Soak Insurance Solo Nigel Pusinelli Trophy at the WPNSA

Post-Olympics and nothing has changed. The facilities and race management are as good as you will find and the conditions on day 1 were equally rewarding. There are 37 entries which is slightly down on the last two years, I guess the WPNSA Olympic honeymoon is over.

The fleet remains super competitive and the racing was as tight as a pair of 10 year old hiking boots. The PRO made the decision to try and run 4 races as Sunday was predicted to be 3-5mph with constant rain. There were no protests from the audience and some were even heard muttering their plans to make it home for the Eurovision song contest. On the water it was a mixed bag of results.

Race 1

The wind was from the north west at 12 mph and the sea state was flat. Andy Tunnicliffe of Goacher Sails was fast out of the blocks, hitting the right hand side of the beat and rounding ahead of a group including Tim Law in the Winder/North and Micheal Sims in the Winder/ P+B. These three held position to the finish of the three lap race, Nigel Davies was fourth and Dave Mcgregor, our 'Soak' sponsor was fifth.

Race 2

The glory went to Ian 'capsize king' Hopwood, starting mid-line and tacking on to port he powered his Boon/North Solo up the generously long beat to round with a comfortable lead. Sims, Law, Tunnicliffe and Chris Brown were doing their best to catch the imposter to the throne but the lad was having none of it, sailing his own race and extending to the finish. Ian has been putting in the hours on the water and the hard work is paying off. Tunnicliffe took a deserved second ahead of Law and Sims and big Dave Mitchell filled the top five.

Race 3

The breeze was holding at 12-15mph and the fleet headed left with the exception of a few who tacked off at the committee boat and headed right looking for a header. Derek Jackman tacked on to starboard and looked good but Will Loy in the Boon/Edge and Cliff Crawshaw in his Crawshaw/North had rolled the dice and came in from the right on the layline, rounding with a huge lead. Joe Ryecroft had also spotted the dark cloud on the right and rounded third which is a story we will hear for eternity, nice one Joe. Loy led until the final few yards, pipped by Crawshaw (in a wooden boat !) who had gone low down the run and Sims took third. Mcgregor and Roger Lumby took fourth and fifth.

Race 4

The wind was at its strongest at 16mph and the leading group came in from the left. The Salcombe fleet were here in force and Chris Cleaves was revelling in the conditions, his decision to don the drysuit justified after 5hrs on the water. Chris was never threatened and took the bullet with some ease. Tim Law completed a Salcombe 1-2 and Dave Mitchell finished third in his son's Winder/North. Tunnicliffe was fourth which gave him the overnight lead. David Greening was fifth, Sims dropped to seventh.

So, after day 1 Andy Tunnicliffe led with 1-2-4-(6) from Tim Law with 2-3-2-(10) and Micheal Sims 3-4-3-(7). Dave Mitchell continued his good form with 5-7-3-(7) and SOAK sponsor Dave Mcgregor was fifth with 5-4-8-10.

The fleet re-assembled in the evening at the Cove Pub at Chessil beach and enjoyed the fine beer and food before stumbling back to their accommodation, tired but contented.

Sunday dawned with rain and under 5mph, no surprise to WPNSA as they must hold years of weather related data. After careful consideration the decision was taken by the competitors and race team to cancel racing for the day. So, the overnight results become the overall results and Andy Tunnicliffe has won Nigel Pusinelli Trophy.

Andy thanked WPNSA for their slick race management. Thanks also to Soak Watersports Club Insurance for their sponsorship.

Overall Results: