Fireball Gul Golden Dolphin Series Round 2 at Blackwater Sailing Club

by Dave Hall 1 May 2018 10:47 BST 28-29 April 2018

Fireball Gul Golden Dolphin Open at Blackwater © Kate Stewart

Blackwater SC hosted the second Round of the Gul Golden Dolphin series over what turned out to be a weekend when winter had returned.

Saturday brought a dull misty drab day with a light Northerly breeze which proved patchy and shifty. This along with the tide seem to have little benefit for the majority of the locals! Three races were held with results that will look puzzling to anyone reading this. Dave Hall & Paul Constable won the first race of the day after the boats around did not see the S flag and decided to carry on racing.

Sam Mettam & Tim Saunders led the second race with a huge gap only to find they were OSC allowing Derian and Andy Scott to take first place. For the final race of the day it was Mark Maskell & Nigel Sheppard who got the jump on the fleet and led to the finish. With Derian & Andy leading overnight it was the steady sailing of Kevin Hope & Russell Thorne that was to stand them in good stead for the second day.

Sunday gave a fresh cold Northerly breeze blowing straight across the estuary, good for some but a challenge for many. DJ Edwards & Vyv Townsend took an early lead only to have gear failure allowing The following bunch of Dave & Paul, Kevin & Russell and Isaac Marsh & Oliver Davenport to have a great race with Dave & Paul coming out in front to take the gun. As the breeze built for the last race DJ & Vyv made no mistakes – lead out of the start and opened up a sizable lead while the following pack raced it out.

Fireball Gul Golden Dolphin Open at Blackwater - photo © Kate Stewart

With an impressive and pretty much the only steady score on the board, Kevin & Russell took the overall top spot without winning a race.

In the Silver fleet is was Isaac March & Oliver Davenport who steadily improved through the weekend to take top spot and in the Bronze fleet top spot was taken by Mia Walsh & Peter Bentley.

Big thanks to the club and their volunteers and of course Gul for their very generous prizes.

Fireball Gul Golden Dolphin Open at Blackwater - photo © Kate Stewart

Overall Results:

Pos	Fleet	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	Gold	15133	Kevin Hope	Russell Thorne	Notts County SC	2	3	‑8	3	4	12
2nd	Gold	15122	Dave Hall	Paul Constable	BSC	1	‑11	9	1	3	14
3rd	Gold	14941	Derian Scott	Andy Scott	CVLSC	3	1	5	8	‑9	17
4th	Gold	15066	Mark Maskell	Nigel Sheppard	BSC	6	5	1	‑7	6	18
5th	Gold	15124	Peter Kyne	Tom Kyne	Brightlingsea SC	4	‑9	3	5	7	19
6th	Gold	15073	Sam Mettam	Tim Saunders	Papercourt SC	9	(OCS)	2	2	8	21
7th	Silver	15070/15143	Isaac Marsh	Oliver Davenport	Northampton SC	13	‑16	6	4	2	25
8th	Gold	15144	D J Edwards	Vyv Townsend	Bough Beech SC	7	14	4	‑16	1	26
9th	Silver	15145	Steve Goacher	Tom Goacher	HISC	5	4	7	13	(DNF)	29
10th	Gold	15107	Richard Cornes	James Goodfellow	HISC	‑12	7	12	6	5	30
11th	Silver	15148	Brian Sargeant	Will Sargeant	BSC	11	2	15	9	(DNF)	37
12th	Silver	14905	Charlie Stewart	Malcolm Green	BSC	‑14	12	13	10	10	45
13th	Bronze	14982	Maia Marsh	Peter Bentley		10	13	‑16	14	11	48
14th	Silver	15102	Martin Scarth	Rorie Ash	BSC	8	8	17	17	(DNF)	50
15th	Silver	14882	Andy Taylor	Nikki Taylor	BSC	16	‑17	10	11	13	50
16th	Silver	15041	Maria Richards	Graham Hoy	BSC	(RET)	6	19	15	12	52
17th	Bronze	14889	Barney Smith	Rick Sprinen	Thornbury SC	17	15	14	‑18	14	60
18th	Bronze	14857	George Whitchurch	Angela Docherty	BSC	15	10	20	(DNF)	DNC	67
19th	Bronze	13151	Dan Johnson	Lyda Barber		19	18	11	19	(DNF)	67
20th	Bronze	14398	Ian Johnson	Nicky Johnson	BSC	18	19	18	12	(DNF)	67
21st	Bronze	15058	Brett Townsend	Dave Nicholls	BSC	(DNF)	DNC	DNC	DNF	DNC	88