ISO, Buzz and Alto Open at Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club
by Bob Ladell & Gary Hill 24 Jun 2012 16:11 BST
16-17 June 2012
One of my favourite venues - Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club. An ISO event. And windy! Like a lot of events with many classes in the last couple of years, the turnout was low. Just three ISOs, a Buzz and interestingly, an Alto.
Saturday was blowing the proverbial old boots. F6 gusting F7 at which racing was abandoned.
Bob and Gary in ISO 814 decided to give it a crack and went screaming off in a cloud of spray. Beating upwind, bore away big time and popped the kite. Big gust hit with some massive acceleration toppling the crew, slicing upwind and a big splash.. Boat back upright and some more 2 sail reaching followed by another couple of swims and in we came. Enough fun for one day !
The overnight 70's party was very well attended with most well into the spirit of the dress code. John and Yoko took the ISO prize with the Sheppey team led by Sid Vicious, a Commodore you've never seen dressed like that before and a host of other notables. Well done to all a great evening.
The breeze moderated overnight with still a stiff F5 gusting F6 on Sunday morning. The race was on.
With the small fleet handicapped results were decided. Race 1 at slack tide saw Stuart and Zoe in the Buzz take the results from Tim and Jo in the Alto leaving the ISOs to fight over the remaining places.
The challenging conditions continued through race 2 with the Alto winning again but this time chased for line honours by John and Juliet in Tinky Winky pushing the Buzz back to third. 814 just about maintained 4th place again over John and Yoko in Serenity.
Third race and everyone tiring but yet again Tim and Jo took the Alto to line honours followed by Tinky Winky, being pushed back to 3rd on handicap by Stuart and Zoe. 814 and Serenity fighting over last place, eventually taken by 814.
Another excellent Sheppey day drew to a close, with thanks to all the Sheppey team for an excellent weekend on and off the water.
Overall Results:
1st Alto 119, Tim Kift & Jo Wicken (Wilsonian SC)
2nd Buzz 1000, Stuart Bailey & Zoe Bailey (Wilsonian SC)
3rd ISO 1003, John Gill & Juliet Daniels
4th ISO 814, Bob Ladell & Gary Hill (King George SC)
5th ISO 1190, Colin Snook & Alison Revitt (Calshot)