British Moth Open at Mid Warwickshire Yacht Club

Roger Witts during the British Moth open at Mid Warwickshire © Jayne Wigham

Peter Lee (888) and Gary Tomkins (783) during the British Moth open at Mid Warwickshire © Jayne Wigham

Paul Cook during the British Moth open at Mid Warwickshire © Jayne Wigham

Gusty welcome for the first open of the year

Mid Warwickshire Yacht Club based at Willes Meadow Reservoir Leamington Spa welcomed the British Moth Fleet to its water on Saturday 28 March.

In Race 1 Roger Witts (Frampton on Severn SC) took advantage of the generally line shy fleet, sailed into clear air and built up and maintained a substantial lead which was never challenged. The gusty and violently swinging wind presented challenges for many of the sailors. On the first down-wind leg the tightly packed fleet jostled for position but a short sharp gust caught Paul Cook (Maidenhead SC) out capsizing and needing assistance to recover.

The conditions saw the remaining places changing with Abby Freely (Hunts SC) swapping places a couple of times with fellow club member Colin Hall. Further down the fleet Peter Lee (Mid Warwickshire YC), Gary Tomkins (Hunts SC) and Elaine Laverty (Mid Warwickshire YC) jostled for position. Abby Freely's day ended when her spreaders parted company with the mast forcing her to retire. This left Hall in second place and Tomkins managed to win the battle for third.

After lunch, the second race got off to a clean start with Witts once again dominating in the challenging conditions. Tomkins was battling it out with Hall who made an unforced error and was overtaken by the rest of the fleet. Hall staged a fight back but could not reach Tomkins and eventually joined the capsize club adding two to his name including one to windward!

Race 3 starting off in similar conditions but this time Witts, having secured first position, decided not to sail. Pam Coop (Mid Warwickshire YC) capsized during the start sequence needing assistance to recover and Hall's kicker failed as the start gun went, forcing his retirement. This left just 3 boats to compete and what a race it turned out to be. Lee took the early lead followed closely by Tomkins. Cook capsized on the first mark as a wind shift caught him out at the first mark leaving a large distance behind the leaders. On Lap 3 Lee hit the windward mark allowing Tomkins through. During lap 4 Lee caught up Tomkins but was still looking at the stern of his rival who further extended his lead in the lap 5. Tomkins was wrong footed by a wind shift in lap 6 allowing Lee through. On the final lap Tomkins took the lead once again but his elbow touched the last rounding mark just before the finish forcing him to take a penalty allowing Lee to take the gun.

Overall Results: