Clevedon Sailing Club Regatta 2019
by Martin Gibson 14 May 2019 07:03 BST
12 May 2019
Fortunately the weather forecast for this year's Regatta turned out to be incorrect and instead of the windless day expected conditions were good with a force 3 North Easterly wind and bright sunshine. Fourteen crews turned out to take part including one visitor from Portishead Sailing Club.
Race Officer Andy Black set a rectangular course in the bay with a short beat to the Pier mark followed by a reach out to sea, a run against the tide before reaching back to the shore and beating back to the start line. Mark Elliot and Andy Preston (RS200) got off to flying start to the first mark but was quickly overhauled on the first reach by visitor Andy Willcocks (Solo) and Martin Gibson (Laser). Conditions suited the Laser and Gibson was clear ahead by the first seamark and remained in pole position until the end of the 3 lap race. Willcocks made good speed up the beats but was unable to close the gap sufficiently to take first place on corrected time. The Lasers of Stuart Turner and George Knight (Radial) took 3rd and 4th places.
Race 2 followed a similar pattern with Gibson narrowly beating Willcocks by 18 seconds per lap and Turner and Knight once again in 3rd and 4th.
By the start of race 3 the tide had just changed and the wind was beginning to decrease. The course had been changed to a triangle omitting one of the reaches. Willcock once again got off to a cracking start closely followed by Robin Goff and Evie Gribbon (Graduate). The first reach enabled Gibson to catch Willcocks overtaking him at the gybe mark. With the tide now ebbing the favoured course for the beat back to the start line was no longer tacking out to sea and instead keeping close inshore out of the tide. After 2 laps Gibson was unable to pull out enough lead to stay ahead of Willcocks on corrected time, Goff and Gribbin took 3rd with Turned relegated to 4th and Knight to 5th.
Overall Results:
Slow Handicap
1st - Amie Turner and Rachael Elliot (RS Feva)
Fast Handicap
1st - Martin Gibson (Laser)
2nd - Andy Willcocks (Solo)
3rd - Stuart Turner (Laser)
First Cadets
Slow fleet - Amie Turner and Rachael Elliot
Fast fleet - George Knight