Supernova Spring Championship at Bowmoor Sailing Club

by Gavin Young 11 Apr 2017 09:03 BST 8 April 2017

Supernova Spring Championship at Bowmoor © Derrick Page

The postponed winter championship was held at Bowmoor Sailing Club on Saturday 8th April 2017. The event was renamed the Supernova Spring Championship and Spring had definitely sprung for the healthy turnout of 41 boats – being the largest Supernova fleet ever to have visited Bowmoor Sailing Club.

The event was sponsored by long term class supporter Oxford Carriers and new sponsor Force 4 Chandlery. The Association thanks the sponsors for their generous support.

The open was also combined with the Noble Marine Supernova Travellers event – another 40+ turnout for the travellers circuit!

The open was run on Saturday following a class training day hosted by Bowmoor which attracted 25 boats for some on and off water training in some very light winds. The training day featured a RYA coach and was provided free of charge to Association members.

Saturday greeted the fleet with minimal wind, bright sunshine and blue sky's which allowed an hour's boat tuning talk from Cliff Milliner and Gavin Young whilst the fleet waited for the wind to fill in.

As a gentle breeze arrived with winds around F1 to F2, the postponement flag was lowered and the first race got underway with a clean start. Young edged ahead off the line but at the windward mark Gibson arrived just ahead on port tack taking the lead followed by Milliner and Snell. By the end of the first run Milliner had taken the lead followed by Gibson Collins Snell and Young. By the end of the race Milliner took line honours with a clear lead from Collins followed by Snell and Young with Gibson slipping to 6th.

Supernova Spring Championship at Bowmoor - photo © Derrick Page

Race 2 was started after a healthy lunch and the breeze building slightly. In very shifty conditions, the wind switched the favoured end from port to starboard which led to frantic last minute place changing whilst boats repositioned to get the best start. On the gun the fleet cleanly left the line with Steve Hawley closely followed by Brother Chris Hawley leading the fleet around the windward mark and pulling away a small lead with Gibson, Milliner and Snell following. Towards the end of the race the wind filled from behind on the downwind leg with Gibson and Collins taking full advantage. Chris Hawley held onto his second place position with Gibson taking the line and Collins moving up to third and Milliner fourth dropping Steve Hawley down to finish sixth.

Race 3 was started back to back with race 2 and was set up to be a Starboard biased line until 30 seconds before the gun when a wind shift changed the favoured end to port.. The fleet got away cleanly for the third time and after a frantic dash for the port end the fleet sailed in a tight bunch around the first lap which saw many place changes. Boats bunched up at each leeward mark as the wind filled in from behind leading to some interesting mark rounds. The race finished with Milliner first with another good lead followed by Collins, Young and Snell.

Supernova Spring Championship at Bowmoor - photo © Derrick Page

The fleet had a great day in some testing but very warm and sunny conditions.

The Supernova Class would like to thank the Sponsors who made sure that everyone who attended went home with a prize. We would also like to thank Bowmoor sailing club for hosting the event and providing a fantastic, friendly, helpful and well organised venue, we look forward to visiting the club again next year.

The next Noble Marine Travellers event is Saturday 22 April in Bolton, and Scammandon on 23 April.

The next training day is 19 May the day before the 2 day sea championships at Exe sailing club.

Finally, with 109 signed up for this year's nationals, the class continues to go from strength to strength.

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st		1190	Cliff Milliner	Cotswold	1	‑4	1	2
2nd		1112	Alex Collins	Bolton	2	‑3	2	4
3rd	Master	1127	Mike Gibson	Bartley	6	1	‑10	7
4th		4	Gavin Young	Cotswold	4	‑7	3	7
5th		1186	Andrew Snell	Datchet Water	3	‑5	4	7
6th		1100	Chris Hawley	Bartley	7	2	‑12	9
7th		1133	Steve Hawley	Bartley	5	6	‑13	11
8th	Master	1168	Alistair Glen	Exe	‑12	9	5	14
9th	Veteran	1082	Tom Chadfield	Blithfield	8	‑10	6	14
10th	Master	1184	Garry Butterfield	Bartley	‑11	8	9	17
11th	Master	1074	Tony Critchley	Bolton	10	‑15	11	21
12th		1176	John Banbrook	Bowmoor	‑15	14	8	22
13th	Veteran	1196	Steve Mitchell	Porthpean	9	‑16	14	23
14th	Master	1079	Bob Horlock	Exe	‑21	18	7	25
15th	Veteran	1163	Chris Watts	Bough Beech	16	12	‑27	28
16th	Veteran	1177	Pete Bingham	Bowmoor	13	‑19	16	29
17th	Veteran	1057	Ian Casewell	Cotswold	‑25	11	21	32
18th	Veteran	1121	Steve Johnson	Cotswold	‑17	17	15	32
19th		1123	Jon Pebody	Hunts	14	‑26	20	34
20th	Veteran	1141	Robert Hills	Cotswold	‑26	13	23	36
21st	Master	1160	Paul Undrell	Milton Keynes	18	‑20	19	37
22nd	Veteran	1137	Andy Gould	Cotswold	24	‑29	17	41
23rd	Master	1134	Tom Baldwin	Carsington	‑27	24	18	42
24th		1158	Matt Seaton	Olton Mere	19	23	‑24	42
25th		1170	Simon O'Sullivan	Cotswold	23	22	‑26	45
26th	Veteran	1069	Brian Smith	Bowmoor	‑29	21	25	46
27th		703	Chris Hobbs	Bowmoor	22	27	‑33	49
28th	Lady	598	Serena Stewardson	Emberton Park	20	30	(Rtd)	50
29th		1080	James Gerwat	Felpham	(Rtd)	25	28	53
30th	Master	1025	Nick Whiles	Attenborough	(Rtd)	33	22	55
31st	Master	436	Martin Bazen	Bowmoor	28	28	‑34	56
32nd		1148	Peter Wibroe	Bough Beech	‑32	31	29	60
33rd	Master	1167	Paul Schofield	Hunts	31	‑32	30	61
34th	Master	1164	Stuart Hall	Carsington	33	‑39	32	65
35th	Master	514	Steve Long	Alton Water	‑37	36	31	67
36th	Master	1008	Norman Carter	Hollowell	34	34	‑38	68
37th	Veteran	1063	Keith Rix	Chipstead	‑35	35	35	70
38th	Veteran	1093	John Walpole	Exe	30	(DNS)		72
39th		1030	Philip Berquist	Silver Wing	(Rtd)	37	36	73
40th		687	David Stephen	Arden	36	38	‑39	74
41st		1111	Philip Coles	North Devon YC	38	‑40	37	75