RS200 & RS400 Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

Chris & Gill Jordan during the RS400 open at Burghfield © Jeremy Carey

Nick Charles and Juliet Kingsnorth during the RS400 open at Burghfield © Jeremy Carey

Sunday 12 March was a day of reckoning for Burghfield Sailing Club’s RS200 and RS400 sailors. For the first time in several years, visiting teams walked away with the top honours at the Club’s annual open event.

With a forecast for a light breeze and possible snow, the Club was not expecting great things in terms of turnout. But on the day, conditions were dry with a cold blustery easterly breeze rising to max force 4-5 around the middle of the day. A particularly tricky wind direction at Burghfield, with the breeze coming down a wooded slope to provide sudden shifts and gusts to catch out the unwary.

The 400 fleet at Burghfield has always been strong at the Club and 13 home boats were joined by 4 visitors. Roger Gilbert and James Stewart – multiple National Champion and Endeavour Trophy Winner – came out of semi-retirement to show a clean pair of heels to the local hot-shots. In races one and two, they pulled away into a substantial lead, extracting max benefit from every shift and gust in a demonstration of devastating downwind sailing. The real battle was taking place behind them, and whilst Tom Jones and Kris Gardner proved the top home team on the day taking second place overall which included a well deserved 1st place in the final race, Steve Middleton/Chris Rowland, Peter Jackson/James Dyas, and John Cooper/Becci Wigley pushed them hard. But it was a day of advantages lost as quickly as they were gained with Chris and Gill Jordan and Andy Leigh/Hannah Burywood unable to maintain good early positions in each of the races. Barney Goswell and Marc Sollars put in a particularly stunning performance in race 2 when they claimed a second place by a comfortable margin.

The 200 fleet at Burghfield is a work in progress and the Club was delighted that 22 visiting 2s joined 6 Club teams on a stretch of water that is particularly suited to the class. Clear favourites to retain top honours were the home team of Jonathan Lewis and Katie Nichol although as the entry sheet filled up it was clear that this was far from a done deal: with the likes of Tom and Jo Hewitson, Trudie Danbury/Karen Baker, and Pete Vincent/Tessa Nicholls all putting in an appearance a home team triumph was far from certain. But the wildcard in the pack proved to be Nick Charles and Juliet Kingsnorth of Bristol Corinthian SC who, having gained much from the training day on the Saturday and the wise words of venerable coach Jon Lewis (at 40 you’re venerable), then proceeded to demonstrate in spectacular fashion how to put that training into action. Winning both races one and two, they secured victory from Lewis/Nichol by a single point and proved that ability + top coaching can really make the difference. Next of the home boats were Rob Martin and stand-in crew Nigel White who sailed well to score 8th overall. And George Kinsgnorth and Vicky Fairhurst continuing to improve in 12th.

A gauge of a good event is the prize-giving turnout where there was standing room only and much of the credit goes to Steve Burywood, RS400 Fleet Captain, for his tireless organisation, and Nick Martin and his race team who got the races away promptly, managed not a single general recall, and enhanced the reputation of Burghfield to stage well run events. The club would also like to thank its sponsor, Fawcett’s Garage (Volvo) Ltd of Newbury for their ongoing generous support. Competitiors may wish to view a selection of excellent photographs taken by club member Jeremy Carey on the Club’s website at BSC Gallery.

RS200 Results:

RS400 Results: