Solo open meeting at Spinnaker Sailing Club

Solo open meeting at Spinnaker © Jamie Holmes

Solo open meeting at Spinnaker © Jamie Holmes

12 sailors, including three visitors, pitched up at Spinnaker Sailing Club on 23-Jun for the Solo open meeting. Undoubtedly the high pressure forecast suppressed attendance with many understandably electing to mow the lawn and watch the football rather than admire their reflections in the mirror like crystal clear waters of Spinnaker.

After a short briefing, PRO Ed Morris wisely elected to hold us ashore for tea, toast and fanciful sea breeze discussion. Race 1 commenced in a relatively stable 5kt NW gradient with visitor Malcolm Richardson swiftly tacking onto a left shift making the windward mark in the top four together with Jamie Holmes and the Campbell father-son duo. A hotly fought first run saw some penalty spins shaking the leaderboard up. Ian Campbell harassed Jamie through the remainder of the race with Jamie nervously holding the lead to finish in fading breeze.

The PRO ushered the fleet ashore for an early lunch - hoping to buy time for the sea breeze to develop whilst competitors tackled the large pile of baguettes and swapped tales of light wind tactics.

After an hour, during which time the club windex showed all compass points, Ed pushed everyone back on the water for race 2 - local light wind speedy specialist Tim Wade taking Jamie to a desperate photo finish closely followed by Nick Robinson.

At this stage indications of the sea breeze filling in from the south led Ed in his committee boat to take the fleet on a follow my leader tour around the lake to ensure we were well placed in the event of it filling in. Sadly the breeze didn't stabilise sufficiently in time and Ed took the prudent decision to send the fleet ashore for the next culinary feast, courtesy of resident chef Jackie. Totting up the final scores put club members Jamie Holmes, Tim Wade and Ian Campbell in the top three positions.

Spinnaker Sailing Club has one of the most active inland Solo fleets on the South coast and a recent resurgence means we're fortunate to have have at least ten boats on the start line for the hotly competed weekday evening and weekend day series. We always welcome visitors and please contact Class Captain Tim Wade () if you wish to join us. We look forward to welcoming you all (and some wind) to the 2019 open!

Overall Results: