Rooster Southern Area Topper Travellers' at Spinnaker Club
by Monique Vennis-Ozanne 5 May 2015 18:15 BST
19 April 2015
4.2 fleet during the Rooster Southern Area Topper Travellers event © Monique Vennis-Ozanne
The 4.2 sailors started 3 minutes after the 5.3 race and there was a very good turnout with nine 4.2 sailors and thirteen 5.3 boats. The race course looked confusing however it was a very interesting course with strategical thinking involved using the two islands on Spinnakers reservoir.
The very shifty conditions made it very challenging with one minute lots of wind and the next no wind. The average wind speed was 12 knots. Two races were scheduled in the morning then lunch on the grass bank with 2 more races in the afternoon.
Race 1 started well with no recalls, the fleet remained closely interlinked for the first lap giving any of the sailors a chance to break out. Leo Wilkinson from Maidenhead SC took an early lead with Monique Vennis-Ozanne (Hill Head SC) following closely, while Ollie Vennis-Ozanne (Hill Head SC) battled it out with Dan Kimish (Warsash SC), Bill Hudson (New Haven SC) and Imogen Asquith (Hill Head SC) had a lot of place swapping. The final positions were Monique 1st Leo 2nd and Ollie 3rd.
Race 2 started well with no recalls, Bill was looking strong with Ollie just in front with some good position swapping while Monique led.
Everybody came in for lunch including the 5.3 sailors the sun shone and Spinnaker provided some lovely tasty food and the sailors had a good chat about the previous races. The race officer Paul Irons called a briefing to show the slight altering to the course due the wind swinging.
Race 3 had a short postponement to widen the gap between the 5.3s and 4.2s. Imogen had a great start and led to the leeward mark she unfortunately got tangled with a 5.3 boat allowing Bill to overtake along with Monique, Noah Sherriff (Chew Valley) and Ollie. The course was shortened to two laps by which time Monique had overtaken Bill and Leo came through for 3rd.
Race 4 was a brother and sister race with Ollie rounding the windward mark first and Monique close on his stern while Dan and Scott Whitehead kept a close eye on Leo and Bill.
Well done to Jake Atkins (Hill Head SC) who completed all of the races in his first open meeting. The sponsors Rooster Sailing provided excellent prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd, spot prizes and perseverance prizes. 1st, 2nd and 3rd each got a brand new Rooster visor with 2015 Southern Traveller Series embroidered onto the side of each visor.
Bosham Sailing Club is the next event on the 10th of May and we hope to see some new faces to enjoy some fun and competitive racing.