Dorset Triangle Leg 1 at Sutton Bingham Sailing Club
by Megan Pascoe 13 Mar 2017 20:24 GMT
12 March 2017
Light shifty wind conditions in the Triangle Challenge Event at Sutton Bingham © Saffron Galagher
The first of 3 events between 3 Dorset Clubs was held at Sutton Bingham SC last Sunday. The Dorset Triangle is held between Lyme Regis SC, Sutton Bingham SC and Castle Cove SC. Castle Cove brought 6 boats with varying suitability towards pond sailing to join 20 others.
Elizabeth and Richard were the most extreme in a Topper Spice and Rob Smith borrowing his wife's new boat in a Solution slightly safer. Sam Barker borrowed a Blaze, Pete Barnstable in his new Phantom and two sibling pairs of Lucy and Cara Jones in a 420 and Megan and Sam Pascoe in the Merlin completed the team.
The drive from Weymouth was wet and lacking in wind. On arriving at the club the rain stopped and luckily after rigging the wind began to build. A light and shifty 1st race wasn't great for CCSC and was dominated by the home club with Andrew Frost in an Aero 7 beating his Dad in his Solo into second followed by the other Aero 7 of Chis Jones.
After a break for lunch and Rob being debriefed by his father in law as to where he could improve the second race was a little windier. SBSC was again on top with Andrew Frost, CCSC managing 2nd, 4th and 5th with the Merlin, Blaze, and then Phantom. Lyme's Jerry Rook and Fraser Earle in the Albacore finished 3rd to keep them in the hunt for the top spot.
The course was shifted for the 3rd race as the wind increased significantly and went left. This allowed the faster boats to get going with the Merlin winning the race, the Albacore in second and the RS200 of Dave Stubbs and Max Helston finishing 3rd. Style points for the race going to Richard and Elizabeth twin-wiring on many occasions.
Andrew Frost did enough in the first two races to take the competition overall with the Merlin in second and the Albacore in 3rd. Sutton Bingham took the team event with 6 boats inside the top 10 with Castle Cove 2nd and Lyme Regis in 3rd.
The next leg of the event will be at Castle Cove. Thanks go to SBSC for a great event and a special thanks to the Castle Cove Pit Crew.
Sutton Bingham triumph against local Sailing Clubs (by Chris Jones)
The season kicked off for Sutton Bingham Sailing Club with first leg of their annual three way challenge with neighbouring sailing clubs, Lyme Regis and Castle Cove. The event attracted the best entry for many years with 28 boats including representation from 19 different dinghy classes. Both visiting clubs fielded teams of six with the total points from the best five carrying forward to the team scores.
The lake was as glassy as a millpond as sailors arrived to rig up, but after a short postponement racing got underway in a light, shifty 6-8 mph breeze, which gradually increased and veered northerly throughout the day. The victors in each race were those that extracted themselves successfully into clear wind from a busy start line and used the wind shifts and patches of strongest wind pressure to their advantage.
Young local sailor, Andrew Frost, who has recently been awarded a bursary by The Rotary Club to support his sailing and competition this summer at the inaugural RS Aero World Championships, won the first two races to secure overall victory and win the Icicle Trophy. Runners-up were Sam and Megan Pascoe form Castle Cove sailing a Merlin Rocket and third Jerry Rook and Fraser Earle in an Albacore.
Sutton Bingham had strength in depth and so took a convincing win in the Triangle Challenge between the three clubs: Sutton Bingham 92 points, Castle Cove 137 points and Lyme Regis 235 points. The next leg of the Triangle Challenge takes place at Castle Cove Sailing Club, Portland Harbour in June.
In the head to head between Sutton Bingham and Lyme Regis for the Banbury Chaser Cup Sutton Bingham won 63 points to Lyme's 143.
Full event results are available at www.suttonbinghamsc.net