Zhik WASZP GP at Carsington Sailing Club
by Zac Blomeley 11 Sep 2019 07:24 BST
7-8 September 2019
Zhik WASZP GP at Carsington © Toby Cope
Day one of the Zhik WASZP Carsington GP, had seven boats raring to go and ended up being a perfect day of racing.
The morning passed by in a quite leisurely way and we all launched around 12.00. Race 1 began around 13.00 with some funky starting - the best coming from a port cross of the fleet from Ed Higson (at the starboard end). The day continued in this entertaining fashion with 40 degree wind shifts and breeze ranging from 5 to 18 knots.
It was great to see the WASZP team competitive and consistently improving throughout the day. Mr Joe Pester crossed the line for a photo finish for third place against Max. Felix came off the line and was the only boat foiling for a whole leg. Ed was pushing the top of the fleet and leading races at times and Phil was smashing in an 18 knot downwind, nailing all his gybes and flying into the finish.
We all really enjoyed the fierce competition out on the water and all tried hard to dislodge Dan from the top of the leader board! Six races and several hours later we knew we'd worked hard!
A great day of sailing ended with huge smiles and a class celebration meal at the local Knockerdown pub.
Day two came with no breeze, but we consoled ourselves with a fantastic prize giving and savoured the great team spirit. Congratulations to Dan Wellbourn-Hesp who brought his cool composure to the first days racing and put together some fantastic performances to clinch the win over Max Todd in second. It might have been even closer if Max and I hadn't gone swimming at a few key points!
Many thanks to Carsington Sailing Club for hosting such a great event and we cannot wait to attend a few more.