Tasar Open at Porthpean Sailing Club

Porthpean Tasar open prize winners © Lionel Rigby

Porthpean Sailing Club on the south coast of Cornwall held its annual Tasar Open Meeting on the weekend of May 4th & 5th. Once again we were blessed with good weather, sunshine & good sailing breezes provided by the weather Gods on both days.

The weekend was only let down by the lower than normal numbers, only 9 compared to the usual high teens. However with the current National Champions plus 2 former Tasar National Champions it was always going to be a quality meeting. With only 4 weeks to go before the 2013 Tasar Nationals at Lymington (May 31st June2nd) it was an ideal opportunity to get in some stiffer competition than just Club racing.

James Dowrick took his first opportunity at being a Race Officer for the weekend well. His training over the last few years came to the fore and I think we all realised that he did an excellent job together with his team of Nigel, Pete & Jan Barnes, Andrew Kendall & Simon Robins.

The wind direction and strength and sailing area was almost a déjà vu moment from last years Nationals, though the course configuration was different. Saturday was the windier of the 2 days and a fresh westerly gusty variable wind proved the first challenge for Race Officer and sailors alike. A "P" shaped course was set and with hardly any delay the first race of the scheduled 2 was underway. The breeze was into the high teens, giving no rest for anyone. Jeremy & Suzanne Hawkins soon blasted into the lead, hotly pursued by Malcolm & Fiona Davies, visiting from Teign Corinthian and Rod & Maureen Porteous from Hayling Island. The beats were challenging but the tight reaches were extremely exhilarating as the 9 Tasars blasted along. These 3 were setting the pattern for the weekend with them finishing in that order for both the Saturday races.

Sunday dawned a little lighter and the wind had swung to the south. The course was arranged to be smaller than Saturday's as the intention was to get 3 back to back races in. Problems at the start dropped the Hawkins to the back of the pack, letting the Davies crew through to a commanding lead. Steve Mitchell & Polly had an excellent first beat rounding in 2nd place and managed to draw away from the ever present Porteous boat. The Hawkins pilled through most of the fleet to take 3rd. Within a short space of time the course was swung round to cope with the gradual swinging breeze and before long we were off again. Once more the race became a dual between the Hawkins and the Davies teams and the Hawkins rounded the first mark in front. Tight covering for the rest of the race saw them just maintain their lead to take first place by just a few seconds, with the Porteous boat once again taking 3rd.

The Hawkins had to race again to ensure their overall lead and once again they got the better of Malcolm & Fiona and once again Rod & Maureen slotted into 3rd. The back to back format coupled with a fast reach back to the beach brought everybody back to the beach by 15.00 allowing a very leisurely lunch and après sail to take place in the afternoon sunshine. The prizes were presented by Paddy Seyler, the Commodore.

Overall Results: