Osprey National Championships at Parkstone Yacht Club - Day 3

by Paddy Lewis 23 Jul 2012 21:48 BST 21-24 July 2012

This will be a day all those lucky enough to be out there will talk about for years to come. The expectation at the beginning of the day was for light or no wind and the first pint of Pimms for elevenses! The race officer stuck the "where's Wally" (AP) flag up and said he'd keep checking the wind and return at 11.30 with a decision. Alastair Watkins jumped at the opportunity to go shopping for a birthday present for his wife Kate having been reminded by her at breakfast that it was her birthday on Thursday. He did a reasonable job of pretending he had remembered but was well aware he would be sleeping in the rabbit hutch if he didn't get it sorted.

The rest of the fleet were relaxing in the beautiful sunshine when the race officer came rushing out of his hut with news of 15 knots in the bay, which wasn't expected. Happy days, you've never seen a group of sailors move on mass at such speed. There was cheering form the big lads who'd spent the last two days sitting in the bottom of the boat and lots calculating of what might happen to the leader board if the wind held and those of us carrying a bit extract took a jump forward in the results.

The conditions out in the bay couldn't have been more perfect, bright blue sky, 15 knots of breeze and flat water. Race 1 got underway first time with the Odling boys out of the blocks off the pin end of the line like a rat up a drain pipe. They tacked and crossed the fleet and arrived first at the windward mark followed by Steve George and Mikey Greig who had finally got to use their perfectly tuned Charles Atlas shaped bodies to romp up windward leg like a team being chased by the class secretary for their subscriptions!

The first reach was broad and the temptation was to get dragged up but the lighter crews took the chance to stay low and take a bit out of those going high who ending up running down to the mark. The gybe took the fleet onto a good tight reach and then we were on the edge, which gave the grunters a chance to take a step forward on the rest of the fleet. There was a bit of changing in the top order but the Odlings took it from George and Greig followed closely by Martin Cooney and Peter Frith who were starting to find the old magic again. This was almost certainly because Martin was back in his pink 1970s spray top, which seems to have the same effect as the spider man pants have to Mr Pickering (so Mrs Pickering tells me).

Race 2, the wind was still going and we where off again quickly. Many of the same people at the top mark as the first race also joined by Paul Heather and Jonathan Osgood, who had had a rub down with some special performance enhancing gel they had brought from Steve George - not sure what it was but he's got more if anyone wants some. The Odlings were in command of the race right up to the last leg when Cooney and Frith just got them on the line very closely followed by our friends from the fat tubs, Weston and Hawkes.

On the way in Weston and Hawkes took a left turn at the mouth of the harbour and headed for the beach either to see titty the topless trimmer or to get an ice cream. As they are both well past it we thought it must be the ice creams and we were correct. Mark's comment back at the slipway was the if you come from Yorkshire, as he does, and you're on ya holidays then you've got to have ice cream. Needless to say Simon had to pay for it!

The leaders, Barker and Atkinson, at the end of day two are hanging in there with a 5th and 8th today. Caldwell and Gibbons also had a more difficult day posting a 10 and 13 to leave them 4 points behind Barker. Pickering and Priddle are still in the hunt if they get their finger out and stop scooping up water. After the top three there are 6-odd boats on around 32 points who all have shot a 4th and 5th. In the rest of the fleet there is still a lot that can change so everyone would be well advised to get an early night... no chance!

Tomorrow's wind looks light again when we return to the top triangle inside the harbour for the last two races. Let's hope we get to go because it will be a very exciting last day at Parkstone.

Results after Day 3:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1st	1298	Barking Mad	Andy Barker	Michael Atkinson	Poole YC	(BFD)	1	1	3	2	-8	5	12
2nd	1331	Odeline	Gareth Caldwell	Jonathon Gibbons	Blithfield SC	1	2	3	1	9	-10	-13	16
3rd	1348	Lucky	Mike Pickering	Mike Priddle	Restronguet SC	-11	6	2	4	3	4	-9	19
4th	1290	Swiftwun	Martin Cooney	Peter Frith	Poole YC	-8	-12	7	6	7	3	1	24
5th	1349		Mark Weston	Simon Hawkes	Filey YC	-15	11	5	-14	1	11	3	31
6th	1085	Infidel	Will Odling	George Odling	RYA	-14	-15	14	2	13	1	2	32
7th	1343	Luv Bites	Richard Marshall	Steve Oldale	Poole YC	7	5	11	-19	-15	5	4	32
8th	1322	Peek-a-boo	Mick Greenland	Chris Saunders	Isle of Sheppey SC	5	7	-9	5	6	9	-10	32
9th	1337	Baa Baa	Paddy Lewis	Peter Greig	Datchet Water SC	-10	9	-10	7	4	7	7	34
10th	1280	Obsession	Steve George	Michael Greig	Mounts Bay SC	13	14	-23	-22	5	2	6	40
11th	1350	Contains Nuts	David Springett	Jerry Dixon	Ardleigh SC	4	4	-16	10	8	16	-20	42
12th	1314	Think Again	Viola Scott	Mike Scott	Kielder Water SC	12	3	4	-18	14	-20	12	45
13th	1287	Excalibur	Robert Shaw	Ian Little	Kielder Water SC	3	8	-12	12	11	12	-16	46
14th	1296	White Star	Kevin Francis	Philip Male	Castle Cove SC	6	-23	8	11	-16	6	15	46
15th	1291	Waimanu	Alex Willis	Nick Willis	Hayling Island SC	2	10	6	-17	12	-17	17	47
16th	1341	Stylo	Russell Wheeler	Jamie Andrews	Isle of Sheppey SC	-16	13	13	15	10	-19	11	62
17th	1292	Light N Bitter	Paul Heather	Jonathan Osgood	Wilsonian SC	-18	-17	15	8	17	15	8	63
18th	1353	Callisto	John Shenton	Steve Offer	Wilsonian SC	17	16	-22	20	-22	14	14	81
19th	1295	Big Girls Blouse	Philip Greetham	Christopher Greetham	Poole YC	-20	19	20	13	18	13	(RAF)	83
20th	1267	Another Swift Half	David Best	Stephen King	Poole YC	-24	21	18	9	20	-23	18	86
21st	1206	Indecision	Rosie Watkins	Ollie Hobson	Poole YC	9	18	-25	-28	23	21	19	90
22nd	1338	Curved Air	Ken Brown	Chris Butters	Isle of Sheppey SC	21	-22	17	21	21	18	-22	98
23rd	1352	String Driven Thing	Nick Jones	Arthur Butler	RYA	-23	-25	21	16	19	22	21	99
24th	1310	Brave New World	Michael Richardson	David Bourne	Poole YC	19	20	19	23	24	-25	-26	105
25th	1318	IV Play	Peter Barnstable	John Bower	Castle Cove SC	22	-27	-28	26	25	26	24	123
26th	1345	Hakuna Matata	Paul Redford	Stephen Garvey	Tenby SC	-27	26	26	27	-28	24	23	126
27th	1340	Fiddlestix	John Mills	Caz Mills	Shoreham SC	25	24	24	-29	(BFD)	27	27	127
28th	1319	Prey Encore	Chris Playfair	Alistair Watkins	Poole YC	-28	-29	27	24	27	DNF	25	131
29th	1240	Cognito	Ian Hart	Andy Edmonds	Poole YC	26	28	-29	25	26	(DNC)	DNC	134