Comet Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

Six visitors joined two home boats for Burghfield's Comet Open on Saturday 25th April. Although those travelling from the East had to drive through heavy rain, the weather at the club was dry, with a good breeze coming straight down the lake. This allowed the Race Officer to set a course with a long beat and run.

A few seconds before the first start the wind dropped, and this left the two local boats, Tim Higgs and Chris Robinson, stranded short of the line. As the wind began to fill in again some boats picked up the wind sooner than the others, and there were some big gains and losses made in the shifty and fickle wind. As a result half way up the first beat the fleet were widely spread apart. Michael Ettershank was first to the windward mark, with a gap to Henry Jaggers and John Coppenhall. At the beginning of lap two the wind finally steadied and picked up in strength. Ian Coppenhall and Chris took a different route through the islands to Henry and John and moved up to second and third place. However, Michael was too far in front to be caught, and there were no further changes in the top three. Further back Steve Gregory moved up to fourth place, but capsized on the final beat, allowing Henry into fourth.

In race two Ian got the best start. Michael broke away from the rest of the fleet, taking the right hand side of the first beat, but he made no impression on Ian's lead and was only just ahead of the chasing pack of boats led by Steve. On the first run the wind dropped which left Ian with a commanding lead. Behind him the fleet spread right out across the width of the lake, and it was wide open as to who would be in the best wind and get through to second place. Initially it looked as if Henry would sail past on the right hand side, but in the end it was Steve on the extreme left, running by the lee on the opposite tack to the rest of the fleet, who sailed into second. On the second lap the wind got up again, and Michael and Chris moved up to second and third. They enjoyed some planning reaches on the runs, and with Ian clear ahead Michael took a flyer by sailing high over one of the islands, but he neither gained ground on Ian, nor got caught by Chris. There were no further changes in positions at the top, and this race Steve made no mistakes and kept fourth place.

After the first two races Ian and Michael had the first two placings, but being on equal points the last race would decide who was first and who was second – the highest placed of the two would win overall. They both started close together at the pin end of the line, with Ian having the slightly better start. However, with a wind shift at the last moment, this wasn't the most favoured end, and other boats were ahead and kept them pinned against the bank. Ian broke free from the bunch first and was first to the mark with a short lead over Chris, who in turn had a short lead over Michael. Over the next lap the gaps reduced and Michael overtook Chris. On the final beat he began to close on Ian, but the race finished before he could catch him giving Ian first place in the last race and overall. Further back Henry held fourth place, which secured him fourth place overall.

Overall Results: