GP14 Southern Travellers Venetian Trophy at Welsh Harp Sailing Club

by Steve Cooper 12 Apr 2019 06:27 BST 6 April 2019

The top end of a gentle breeze from the North East so some consistent if not too strenuous exercise for the three visitors and 21 local crews arriving at the Welsh Harp. Windward and leeward marks at either end of the lake, good conditions for an Open.

Race officer Brian Jeffries set a long start line with a pin bias, plenty of room, and the fleet were off first time. There is a kink in the north shore of the lake, and trees shelter this shore on the first half of the beat. Past the bend the breeze was squarer to the course and there were options on both sides of the lake. Ian and Gemma Dobson found their way to the windward mark first, but the spinnaker gremlin was on board! James Goodfellow and Richard Cornes took advantage and sailed into the lead. Gybing across the lake for better angles on the wind meant sailing under the trees on the North shore so the majority of the fleet stayed in the breeze to the south side, gybing once to approach the leeward mark in front of the club house. Goodfellow and Cornes maintained their lead to the end with Ian and Gemma Dobson consolidating second in front of local lads Maciek Matyjaszczuk and Andy Ferrington.

On previous visits to the Welsh Harp Ian Dobson had competed in University team racing. He was clearly enjoying the voyage to the other end of the lake and took race two with Goodfellow and Cornes finishing second. All to play for in race three.

After two polite starts the third race produced a melee over towards the North shore, cautious helms starting at the committee boat were lifted in spirit, and by the breeze to sail over the chaos. Local pairing Maciej and Andy F are a rapidly improving partnership and having made the cautious choice at the start were first to the windward mark. Behind them the main contenders were 'working there way through the fleet' after poor starts. Ian and Gemma made ground on the run and took the lead on the second beat to win the race with Maciek and Andy hanging on to second place. After, according to Maciej 'some fine spinnaker work' from Andy.

Some notable performances from Welsh Harp sailors, Tomasz Szakola and Nia Williams had an excellent fourth place in race 1, Andy Wadsworth with new, novice crew Cathy Howard were 3rd in race two. While Roger Walton and Lucy Barrie, Ruslan Scutlenic and Jim Faulkner sailed consistently well to finish 4th and 5th overall.

Silver helm winner was Joel Schrire with Chris Lomax and Helen Allen with Diane Marcos won the Womens prize.

Winning helm Ian Dobson thanked WHSC for a wonderful event, with particular thanks to Vivien Kenny for organising the excellent food.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	13251	Ian Dobson	Gemma Dobson	SMVC	‑2	1	1	2
2nd	14241	James Goodfellow	Richard Cornes	Harwich Town / Burghfield	1	2	‑3	3
3rd	13870	Maciej Matyjaszczuk	Andy Ferrington	Welsh Harp SC	3	‑7	2	5
4th	13980	Roger Walton	Lucy Barrie	Welsh Harp SC	‑8	4	4	8
5th	14014	Andy Wadsworth	Cathy Howard	Welsh Harp SC	6	3	‑7	9
6th	13594	Ruslan Scutelnic	Jim Faulkner	Welsh Harp SC	‑5	5	5	10
7th	14151	Steve Cooper	Amy Street	Welsh Harp SC	‑10	6	6	12
8th	13237	Tomasz Szakola	Nia Williams	Welsh Harp SC	4	‑11	9	13
9th	13603	Alistair Lambert	Caro Mitchell	Welsh Harp SC	7	‑8	8	15
10th	4166	Keith Street	Hannah Liptrot	Welsh Harp SC	9	9	‑14	18
11th	10591	Craig Sanderson	Peter Kay	Welsh Harp SC	‑14	12	10	22
12th	13679	Martin Hime	Mahmood Shamsuddin	Welsh Harp SC	13	10	‑16	23
13th	13681	Joel Schrire	Chris Lomax	Welsh Harp SC	12	‑16	11	23
14th	13421	Helen Allen	Dianne Marcos	Welsh Harp SC	11	‑13	12	23
15th	8512	Jamie Isles	Maciej Pfutzner	Welsh Harp SC	‑21	14	13	27
16th	13818	Andy Shrimpton	Roger Jeffs	Welsh Harp SC	‑15	15	15	30
17th	13472	Sarah Street	Lucy Street	Welsh Harp SC	16	‑18	17	33
18th	13620	Louise Hinselwood	Jenny Irwin	Welsh Harp SC	18	17	(DNC)	35
19th	1388	Dennis Adams	Sarah Lohan	Welsh Harp SC	17	‑22	19	36
20th	13656	Karen Wilson	Nat Spurling	Welsh Harp SC	‑19	19	18	37
21st	13887	John O'Sullivan	Ilias Michopoglos	Welsh Harp SC	‑20	20	20	40
22nd	13696	Maurice Futerman	Richard Malden	Welsh Harp SC	‑22	21	21	42
23rd	13461	Yasmin Hales	Mate Kakas	Welsh Harp SC	(DNC)	23	22	45
24th	13919	Peter Dunton	Daphne Grey	Welsh Harp SC	23	‑24	23	46
25th	8	Paula Sheehan	Denise Vale	Welsh Harp SC	(DNC)	DNF	DNC	56
25th	140	Martin Davies	Benjamin Davies	Broadwater	(DSQ)	DNF	DNC	56
25th	14166	Richard Ham	Steve Browne	Tollesbury SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	56