Comet Open at Staunton Harold Sailing Club

Comets at Staunton Harold © Dave Waymont

Early arrivals at SHSC were met with a mirror finish on the reservoir but as boats were rigged and bacon butties eaten, the wind filled in nicely to present conditions that were not too challenging for the twenty one competitors.

Race 1 saw the fleet get away cleanly with John Coppenhall spotting a wind shift prior to the start to choose a port tack that paid off handsomely as he led at the windward mark from Henry Jaggers and Nigel Pepperdine followed by Alan Bennett and Eddie Pope - these five would take the top honours in this first race but not in this order. On lap 2 Nigel – despite having only just bought the boat - went into the lead and stayed there for the rest of the race. Eddie got past Alan on lap 3 but Alan recovered on lap 4 to get past both Eddie and John. At the middle and back of the fleet there was much swapping of places as the helms tried to find the best side of the windward beat. The light and variable winds meant that steerage was not all that it should have been at the marks with resulting collisions and a number of 720s needing to be executed. Meanwhile at the front end of the race Alan and Henry were neck and neck at the final windward mark vying for second spot but Alan prevailed to pull away to make it a home club one-two with Henry third, John fourth and Eddie fifth.

Chris Hatton and Michael Ettershank both got clear at the start of race 2 and the pair had some close racing before Chris eventually pulled away to become the race winner with Michael taking second. John Coppenhall ran into the back of Eddie Pope coming up to the first mark which pushed John down the fleet. The wind increased noticeably in this race as the sky darkened with a resulting sharp shower making for the most challenging conditions of the day. As the race progressed Alan Bennett moved through the fleet to claim third ahead of race 1 winner Nigel Pepperdine who finished in fourth. Eddie was unfazed by the earlier close attention of John to claim his second fifth place of the day.

Race 3 was run back to back with race 2 with Chris Hatton continuing his good run leading from a good start to stay ahead of the pack for the whole race. Home sailor Steve Boud had an excellent race being second at the first mark and eventually finishing sixth. Alan Bennett and Chris Robinson had close racing throughout although Chris had to settle for fifth behind Alan at the end. Henry Jaggers had a good race sparring with Nigel Pepperdine and was in second spot at the windward mark on the final lap but fell behind Nigel on the last light wind downwind leg to finish third.

Chris Hatton was the overall meeting winner with home sailors Nigel Pepperdine and Alan Bennett second and third respectively. Outside the top three slots, Henry Jaggers was top Ancient Mariner winner, Chris Robinson top Veteran, Rhiain Bevan top Lady and Peter Mountford first Home Boat outside the top three.

Overall Results: