Osprey Open at Kielder Water Sailing Club

Ospreys at Kielder Water © Angela Mamwell

Ospreys at Kielder Water © Angela Mamwell

Ospreys at Kielder Water © Angela Mamwell

Eleven Ospreys entered the class Scottish and Northern Championships at Kielder Water Sailing Club over the weekend of the 7th and 8th September.

Kielder is a long way from anywhere and the competitors travelled long distances to get there including from Hayling Island on the South Coast and from South Wales. Robin Hobson however takes the prize for the longest distance travelled his home club being St Lucia Boardwalk YC in the Caribbean. We think he was in the UK taking shelter from Hurricane Dorian.

The event started on a high with the Osprey sailors after their long drive drinking the bar dry on the Friday even before sailing had started!

The first day's sailing, in an ever shifting light and changeable wind, was dominated by the ladies, with Alex Willis crewed by her dad Nick winning the first race and Viola and Mike Scott winning both the following races. Rob Shaw and Ian Little sailing Rob's new boat finished second in the first two races.

The race officer did a good job making sure the times between races were nice and short allowing all three races to be held in as short a time as possible. The last race was particularly interesting, as 3 boats started at the port end of the line, and took off in the breeze as it built, whereas the rest of the fleet, starting at the committee boat end were becalmed till after all comers had started, and so were playing catch up for the rest of the race. David Downs and Jonathan Osgood leading at the second mark decided not to gybe-set onto the run and allowed the Scott's and the Blakes to extend away at the front. The race ended on an interesting note, with the race officer shortening the course halfway through the fleet, meaning that the first 3 boats had to complete an extra lap!

Saturday evening delivered a very good barbecue dinner, which was let down by the bar running dry by 9 o'clock! Here's hoping they order more beer for next year!

Sunday dawned with no wind at all, meaning an hour-long postponement whilst we waited for the wind to fill in. Some took the hint and packed up to go home early! The rest of the fleet launched once the wind had filled in, to be greeted with a moderate but shifty breeze. Race 1 was recalled with half the fleet pushed past the line. At the restart, the Willis' got away first, and disappeared, leaving the rest of the fleet to battle it out on the tight reaches.

Ospreys at Kielder Water - photo © Angela Mamwell

The final race was won by Rob and Ian, who therefore also won the whole weekend by a single point.

It was an interesting weekend and difficult to put together a consistent set of results in the light and shifty winds. There was a lot of close racing with only five points separating the top five finishers. So congratulations to Rob and Ian despite the ladies Viola and Alex winning four of the five races between them.

Thank you to all for the food and drink! It was a great weekend, and definitely one to do again!

Overall Results: