OK Dinghy National Championships at Brixham Yacht Club - Days 1 & 2
by Mike Edwards 7 Sep 2013 00:15 BST
5-8 September 2013
"What a wonderful place to go sailing"
OK sailors from all four corners arrived in sunny and hot Brixham for the 2013 National Championships. A warm welcome from the race team, briefing over, and the scene was set.
Day 1 - Race 1
At the start the fleet formed two groups with those at the pin end carrying on starboard out to sea, whilst those at the committee boat tacking early and taking the inshore route. At the windward mark the leader of the right Dave Bourne just managed to round first ahead of Tony Woods the leader of the left group. New Zealand's Finn Gheury and Neil Goodhead were chasing hard. The positions remained the same around the Wing mark. At the leeward mark Goodhead just squeezed ahead of Woods into second.
The leading pack of three moved away from the rest of the fleet and thanks to some strong covering on the final leg Bourne, Goodhead, and Woods finished in that order.
Race 2
Terry Curtis sailed off the pin end of the line, tacked and crossed the fleet and led for the first three laps until the third beat when Robert Deaves favoured the right had side while Curtis covered Dave Bourne out to the left. The wind went right and Deaves led round the final triangle to win. Bourne rounded the final mark in second but failed to cover Curtis on the line and lost second place, while a fast approaching Gavin Waldron took fourth.
Results after day 1
1st Dave Bourne, 1-3
2nd Robert Deaves, 6-1
3rd Terry Curtis, 7-2
4th Neil Goodhead, 2-8
5th Mike Edwards, 5-9
Day 2
Day two started with sunshine and very little wind. However, the committee boat with its excellent group of volunteers left the harbour on time at 10.00am. The fleet launched and struggled to get beyond the harbour walls. Everyone hung around in the sun until 1.30pm when signs of wind appeared. The course set quickly by the slick Brixham team and the first gun sounded. The fleet got away cleanly but unfortunately the wind soon disappeared again. The fleet sat around again and reached the point of no return when from nowhere the breeze filled in.
Race 3
The race started in a steady force 2 from the south. Benefitting from the late port lift and rounding first was Tony Woods followed by Chris Perry in unchartered waters and a trailing group of boats. The wind held relatively steady down the first reach with Tony Woods rounding 1st again ahead of Robert Deaves and Ed Bradburn.
The second reach proved interesting with Deaves managing to sail underneath Woods as the wind shifted 180 degrees and died to virtually nothing. The PRO decided to shorten at what was originally the leeward mark. This left Deaves taking first from Woods second and Bradburn third despite the calls for abandonment from those who had not benefitted from the shifty final leg.
Race 4
There was a 180 degree change in wind direction for race 4 and an increase in strength to around 15 knots giving everyone a chance to stretch their legs apart from heavy weight Burt. The offshore shifty breeze made for an interesting first beat with all the championship leaders stranded on the left when a large cloud brought the ride side in strong.
Richard Burton (Chairman of the Dave Bourne appreciation society) led round from Simon Davis and Ed Bradburn. The wind had already started to decrease by the leeward mark with Burton still holding a narrow lead, but on the very shifty next beat Davis took the lead, though Bradburn was ahead at the bottom of the run. Davis again took the lead on the following beat and lead round the next lap to win by less than a boat length from Bradburn.
Meanwhile Robert Deaves, who had rounded the top mark in 15th had made gains each upwind and had moved to fifth at the final downwind mark before eventually passing Burton on the line as the wind returned to take an impressive third place and a seven point lead at the half way stage in the championship.
Results after day two
1st Robert Deaves, 6-1-1-3
2nd Simon Davies, 17-6-5-1
3rd Ed Bradburn, 8-10-3-2
4th Terry Curtis, 7-2-4-10
5th Tony Woods, 3-12-2-12