Challenger Open at Oxford Sailing Club

Challengers at Oxford © Richard Johnson

Challengers at Oxford © Richard Johnson

The Challengers convened at Oxford Sailing Club on Friday 26 May for their second open meeting of the year. The sun was shining and the wind a lively south easterly F3-4 so sunscreen and, for the prudent, spray tops were the order of the day.

For race 1 the race officer laid the challengers' usual trapezoidal course. Val Millward (257) took the win with Graham Hall (270) in second and Jack Alderdice (281) third. Lunch provided an opportunity for sailors to dry out and some essential maintenance was done which allowed John Draper (231) and Dennis Renyard (125) to take to the water for the afternoon races.

For the afternoon's back-to-back races an inverted P course was set. Race 2 saw Mark Fletcher (272) make a superbly judged port tack start to lead the fleet. Eventually he was overhauled by Graham and Val and had to settle for third.

At the start of race 3 Val and Graham were too busy vying within inches of each other to notice Jack preparing for a stunning port tack start executed bang on time and enabling him to take the lead. Graham made a better start than Val and both set off in pursuit of Jack, with Graham reaching him first. On the last lap Val was catching Jack but didn't look as though she would do it but Jack made a bad tack for the line and Val squeezed into the gap between him and the committee boat to snatch second by a few inches. Unusually there was a dead heat for fourth place between Mark and John.

At the end of the day Graham had a one point lead over Val, with Jack and Mark vying for third place. The big surprise was Lydia Johnston (258), who took time off from her A'level revision to compete in her first challenger regatta. She was lying in sixth place having sailed three solid races (5,7,7) and had impressed several of the "top" sailors with her ability. We hope to see more of her.

Challengers at Oxford - photo © Richard Johnson

Saturday saw a change in the conditions with the wind shifting up a gear, this led a few sailors to decide that discretion was the better part of valour. Rob Bainbridge (117) decided to take a buddy and, in a serious breach of challenger etiquette, tipped him off the boat before reaching the start line!

The race officer continue with an inverted P course for the day's three races. There was a typical lunchtime lull between races 4 and 5, before the wind picked up a little for race 5 and began to shift round to the SSW. The second reach became tighter, and a wide in, tight out rounding of the leeward mark was essential so your first starboard tack took you close to the committee boat end of the gate.

While there is much to be said for consistency, some of the fleet took it a little too seriously in Saturday's races: Jack had three thirds, Diana Faulks (288) got into her stride for three fourths, which wasn't quite enough for her to overhaul Mark (three fifths). Dean Abra (218) decided to have three sixths, for a well deserved win in the Silver fleet, and Jane Houchin (285) three sevenths (second in silver). This is not to say it was a procession round the course but by the finish each sailor had gravitated to their chosen position.

Challengers at Oxford - photo © Richard Johnson

In the bronze fleet, Mark Jones and Sue (118) were jubilant after race 4 having managed a narrow victory over Neil Bartlett and Murray Palmer (232). However, Neil and Murray were revelling in the conditions and took first place in the bronze fleet by some margin.

In races 4 and 5 Val turned the tables on Graham. So it all came down to the last race anything less than a win for Graham would give the event to Val. Val tried to cover Graham and Jack found himself at the front of the fleet but it was to no avail as Graham took the win and with it the event. No doubt Val is plotting revenge at the Scottish Championships (Solway Yacht Club, 10-11 June).

Thanks are due to Oxford Sailing Club and Oxford Sailability for hosting the event, and to race officer Richard Johnson.

Overall Results: