Wightlink Contender Open at Brading Haven Yacht Club

by Rodger White 12 Jul 2005 09:28 BST 9-10 July 2005

36 Contenders ventured to Brading Haven YC on the Isle of Wight for round 6 of the Traveller’s Trophy with generous sponsorship from WightLink, Spinlock and North Sails.

Race 1 started in a northerly 3 on a heavily port end biased start line. First to show on the port side were Phil Dickinson (681) and Dave Davies (693), who led at the windward mark, hotly pursued by Stuart Jones (701). Good waves for pumping to the wing mark and the second broader reach. Stuart Jones picked the right way up the second beat to lead by a substantial margin and held on the end. Phil Dickinson squeezed past Dave Davies for 2nd and 3rd places.

Race 2 the windward mark was brought closer in the now dropping breeze. Geoff Bettle (683) shot out from the port end and soon tacked onto port, laying the windward mark followed by Nick Grace (700), Gary Langdown (2324) and Stuart Jones. Plenty of place changing up the beats as the effect of the tanker moored to the north of the windward mark played its part. With superior downwind tactics, Gary Langdown took the lead with Geoff Bettle and Stuart Jones 2nd and 3rd.

Even shorter windward leg and tide made the line crossing difficult again, but Stuart Jones took too much advantage of the sag in the line and was OCS, while Nick Grace, Rodger White (2314), Matt Aston (702) and Richard Gimmler (674) were best off at the port end, all soon tacking on the port lay line. Grace led at the windward mark, followed by Aston and White. Aston squeezed past Grace by the wing mark. On the next beat, the main bunch of leaders soon headed for the port side, to leave White to test the starboard side. Not quite successfully enough to pass Aston who held on the finish after the run. On the short beat to the line, Alan Hudson (614) rounded the Committee boat stern on a gust to pip Langdown and Grace.

Sunday afternoon and the north easterly wind was much lighter and the majority of the fleet decided to start near the Committee boat and tack inshore out of the tide. Local Martin Davies (585) was best there but Grace right at the port end and White, Ben Stitt (610) and Keith Paul (589) headed left and the breeze filled in there giving a comfortable gap from those on the right. White passed Grace at the wing mark and stretched a lead only to fail in elementary tactics (not covering the opposition) going to the line on the final beat and losing to Grace by a boat length. Langdown recovered from a shocker to 4th just behind Keith Paul. Langdown was first overall and the tight minor places were decided on count back.

An excellent weekend of sailing at a very friendly club – we will return next year !

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	Gold	2324	Gary Langdown	Highcliffe	5	1	4	4	9
2nd	Gold	702	Matt Aston	Datchet	4	7	1	23	12
3rd	Gold	700	Nick Grace	Castle Cove	6	6	5	1	12
4th	Gold	2314	Rodger White	Stewartby	8	12	2	2	12
5th	Gold	701	Stuart Jones	Datchet	1	3	OCS	9	13
6th	Gold	693	Dave Davies	RYA	3	5	7	12	15
7th	Gold	683	Geoff Bettle	Highcliffe	9	2	11	20	22
8th	Silver	681	Phil Dickinson	Weston	2	15	6	26	23
9th	Gold	613	Tony Burton	King George	7	11	9	8	24
10th	Gold	589	Keith Paul	Weston	12	10	13	3	25
11th	Silver	614	Alan Hudson	Weston	14	9	3	15	26
12th	Gold	674	Rich Gimmler	Whitfriars	15	4	8	14	26
13th	Bronze	610	Ben Stitt	Brading Haven	21	14	16	5	35
14th	Silver	710	Simon Forbes	Weston	13	13	12	19	38
15th	Bronze	585	Martyn Davies	Brading Haven	20	22	14	6	40
16th	Silver	696	Tony White	Lancing	10	8	22	25	40
17th	Bronze	643	Gareth Humphreys	Weston	18	18	10	16	44
18th	Silver	616	Gary Collett	Gurnard	23	21	19	7	47
19th	Silver	711	Nick Noble	Portishead	19	20	15	13	47
20th	Silver	660	Richard Keevil	Langstone	11	17	20	22	48
21st	Silver	635	Paul Horlock	Castle Cove	30	16	26	11	53
22nd	Gold	647	Mark Robinson	Gurnard	DNF	24	21	10	55
23rd	Gold	453	Gary Austin	Lancing	16	19	27	28	62
24th	Silver	640	Alan Mollatt	Sandwich Bay	24	26	23	18	65
25th	Silver	682	Ginge Lincoln	Hayling Ferry	25	23	18	27	66
26th	Silver	2310	Paul Walker	Parkstone	17	DNF	DNC	17	71
27th	Bronze	586	Mark Samsom	Salcombe	32	31	24	21	76
28th	Bronze	627	David Gough	Starcross	33	29	17	31	77
29th	Bronze	664	Richard Coleman	Brading Haven	26	27	28	24	77
30th	Bronze	508	Paul Mew	Lee on Solent	22	25	DNF	DNC	84
31st	Bronze	292	T. Humphries	Brading Haven	31	30	25	29	84
32nd	Bronze	545	Jason Lunn	Burton	29	28	29	DNC	86
33rd	Bronze	620	Mark Jackson	Lancing	27	32	33	30	89
34th	Bronze	604	Phil Alison	GYG	28	34	30	32	90
35th	Bronze	605	S. Hodgson		34	35	31	33	98
36th	Bronze	597	Mike Scrivener	Lancing	DNF	33	32	34	99