Comet Duo National Championships and World Series Event at Cransley Sailing Club

by Nigel Austin 21 Jul 2019 15:13 BST 29 June 2019

This was the fourth year that Cransley Sailing Club has held the event and we had a great turnout on a tranquil wind day (Force 2 occasionally 3, and sometimes 0-1 in the wind shadows!).

We welcomed a total of fourteen boats with half being "Billy no mates" and the others having secured crews. It was truly a National event as we had 2 visitors, Mark Devaney from Hampton Pier SC (Kent) and Nigel and Anne Ford (Olton Mere SC, Solihull).

Faced with a tricky south easterly wind, the race officer chose a boat start for each race something that was alien to the majority of those sailing. It was apparent that if you could dodge the wind shadows then you might be able to break away Myself and Peter Stein, closely followed by Mark - totally un-phased by no tides or dolphins! - managed to do this in Race 1.

The course was around as many buoys as the duty officer could get on the board and consequently one lap was between 13 and 16 minutes long, which for the wind and size of our water was using every inch of the reservoir.

Lunch was designed by our caterers to slow folk down even more and sure enough our visitors fell for this local trick in Race 2, with Nigel and Anne not recovering in Race 3 and calling it a day, whilst Mark did gain a creditable sixth to place fifth overall (which I think he was happy with being his first racing against Duos only).

There was close competitive racing throughout the fleet in all 3 races but it was carried out amicably and with lots of banter - just how it should be!. It was great to see a lot of youngsters either crewing or helming and whilst these wonderful boats are no longer being built and most are more than 20 years old they do sail lovely and to handicap on smaller waters like Cransley.

The results show the ups and downs of each, however everyone gets a prize - I mean, this is the Worlds!

We are hoping to get to the magical 18 boats next year so we can claim that over 10% of the built fleet attended the event - I wonder if any other class could or has claimed that!

Thanks to all for making it another cracking event and look forward to seeing you next year.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Club	Helm	Crew	PY	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	103	Cransley SC	Nigel Austin		1150	1	1	(RET)	2
2nd	99	Cransley SC	Peter Stein		1150	‑2	2	1	3
3rd	165	Cransley SC	Rob Campbell		1150	‑9	3	2	5
4th	90	Cransley SC	John Linnell	Matilda Guyett	1175	‑6	4	3	7
5th	16	Hampton Pier YC	Mark Devaney		1150	3	‑11	6	9
6th	157	Cransley SC	Charlie Guyett	Emily Britton	1175	5	‑7	4	9
7th	4	Cransley SC	Rhiain Bevan		1150	4	‑5	5	9
8th	93	Olton Mere SC	Nigel Ford	Anne Ford	1175	7	8	(RET)	15
9th	73	Cransley SC	Jane Townsend		1150	10	6	(RET)	16
10th	141	Cransley SC	Sarah Austin	Sue Bull	1175	8	9	(DNC)	17
11th	20	Cransley SC	Darrell Hutchings		1150	11	‑13	7	18
12th	18	Cransley SC	Julie Aves	Bob Aves	1175	‑13	12	8	20
13th	19	Cransley SC	Jason Davies	Astara Davies	1175	12	10	(RET)	22
14th	17	Cransley SC	Gretta Davies	Cerella Davies	1175	14	(RET)	DNC	29