RS Feva Open at Papercourt Sailing Club

A great combined weekend of training and racing for the Fevas at Papercourt © Martin Eyres

A great combined weekend of training and racing for the Fevas at Papercourt © Martin Eyres

A great combined weekend of training on the Saturday and the season’s first Open meeting on the Sunday was hosted by Papercourt. Despite it being Mothering Sunday the club managed an impressive array of volunteers to get the show on the road with superb organisation and catering.

Four races were held with extremely close racing for the 30 boat fleet following the intense winter training. The stars on the day were also last years Fat Face Racing Circuit winners, Nathan and Anna Ackroyd from Norfolk Broads. They starred despite the pressure of still being able to be beaten by the local heroes Aaron Smith and Jeremy Williamson going into the final race. In fact in that last race The Ackroyds got a clear start and stretched away to a huge lead whilst Smith had to recover from 4th place at the first mark to make it back to 2nd by the finish.

Beckie Diamond and Fiona Hampshire also from the home club sailed a fantastic series to claim 3rd overall and first all girl team. The battle for 4th wasn’t settled until after countback with Alex Poyner and Holly Tucker (also 2nd all girl team) beating the Jones-Warner brothers of Rupert and Hugo by counting a 3rd place to the J-W’s best 4th place. The Asbo boys (as the J-W’s are known to some of the fleets less reputable elements) performed the sailing feat of the weekend by still coming 5th in race 2 despite having to sail half the race less jib when the halyard snapped.

The day dawned looking grey and wet but in fact the sun even appeared in the morning before rain descended during packing up late afternoon. The wind was an eventful force 3 with gusts of 4 and variable direction. The consequence was that, particularly in the early part of the day, there was many a capsize. But those who were frisky enough to try their hand at breaststroke invariably showed great staying power and continued to the end. Whilst at the Nationals there will be a lot of adults sailing the reputation of the elders (and betters) was nobly upheld here by Rodney Steele who was crewed by his son Jeremy. He’ll be looking for a top 10 finish next so the younger generation had better be warned!

There were notable feats throughout the fleet with perhaps a synchronised back flip being performed by both helm and crew of one boat with a stylish feet first water entry after a full somersault in midst capsize perhaps taking the biscuit. The importance of listening properly to briefings and reading the SI’s was also demonstrated by the boat that honourably did a 720 after a small misdemeanour only to find out afterwards that for the Fevas this year (NOT at the Nationals or Worlds) the penalty for an infringement has been amended to being a 360! This is an interesting class initiative to try to increase rule observance amongst those who have had the shortest exposure to the rules. Judging by the large number of 360’s performed it seems to be working but its early days yet.

Next Open meetings are Whitstable on 5 & 6 May, with the back to back meetings at Emsworth and Chichester on 13 & 14 May respectively. The next training event is at Whitstable on 8 & 9 April with details on the website. Book now to avoid disappointment.

Overall Results: