RS400 Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

Paul and Mark Oakey win the Burghfield RS400 Open © Mike Proven

A small entry for an open meeting is a lovely thing because it provides an opportunity for the report writer to give everyone a mention. And so it is the case for this report of Burghfield Sailing Club's annual RS400 open meeting that took place on the 23rd September.

A light to moderate southerly isn't the best wind direction for Burghfield. A heady treat of random changes in wind strength and direction meant that opportunism, instinct, and reaction were likely to be the prime attributes for success.

We were delighted that the 2016 national champions, Paul and Mark Oakey (Portchester) chose to attend and hopes were high that some of the home fleet might give them a run for their money in this most tricky of wind directions. This fleetingly futile notion was quickly dissipated. The Oakeys took this event at a canter, quickly acclimatising to the difficult breeze and masterfully winning all four races.

Perhaps the defining feature for most was their encounter with the parking-lot that was the windward mark. And the subsequent mini-race to reach the breeze-line on the downwind leg and feed wind-starved spinnakers. Some filled their boots and the rest...well...we watched them fill their boots.

But getting around the windward mark was the least of worries for Bruce Mills and Andrea Jarman (Warsash) who fought their way to Burghfield via the M3 through a bomb scare and huge traffic delays. The adrenalin rush of simply making the first race must have had a part to play, and they were justly rewarded with an excellent 2nd place overall.

Not long from having won the Viper Europeans at Garda, Andy Leigh and Hector Cisneros (BSC), were hoping for something like the Ora. They did find something like the shallows in one race but a hard-earned 3rd place overall was a good result in conditions that really weren't to their liking.

Chris and Gill Jordan (BSC) – rediscovering the joys of 4s after a long absence - scored 4, 4, and 4. It might be just me, but the fact that they came 4th overall as well must be some kind of divine instruction to get back into the fleet where you know you belong.

James Cutler and Alan Glanville may well have done significantly better but for a couple of lengthy bouts of windward mark hugging. The usual RS rules regarding touching marks were in operation but this was blatant over-familiarity. Their 5th overall could well have been improved upon if things had gone their way.

It's always a delight when some of our ex-members return to the Club and we were very pleased that Nick and Caroline Martin made the trip from Lee-on-Solent. They looked perhaps most likely to challenge the Oakeys – they won the event last year – and kicked off with a 2nd and 3rd. But they were not to emerge for the afternoon session judging that sanity was more a priority than testing themselves further in the tricky breeze.

And so to the lower order: we all had our brief moments of near-glory at some point during the days racing – it really was that sort of a day. John Cooper and David Shafto, Roger Garrison and Bryan Deacon, and Steve and Amanda Middleton all had brief appearances near the front of the fleet, but were generally left flailing around at the windward mark at one time or another, to come ashore with a whole sack-full of tales of what might have been. And, over tea and cakes, everyone agreed it really might have been.

Perhaps the wisest move of the day was Race Officer Nigel Rolfe's decision to keep matters as straightforward as possible and set a simple windward-leeward course for each of the four races. Massive thanks to him and the Race Team for running four good races in the most trying conditions. And huge thanks to Mike Proven and Pete Haddrell for the work they did in organising a terrific event for both 400s and 200s. And finally thanks to our club secretary Virginia Leigh for great administration and speedy results service.

Next year we've booked a south-westerly force 3-5 with sunshine and warmth for what is already shaping up to be the event of 2018.

Overall Results: