'A' Boat open vane racing at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 13 Sep 14:10 BST
7-8 September 2019
Fleetwood 'A' Boat open vane racing © Tony Wilson
After last month's Bonanza 'A' Boat Vane championships, we were now on to a smaller low key event that would include just a few of the regulars. Derek had again offered out his trusted Orange beauty and this time it was Bob J. that was the only one half fit enough to take it on. John Plant with his infinite knowledge in vane sailing was going to assist from the side lines just in case.
It's good to have this potentially new breed of middle aged Vane sailors to continue with the class, because as in Derek's words " when it's gone it's gone. " and at Fleetwood we now have a good handful of interested folk throughout the Vane classes showing interest, which is good.
For Saturday's comp. we had Alan Bell and son Rob from North Wales, And from Yorkshire way we had again David Geldard and Damian with their boats, along with Peter Whiteside from Fleetwood.
The winds had been about average for the day and had given the lads a good day of sailing. Initially starting on the Run leg until the wind slowly swept around by about midday for a change about. It was so good that two rounds were sailed and it was Team Bell that walked home with the silverware.
David wasn't that far behind on points, losing out by just a few and although the Fleetwood guys and Damian seemed further down the list, the points didn't actually show a true picture as there hadn't been much in it all day and races had been very close.
On to Sunday and it was a different story. Hardly a ripple on the lake and it looked like it was going to be a long day. We were down to four boats and it was a bit confusing to whether we were beating or on a run. At times we had boats sailing in opposite directions. Oh what fun. Fixed or broken vane ? Was the question. It looked like it was down to some guess work. Points again were being alternated like the wind to which route favoured the breeze.
After only one heat and each other being raced, an early lunch at 11:30 was called.
Back again out on to the water and still two heats to be sailed, the wind had picked up slightly, but only by a touch. The next races lasted about half an hour for each direction sailed and then the final race in just under an hour.
By about 2pm. end of race day was called. Another round would have been torture in these conditions when compared to Saturday's sailing.
David had won the Sunday and gained most of the available points on offer, only dropping one race that was a questionable tie.
These Vane sailing days are helping us all gain valuable knowledge in sail setup and boat handling. We still have a further couple of Vane 36R's and the Marblehead vane championship at the end of October to be sailed and look forward to. All great fun.
Saturday Bradford Cup:
1 Rob Bell 31 pts
2 David Geldard 27 pts
3 Peter Whiteside 14 pts
Sunday Jim Rose Bowl:
1 David Geldard 13.5 pts
2 Damian Ackroyd 8 pts
3 Peter Whiteside 6.5 pts