Inaugural National Solo Northern Circuit Open at Ogston Sailing Club

A sunny Sunday morning saw the addition of Ogston Sailing club to the National Solo Northern circuit for the first time and welcomed 6 visitors, adding to the 10 local boats.

Following a quick trip to Tesco (other supermarkets are available!), bacon butties and tea kicked off what turned out to be a very enjoyable and competitive opener for Ogston. The event was run alongside the Laser open, and to the surprise of the PRO Julia Ward, there was not a single individual or general recall from either fleet all day. This was perhaps a credit to race training day on Saturday, provided by John Clark, where a whole morning was dedicated to start practice for the Ogston Solos. Our special thanks go to John.

Race 1 - A sunny day with a shifty 12-14 knots SW saw the first Solo start get off cleanly from a slightly biased pin end with Steve Graham (Burwain SC) making the perfect start, inches from the flag, followed closely by John Webster (Carsington SC) and Martin Honnor (Ogston SC). The remainder of the fleet was spread across the line, the most windward being Andy Gomm (Ogston SC), his first time in a Solo, also making an inch perfect start. The first beat saw a couple of Oggy 10/15 degree shifts, benefiting the boats going out left, with Steve Graham first round followed by Martin Honnor. The leader of the pack going right, Lee Tennant (Burwain SC) rounded in 3rd place. After a short leg to a gybe mark the fleet descended on the leeward mark where Lee had moved into a strong 2nd place followed closely by Alan Bishop (Girton SC) who had picked the perfect shift down the right to round 3rd, Martin relegated to 4th place. These 4 broke away from the rest of the fleet and a strong final lap saw Steve Graham pull out a good lead finishing 1st, Lee Tennant 2nd with Martin Honnor managing to squeeze a 3rd place. Lunch in the sun beckoned, lovingly cooked and served by Eileen Coombs and her team.

Race 2 - The second race saw the rain come in and for a moment it looked like the wind might die away to nothing, but a short wait on the water, and the clearing of the skies, saw 8 knots return. The course would be the same and again the pin end was the place to start with Martin in pole position, but with a wind shift at 15 seconds to go, the fleet was struggling to cross on starboard. Martin tacked and failing to clear Alan Bishop was spinning while the rest of the fleet tacked and laid the mark, Steve Graham leading followed closely by Alan, John Webster and the rest of the fleet. The breeze picked back up and places throughout the fleet changed with the exception of the leaders, 1st Steve Graham, 2nd Alan Bishop and 3rd John Webster.

Race 3 - With the sun shining again, wind back up to 12-14 knots, PRO Julia Ward got the third race underway with yet another perfect start by Steve Graham, who had already won the event after 2 races. The other podium places would be a battle between Alan, Lee, John and Martin, all four within a point of each other, but with other commitments, Alan had to leave early leaving a 3-way battle. With an excellent start, John Webster was second to the windward mark, with a good lead over the rest, Martin and Lee some way back and with some work to do. A good downwind leg by Martin saw him back to 3rd by the leeward mark and then up to 2nd place, where he would finish. The race was now on for 3rd with the young buck, Lee Tennant chasing down the canny man of Carsington, but even after a couple of slips during the last lap, John Webster, together with his trusty head gear, held out for a well defended and deserved 3rd place.

Overall Results: