Solo Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

Solos at Frensham Pond © Simon Lomas-Clarke

Solos at Frensham Pond © Simon Lomas-Clarke

A fleet of 20 Solos gathered at Frensham Pond Sailing Club for the annual Solo Open meeting on Sunday 19th April. The fleets were met by a healthy 15-18 knot breeze from the North East. Although the wind brought a chill to the event the direction is usually the least shifty for racing at Frensham.

The opening race got away first time which was a challenging ask, with most competitors trying to avoid the pin end, nearest the trees. Solo newcomer, Martin Frary built up a significant lead but suffered navigational issues on the second lap. Martin lead the whole fleet to the wrong mark but he was so far up the beat before he saw the rest of the fleet running to the correct mark the damage had been done. Simon Lomas-Clarke (Frensham Pond SC) assumed the lead, building a reasonable gap, only for the following pack to come down on a gust on the last run. From the start of the final beat, any of the leading four boats could have taken the win. Will Rainey (Burghfield SC) came through to win, narrowly beating Simon Lomas-Clarke to second with James Ross (Hamble River SC) in third.

In the second race the leading four boats broke clear of the fleet and battled amongst themselves for positions. The final beat saw Alex Powell (Portchester SC) take to the far shore and came up from fourth to take the win. Martin Frary sailed a solid final beat to come second with the home boat of Simon Lomas-Clarke in third.

Following lunch the race officer chose to use the same course as the morning but with a start line more in the centre of the lake. An individual recall saw Alex Powell return to the line. Ross Thompson (Frensham Pond SC), in his first outing in a Solo (and significantly younger than the average Solo sailor), lead for most of the race in lighter conditions, seeing the wind head toward the North West. Alex was slowly hauled in by the chasing fleet with James Ross recording the victory, Will Rainey in second and Alex Powell making a fantastic come-back to finish in third.

Going into the final race, it was impossible to tell who was closest to the trophy so it was every sailor racing for the win. The start, on a very port biased line, saw James Ross bail out with 10 seconds to go and the pin won by Alex Powell. Martin Frary finally recovered from his first race disappointment to lead from start to finish but he had to fight for it. Martin was initially pursued by Simon Lomas-Clarke who struggled to keep the power on upwind in the stronger gusts and finished third. More pies required there. James Ross then took over the chase and couldn't quite get past Martin on the final beat with Martin winning the race and James Ross in a photo-finish second.

With a different winner in every race and places not decided until the boats crossed the finish line, it was consistency that ultimately counted and James Ross's three top three results gave him the regatta victory. Alex Powell showed some fantastic sailing skills to come from the back in two races to gain second place overall on count-back. Simon Lomas-Clarke completed the top three to take third.

The local fleet provided a great array of cakes to replace the burnt calories lost in four fairly breezy races. The prizes and the open meeting trophy were awarded by Club Commodore and former Solo National Champion Keith Videlo.

Overall Results: