Osprey Open at Tata Steel Sailing Club
by David Downs 17 Apr 14:04 BST
13-14 April 2019
Tata Osprey Open © Huw Pearce
The first leg of the Osprey Wilkinson Sword Series 2019 was held at Tata Steel SC on the 13th and 14th April. Twelve boats were greeted by sunshine and a bitterly cold and blustery South Easterly wind.
The wind direction enabled the Race Officer John Lockett to set a big triangular course using most of the lake, however with the wind coming off the land there were plenty of shifts and big gusts to challenge the competitors. Downwind there was one very broad spinnaker reach and a fantastic two sail reach across the lake which really allowed the Ospreys to get going.
DJ Edwards and Alistair Ramsden sailing the Jenkins' Mark IV showed us all how it should be done with three straight wins on the Saturday. Their boat always seemed to be perfectly upright through all the gusts, shifts and lulls while further down the fleet most experienced several tea-baggings and other such manoeuvres.
After an enjoyable social at a local pub on the Saturday night, Sunday morning brought a similar wind direction but if anything a bit stronger and colder than Saturday. Two races were held back to back. DJ and Alistair won the first one and from Mark Weston and Simon Hawkes and both then called it a day as they had done enough and could not better their overall result. Others called it a day for the less noble reason of being very cold and tired. There were therefore only four stalwarts who started the last race with Dan Jackson and Chris Mackay winning that one to take second place overall.
The highlights of the weekend were a couple of synchronised capsizing where it was found difficult to right a capsized Osprey with another one sat on top of the mast. Roger Blake deserves special mention for his forward somersault roll completely missing the centreboard and becoming a dive that might have won him an Olympic medal. Oscar Chess was found sporting an innovative two part mainsail with the lower part attached to the boom and the upper part attached to the mast but the two not attached to each other. A bit of gaffer tape should soon sort that. Andy Barker and Adam Ellory made the long journey from Cornwall with "Georgia" sporting a stunning and much admired gold paint scheme. We are particularly grateful to them for spending much of the weekend with Georgia upside down so we could all admire the perfection of the paint job.
Well done to Tata Steel SC for a well organised open meeting and we hope to return for more of the same next year.
Overall Results:
1st, 1336, D J Edwards and Alister Ramsden, Tata Steel SC, 4pts
2nd, 1276, Dan Jackson and Chris Mackay, Tenby, 8pts
3rd, 1356, Mark Weston and Simon Hawkes, West Riding, 12pts
4th, 1348, Oscar Chess and Charlie Charles, Tata Steel SC, 18pts
5th, 1369, Roger Blake and Jamie Blake, Great Moor SC, 19pts
6th, 1373, Richard Marshall and Steve Watson, Poole YC, 27pts
7th, 1312 (73), Mike Murray and Pam Murray, Tata Steel SC, 33pts
8th, 1114, Ros Downs and David Downs, Tata Steel SC, 33pts
9th, 1225, Carawyn and Paul Bambridge, Tata Steel SC, 38pts
10th, 1372, Mick Greenwood and Martin Roots, IOSSC, 39pts
11th, 1299, Andy Barker and Adam Ellory, MBSC, 47pts
12th, 1316, Nigel Young and Darren Hamilton, BCYC, 52pts