Castle Cove Sailing Club Allen Welling Cup

Start line action during the Castle Cove Allen Welling Cup © Kevin Francis

Race team air guitar during the Castle Cove Allen Welling Cup © Kevin Francis

The view from the race team

Having realised that our duty was to fall on this prestigious event it was decided that no stone should be left unturned in the pursuit of the perfect occasion both for the competitors and the race officers... more on this later.

Having arrived at the club to find an ideal breeze and slightly overcast sky things looked good. John Pym quickly dashed/walked from the car to the chart room to report back that we had 15 knots to play with further enhancing the belief that today and for the first time in an age (if ever) we could hammer out all 7 races, after all this is a Grand Prix event. Having discussed 'the plan' in detail with the Dalai Lama (Nick Spicer) we boarded the good ship Imogen and ran through the checks that are necessary for all race officers including of course the appropriate use of the wig, yes the wig... I'm sure it's in the blue section of your handbook somewhere, so without further ado we were suitably dressed for the occasion and ready to implement 'the plan'.

The length of each race was agreed at approximately 20 minutes and various courses set to achieve this goal, the keelboats failed to appear which, whilst disappointing as no super tight reaches and short course sailing could be provided for the double handed sailors it did simplify 'the plan'.

Dinghies of all shapes and sizes began to appear which led to the first real problem. How do you set short races for boats that range from Toppers to RS800's in a single start? This was improved during the event but was not easy to manage, hence my proposal that everyone should race an Osprey and thus simplify this problem for future cup events!

Over 20 dinghies made the effort, which was fantastic and all at some point looked on in pure wonderment at the 3 Afro clad figures on Imogen wondering what wig they will need when it's their turn!. The races were broken up into windward/leeward, then triangular courses with a P course thrown in at the end to keep the Dalai Lama busy in Idler and everyone else checking the course boards. The wind played its part although it did vary in strength and direction at times, ultimately allowing all 7 races to be run with an on the water time in the region of 4.5 hours the rush for the toilet would be unavoidable.

Special mentions go to Hugh and Hanna for the master class in short course sailing, to Helen for the entertainment factor and ability to go from nowhere to everywhere in no time at all whilst maintaining a constant smile, to Yan for completing the event single handed in his Enterprise and to the Lasers and especially the Toppers who unfortunately had reduced racing laps due to the tight time schedules imposed by 'the plan'. With Jeremy and Paul finding their form in the Fireball and Keith and Kim getting to grips with the RS400 the forthcoming Weymouth regatta should be a great event for Castle Cove sailors.

Overall Results: