Sailing Chandlery Laser Thames Valley Grand Prix at Broxbourne Sailing Club

The third outing of the season was a windy affair with Storm Hannah forecasted. With this in mind, there was a lower than expected turnout. That said, it did not deter eight sailors from heading out, 3 standard rigs and 5 radial rigs.

Race one was a starboard rounding affair, holding us to the outer edges of the lake, before cutting across the centre of the lake on a screaming reach. With wind shifts of anywhere between 90 and 180 degrees on some occasions capsizes were inevitable. Gary Bullock stole the show, ultimately by staying as upright as possible. In the Radial fleet, George Lane took the bullet.

A short break was taken before race two to allow a breather for all including the two rescue crews. A change of course was made to keep us away from the tree line causing most of the problems with the shifty nature of the wind. Once again Gary Bullock stole the show and the event with a race win for the standard fleet. In the radials, Richard Bottes stole the race in the dying moments to take the win from Aaron.

Lunch was had before a shortening of the race format from four to three races, with some relieved faces around. Gary Bullock went out, mostly for a play with the radials as both Darren and myself decided to call it a day. For the radials though it was wide open with three boats able to steal the win. During the race, the four remaining radials swapped places continuously with all of them in the lead at some point in the race. In the end, George Lane took the win and the event.

Well done to both Gary and George on their respective wins.

The Sailing Chandlery Spot Prize went to Edward Brown, possibly for the amount of capsizes, possibly due to a bit of port/starboard collision entertainment.

Thanks again to Sailing Chandlery for their support towards the series.

The Series Overall

Looking further ahead, there are still thirteen more meetings scheduled, with six needed to qualify. It would be great to see as many faces as possible over the coming months, old or new.

12th May Queen Mary Sailing Club
2nd June Papercourt Sailing Club
8th June King George Sailing Club
9th June Aldenham Sailing Club
15th June Island Barn Sailing Club
23rd June Wembley Sailing Club
29th June Maidenhead Sailing Club
13th July Fishers Green Sailing Club
31st August Welsh Harp Sailing Club
14th September Frensham Pond Sailing Club
21st September Datchet Water Sailing Club
28th September London Corinthian Sailing Club
12th October Burghfield Sailing Club