Barnard Buoy Race at Southwold Sailing Club

by Jeremy Taylor 21 Jun 2005 08:37 BST

Southwold Sailing Club held their annual race to the Barnard Buoy off Pakefield and back to Southwold on Sunday. The race took place in the best weather so far this summer, with temperatures in the high 20’s and a 10 knot South Easterly breeze.

The race started directly off the harbour entrance and with the ebb tide and wind pushing the fleet over the line 3 boats were judged to be over at the start and had to return to start again.

The early leader was Mark Nowell and James Farman’s Laser 5000, followed by Mike Pickles and Richard Fishers Javelin and Cath Fox and Vicky Gladwell’s Laser 4000.

As the fleet passed the pier Nowell/Farman were still leading from Pickles/Fisher, while the B14 of Dirk Bougard had recovered from their early start to pull through to 3rd.

Behind them the Contenders of Mike Gower and Tom Seppings were enjoying a close battle.

The fleet had to gybe inshore at Covehithe to round the turning mark off the church and at this stage Nowell/Farman led from Bougard/Taylor with Pickles/Fisher 3rd.

At the Barnard Buoy Nowell/Farman had pulled out a 5 minute lead over Bougard/Taylor with Pickles/Fisher a further minute behind.

Mike Gower held the lead from Tom Seppings in the 18 mile Contender match race.

Tactics were crucial on the return leg as the fleet beat back against the tide. The leading 3 boats chose to hold their spinnakers and head straight into the beach. Nowell/Farman went all the way to the beach and lost ground to Bougard/Taylor who dropped early and sailed the more direct route. Pickles/Fisher also headed into the beach and lost ground on the leaders. Greg and Mary Brown had started late but were making rapid progress through the fleet, at the Barnard Buoy they dropped their spinnaker and headed straight for home, a tactic that paid off and took them briefly into 3rd place on the water.

At the front Nowell/Farman had been almost caught by Bougard/Taylor as they passed Benacre, but they managed to hold them off and in the strengthening breeze pulled away to take line honours in a time of 3 hours 15 minutes. The B14 of Bougard/Taylor finished 3 minutes later with the rest of the fleet behind them in the mist. Ten minutes later Pickles/Fishers Javelin was the next boat to finish.

The contender match race began to hot up as the pair passed the pier, with Seppings initiating a tacking duel and eventually forcing his way past Gower to take 4th place.

On handicap it looked like a clear win for Pickles/Fisher, but Bougard/Taylor were left rueing their premature start as they missed out on the win by 24 seconds on handicap. Nowell/Farman took 3rd.

Overall Results:

1st Mike Pickles & Richard Fisher, Javelin
2nd Dirk Bougard & Jeremy Taylor, B14
3rd Mark Nowell & James Farman, Laser 5000

In the cruiser fleet Andrew Rowley and crew on Roanmar retained the trophy they won last year after a close race with Malcolm Taylors Antares. White Gold retired following halyard trouble.

Next weekend the club host their second big event of the month as the Fastsail fleets come to Southwold for their regional open. The event is open to Javelins, Hornets, 5o5’s, FD’s, Fireballs and 470’s. Current entries stand at 25 including 11 Javelins 3 Hornets and 11 5o5’s. This should be another great weekends racing with 2 races on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. For more info see the clubs website www.southwoldsailing.co.uk or the event website www.fastsail.org