Gul Scorpion National Championship at Tenby Sailing Club - Day 2
by Hannah Edge 7 Aug 2018 18:09 BST
5-10 August 2018
After yesterday's light wind practice race, 41 Scorpions and their crews left the beach at Tenby hoping for a little more breeze and they were not disappointed.
Race one saw the sharp end of the fleet heading off the committee boat end only to see Alan Krailing and Simon Forbes (2034) head out to sea into the freshening lifting breeze taking nine plucky Scorpions with them. Amongst them was this reporter who was lucky enough to be inches from female helm Janet Ritchie (2005) pushing through the fleet from seventh at the first mark to a podium finish. Also pushing on after a committee boat (i.e. wrong end) start to finish were Pete and Taxi (2039) who closed the gap on the front of the fleet with the last two reaches, putting pressure on the four leading boats, managing a fifth in the end just behind Steve Mitchell & Polly Newman (2032) holding on for a cracking fourth place.
2034 had the race sown up, meanwhile hot on their tail for the entire race was Colin and Jenny Bradley (2030) who were looking strong on every point of sailing, staying on top of their game the whole time to bring it home in a brilliant second place, a result that the whole fleet celebrated.
Race two saw a few Scorpions getting a bit keen on the start line to learn of their misdemeanours late on in the night. It was tight at the top with the rock-stars, Pete Grey & Andy Davis (2039) flying off the start line to take the win and get their championship on track closely followed by 2034. With those two flying off together Tim & Sarah Parsons (2041) lead the rest of the fleet, posting their best result so far in third. Another fleet celebration was for Paul Grace and Alex Reindorp (1957) posting up in the top ten results with their second 7th place of the day.
Race three and the wind began to build across the course and it was time for Andy Mckee and Stevie G (2042) to blow their cobwebs away and take the top spot after a tricky downwind and last beat, battling with 2034. After Andy & Stevie spent so much time on shore keeping the fleet flying by repairing other competitors boats and offering the use of their tool boxes (for the small price of a beer) it was a well deserved bullet for the pair. This year the prize committee have decided to change the pro-am criteria to encompass how much help the pro has given to the am, and so is not necessarily calculated purely on results.
Anyway, back to the race which saw Rachael Rhodes & Hannah Edge (2023) round the windward mark third, almost capsize under no pressure at the gybe mark (pesky sheet cleats) and keep up with the top three for the rest of the race, coming in with a super fourth place.
The rest of the fleet were kept high and compressed at the gybe mark, with the beats proving to be the over taking legs. Fresh from the Garda Contenders, Rob Smith sailing with wife Sandra (1939) was getting the fresh water out of his system to fire in a great result to come sixth.
Bronze and silver fleet results are so mixed up at the moment no-one can work it out – Could it be that the bronzers are beating the silvers?
Sitting pretty over night its Alan and Simon with a 5 point lead with their consistent results, but its still all to play for with Tuesday's forecast set to build. AGM tonight with chilli to keep the fleet powered up, followed by the famous Denchfield Quiz – can anybody beat team Rose in their homeland?