Sailing Chandlery Enterprise National Circuit Round 4 at Ogston Sailing Club

Sailing Chandlery Enterprise National Circuit Round 4 at Ogston © Jon Ward

Sailing Chandlery Enterprise National Circuit Round 4 at Ogston © Jon Ward

Sailing Chandlery Enterprise National Circuit Round 4 at Ogston © Jon Ward

Eight visitors joined five home boats at Ogston for the Enterprise Northern Area Championships, part of the Sailing Chandlery Enterprise National Circuit on 8th & 9th June 2019. The forecast of very strong winds for the Saturday had moderated slightly by the day itself, but with gusts of around 25-30 knots, conditions were still challenging. It was with great relief to their respective spouses that Philip Wilson volunteered to crew for Andy Gomm, allowing Rosie and Janet to admire proceedings from the viewing tower.

Twelve boats consequently started the first race, but only 7 recorded a finish. Andy was benefitting from his heavy weather crew and was first to the windward mark, but Jon Woodward and Karen Alexander found superior downwind speed to lead after the first lap, a lead which they maintained to the finish. Charles and Alison Morrish had an excellent beat on lap 4 to pull themselves up to 3rd place behind Martin Honnor and Isobel Hedley-Fenn, but were quickly promoted to 2nd as Martin was OCS. Tim Sadler and Chris Keatley were 3rd. Nigel and Andy Bird had to retire when their newly fitted flyaway pole parted company with the mast. Pop rivets were replaced before the 2nd race, but duly popped out again on the first lap pushing them into last place. Fortunately, they were in good company with Martin having to recover from a capsize at the windward mark. These two enjoyed a close battle as they climbed back up the fleet until Martin capsized once more while gybing. Meanwhile Tim had pulled out a healthy lead from Jon until he too fell victim to a particularly mean Ogston gust, dropping to 2nd with Andy 3rd and Charles 4th. A welcome sight at the top of the slipway was a barrel full of cold beers, courtesy of Peak Dinghy Spares. With almost unanimous support, Race 3 was moved to Sunday and for a substantial proportion of the fleet the serious business of the weekend could now begin, washed down by an excellent meal.

Race 3 was started in bright sunshine and 7-12 knots of breeze. Andy now had his light weather crew, Ben Knott, while Philip sailed with his daughter Amy. Jon and Karen yet again came out winners with Tim 2nd and Ges Brown and Julie Moore 3rd. Matt Rawson and Alice Hedley-Fenn, who were forced to retire from race 1 and sit out race 2 with gear failure were 4th.

Tim and Chris got away into an unassailable lead in race 4, followed by Nigel and Andy. Charles and Alison were in 3rd place for almost the entire race, despite the wasp-like attentions of Martin and Matt. Only in the last 30 metres did they falter, undone by a cruel wind shift allowing Martin to get past with Matt finishing only a second behind them.

Race 5 started after lunch with carnage at the pin end, variously attributed to Mike Heap and Bryce Howard or Ges and Julie. This allowed Mike and Bryce to attain a healthy lead, only to be informed half way up the beat that they were OCS. Mike claimed that Eric Twiname's advice in this scenario is to carry on and duly led for two laps before Matt overtook several boats on the beat by finding more wind on the far left of the course. It was an Ogston 1, 2, 3 finish with Martin and Andy behind Matt. Charles and Alison underlined their consistency with 4th place. With one race to go they were in 3rd place overall behind Jon who was one point behind Tim.

The wind shifts in race 6 were particularly tricky with big gains and losses depending on your position on the course. Home knowledge must have helped as Martin finished 1st followed by Matt. Jon and Karen came 3rd having overtaken Tim and Chris on the second lap to secure 1st place overall. Martin and Isobel were 3rd overall just pipping Charles and Alison by one point. The prize for highest placed lady went to Karen and Isobel won the prize for highest placed junior. At the end of an enjoyable and eventful weekend a particular vote of thanks went to Jon and Julia Ward for their excellent race management.

Sailing Chandlery Enterprise National Circuit Round 4 at Ogston - photo © Ann Jackson

Overall Results: