Solution National Championship at Felpham Sailing Club

Felpham Sailing Club welcomed a small but enthusiastic fleet of Solution sailors by providing perfect weather though a punishing breeze for the 2019 National Championships.

There were a number of Solution sailors kicking themselves at having to miss out on the flawless sailing conditions due to accidents, injuries, weddings, anniversaries and birthdays, but undoubtedly those who made it were the far more attractive and charismatic members of the fleet.

Given the small numbers, the probability of finishing third and earning the right to write the race report was higher than usual and people took various measures to avoid this ignominy. Kathryn Clark kicked off with an early bid to avoid third place by setting out with the 10%-reduced sail, not realising that this is so well-designed that she could still get to the windward mark ahead of the rest of the fleet.

Paul "Basher" Nix took the most extreme action by snapping his boom in half, not realising that Jack Turnbull had purchased a spare which allowed him to get back out for the rest of the event. Jack himself made the most comical effort at throwing third place when he "accidentally" missed his toestraps, not appreciating that there were only four boats on the water for that race as Paul Taylor had also retired from that race.

Neal Gibson made valiant efforts to steer clear of third place, firstly by missing the first days' proceedings in order to go see Pink at Wembley and then, when he found himself leading the fleet, stopping to take on a crew who had fallen off a jetski.

Josh Hamer found the most effective route to avoid third place was simply to win the first four races of the event, although Kevin and Jack didn't make it easy for him. Despite breaking two kickers, Kevin Clark was left without escape when the music stopped.

With his four hard-won wins, Josh was able to retire early leaving Kevin, Neal and Jack to fight over second, third and fourth. Jack had done enough in the first four races to hang onto second place, leaving Kevin and Neal on the water for race 5. By this point the wind was a strong force 5 and the intervention of incompetent jetskiers lead to them sharing the points for race 5, before Kevin had to retire having broken his second kicker.

Neal's completion of race 6 allowed him to take the Ted Funnell Memorial Cup for mid-fleet.

As usual Guy Mayger and his race team, and all the volunteers and members at Felpham SC did a cracking job and put on a wonderful event for the Solution Class. We are only sorry that we were pipped to first place in the quiz on Saturday night. We'll back next year for a re-match!

Overall Results:
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