Europe Training Day and Open at Hunts Sailing Club

Europes at Hunts © Tony Mapplebeck

Europes at Hunts © Gair Matthews

Saturday 26th May dawned with blazing sunshine and a good stiff breeze – a Europe sailors delight! Hunts managed to get out their entire on site Europe fleet (two are still in garages awaiting their last coats of varnish) despite various injuries; the Hunts boats were swelled by 5 visiting Europes.

The more experienced visiting Europes were able to support the newly formed Hunts fleet checking boat set up during the first part of the morning. What a difference this session made – with masts being raked forwards 15cm (no more banged heads) and outhauls being fixed so they could be adjusted for the first time (for a good downwind blast), amongst other important tweaks and adjustments.

The second part of the morning saw Vanessa, Hunts' Principal Trainer, put the sailors through their paces with some exercises involving tacking and gybing on the whistle, a channel exercise and a covering exercise. Comprehensive debriefs ensured everyone learnt from each other and improved their Europe sailing.

As the wind and the ever present Hunts gusts increased during the afternoon the visiting Europe sailors took their chance to get the feel of the shifts and gusts ready for the racing the next day. More exercises followed including some starts practice and very exciting short races with lots of paths crossing and calls of Starboard and Water! By the end of the day everyone was tired but fired up for the Open the next day.

Sunday 26th May, Europe Open race day and more blazing sunshine, a little less wind and the ever famous Hunts tea and cakes.

Race 1 got underway in shifty force 1 to 2. Katie Mapplebeck and Gareth Williams made a clean break from the pack up the first beat followed by Lucy Boreham. Gareth followed Katie for nearly the entire race but closed the gap by just enough to be able to slip past at the finish. Lucy played the shifts well and covered the remainder of the fleet to take third.

After lunch and in slightly more wind Gareth was able to establish a good lead over the rest of the fleet. Angela Wallis gave chase, followed by Lucy and Mike Wallis. Further back Andy Harris and Steve Carver had been battling over seventh place until Andy caught the shift of the day, lifting him straight onto the starboard layline in front of Lucy and Mike to finish third.

The final race saw Gareth over the line early which gave everyone hope that someone else might be able to win a race. Richard Eagleton, Lucy Boreham and Steve Carver all had good speed and opened up a wide gap form the pursuing boats. Gareth sailed confidently through the entire Europe fleet and a menagerie of handicap boats to resume the lead by the penultimate lap. Richard kept second place with Steve and Lucy played an interesting game of cat and mouse with Steve by far the faster downwind and Lucy recovering her losses on the beats. At the finish Steve was able to hold off Lucy for third.

The racing was tight right down the fleet and no less than five of the eleven boats finished with an equal score of eight points. Gareth won overall with three straight wins, Lucy was second by a single point and Richard Eagleton had the best last race score to win the third place tie break.

Many thanks to RO Vanessa Weedon-Jones and all at Hunts SC for organising a weekend of fun in the sun for the Europe fleet. Let's hope we can do it all over again next year!

Overall Results: