Finn Open at Bough Beech Sailing Club
by Richard Sharp 19 Apr 2021 06:06 BST
17 April 2021
Bough Beech Finn Open © Richard Sharp
On Saturday 17th April 2021 the Finn fleet converged on Bough Beech for the first Finn open meeting of the year. There was a fantastic turn out of around 20 boats and everyone seemed very happy to catch up again after along winter.
The socially distanced outdoor briefing and prize-giving worked very well and the sunshine made the outdoor changing almost pleasurable.
It was a stunning day with unbroken sunshine. The wind was blowing the N/NE which resulted in some large gusts and shifts rolling down the valley and across the lake. Like a small Lake Garda at its best?
Some of the sailors got caught out and enjoyed a refreshing dip in the lake in the bigger gusts. Karen Irons and her race team did a brilliant job to get in four back-to-back races under trying conditions. A windward-leeward course was set using the majority of the lake. Approaching the windward mark was challenging at times with big gains and losses made.
Race 1 was all about the start - Lawrence Crispin (Thorpe Bay/Stone), Martin Hughes (Warsash), Kristian Sjoberg (Thorpe Bay) and Richard Sharp from the host club all got away off the pin end of the line and reached the windward mark with a small gap to the rest of the fleet.
Lawrence stayed ahead and, after some mid race changes, the finishing order was Lawrence, Martin, Kristian, Richard and Julian Smith (Mengeham) who had swept through the fleet during this race.
Race 2 quickly followed. Again the pin end was favoured and an unluckily stalled Roman Khodykna (Mengeham) opened up a gap for Richard to get away on port.
At the windward mark Martin, James Skulczuk (Medway) and Richard led. By the leeward mark Richard had got ahead and in the rounding James and Martin came together. This resulted in James tearing his sail. Amazingly he sailed on to take 4th place.
At the finish it was Martin, Richard, Kristian, James and Lawrence, who was rapidly appearing from the pack.
There was a general recall in Race 3 which allowed James to get back out with a new sail.
Roman pulled off an amazing port tack start to lead from Lawrence. Lawrence got past Roman and sailed away from the fleet. A large gust unluckily put Roman into the lake and back into the pack.
As the fleet became more familiar with the shifts and gusts, some new faces appeared at the front of the fleet.
The finishing order was Lawrence, Allen Burrell (Thorpe Bay), John Heyes (Mengeham), James and Richard.
Again, the pin was favoured for Race 4. Lawrence and Richard sailed up the middle of the lake but were passed by boats from either side. The biggest cheer of the day was for our legend Howard Sellars (Warsash) who rounded the windward mark first.
Allen got past Howard and sailed off with a nice gap. The boats behind were all looking for the magic shifts and there was significant place changing.
The finishing order was Allen, Richard, James, Kieran Holt (Warsash) and Kristian. Howard held on for a fantastic 6th place.
The fleet all were back ashore for the Duke of Edinburgh's one minute silence at 3pm. All in all, it was a fantastic day's racing and helped to blow away the cobwebs and rustiness after the winter.
Results were very tight with places 3rd to 5th all on the same points. Lawrence deservedly won from Richard, Allen, Kristian and James. Lawrence also became the first recipient of the lovely new Finn Spring Series Trophy.
Overall Results: (top five)
1st Lawrence Crispin (Thorpe Bay) 7pts
2nd Richard Sharp (Bough Beech) 8pts
3rd Allen Burrell (Thorpe Bay) 11pts
4th Kristian Sjoberg (Thorpe Bay) 11pts
5th James Skulczuk (Medway) 11pts