactic that failed to deliver! The GK29 of Adrian Maddison ably crewed by Cherub sailors who deemed the conditions too much for their boat, put in a sterling effort to stay within reach of the Impala on the upwind leg on the northern side of the estuary, and with a superb downwind leg to the finish took the race win.
With the wind showing little sign of easing, local sailor Paul Craig launched his RS700 and showed that while challenging, it was possible to sail the course, so the RO launched the dinghy fleet. In the fast handicap fleet the RS700s of Craig & John Harvey launched off of the line side by side with Craig getting the early advantage by the windward mark. Harvey got the kite hoisted first, and took the advantage downwind, only to pile into a wave as he prepared to drop the kite resulting in a two piece mast! Craig then went on to sail conservatively to take the race win while the other competitors all failed to finish, although the Cherub of Paul Croote put on a fantastic downwind show demonstrating just how quick these boats can be downwind.
In the slow handicap fleet eleven boats took to the water, including the young team of M.Dennis & K. Lewis in their RS Feva who pushed the Solo of D. Whiston right to the end, with Whiston eventually taking 3rd. The Enterprise of Ian Wakelin and Sean O'Neil put on a great performance, only to throw it at the gybe mark gifting the race win to local sailor Barry Smith & Olivia Stodieck in the Miracle.
Saturday was capped off with a fantastic social in the clubhouse with Radio 2 featured band "5 Second Rule" whose Bass player is a club member.
Sunday dawned with a lighter breeze coming in off of the shore. In the fast handicap fleet the full complement of Cherubs took to the water boosting numbers to 23. In race 1, Craig in his 700 was forced over early and had to watch the fleet sail off as he returned to the line, however the fleet parked up at the first mark, and Craig found a way through to get back into contention. With the fleet converging on the leeward mark, the RS800 of Dave & Henry Morgan, managed to snag the bouy, which parted with its anchor and starting drifting up the course. The Cherub of Graham & Eddie Bridle proceeded to then lead a trio of Cherubs through to a 1,2,3 finish as the RO Jeremy Warren had no choice but to finish the race early.
In R2, Nigel Lovett in his A-class led the fleet away, but the real battle was between Craig and the Cherub of Andy & Jill Peters. The RS700 extending upwind but then gradually being reeled in on the downwind legs. Barry Smith now in his Fireball and making use of the ebbing tide and conventional spinnaker managed to separate the two fast boats on handicap.
In the slow handicap fleet the RS300 of Adam Underwood led the way around the course in R1 followed by the Lark of Mark Riddington and Martin Greenwood. I. Wakelin (Enterprise) continued to apply pressure to the faster boats ahead forcing the Scorpion of Nick & Sue Russell into 4th.
R2 allowed Riddington and Greenwood to demonstrate their consistency finishing close behind the Flying Fifteen and RS300s on the water to take 2nd place. With a first leg battle of the Enterprises Geoff Coxe and Sue Beynon managed to pull ahead and never looked back taking the race win, with Jeff Stott and Ken Greville in their YW Dayboat taking 3rd place. The cruiser fleet took off upriver, and Bill Beere made up for the previous day by easily taking the win from the chasing GK29 of A. Maddison with the Heol 7.4 again taking 3rd.
Overall Results:
Saturday
Cruiser
1st Adrian Maddison (GK29)
2nd Bill Beere (Hunter Impala)
3rd Tony Page (Heol 7.4)
Fast Handicap
1st Paul Craig (RS700)
Slow Handicap
1st Barry Smith/Olivia Stodieck (Miracle)
2nd Ian Wakelin/Sean O'Neil (Enterprise)
3rd Dom Whiston (Solo)
Sunday
Cruiser
1st Bill Beere (Hunter Impala)
2nd Adrian Maddison (GK29)
3rd Tony Page (Heol 7.4)
Fast Handicap
1st Paul Craig (RS700)
2nd Graham Bridle/Eddie Bridle (Cherub)
3rd Andy Peters/Jill Peters (Cherub)
Slow Handicap
1st Mark Riddington/Martin Greenwood (Lark)
2nd Ian Wakelin/Sean O'Neil (Enterprise)
3rd Geoff Coxe/Sue Beynon (Enterprise)
Full results on the Thornbury Sailing Club website.