Symmetric Grand Prix 2006 at Queen Mary Sailing Club
by Stephen Parry 11 Oct 2006 08:44 BST
7-8 October 2006
Action from the Symmetric Grand Prix at Queen Mary © Richard Phillips
The 2006 SGP was hosted by Queen Mary Sailing Club. The weather was very kind providing sunshine and superb sailing conditions.
As has become tradition the event opened with a Pursuit Race, run for 60 minutes over a course that covered the two parts of the reservoir. Charlie Walters with Dougal Cram in a 505 made an excellent start, in the wrong fleet!!, as there was a little confusion about the Gold/Silver split. Richard and Mark Hartley in their new Osprey led the way at the finish closely followed by Nigel Skudder and Keith Hills in a Laser 2 with Peter Bennett and John Skelton in a Hornet third and the FD of Peter Doran and Richard Phillips fourth.
Then followed two races around a trapezoid course with a beat around the outer loop. In the first the lead boats missed the “loop” first time round so they were playing catchup! Sailing very consistently Nigel and Keith won both these races with Nick Jones and Arthur Butler in an Osprey second in the first race and Charlie Walters and Dougal Cram second in the second race. With the wind blowing around 16 to 18 knots there were some spills around the course.
Sunday, again bright and sunny, with about 7-8 knots of a rather shifty wind from the west, started with two triangular courses. The front runners on the water were Toby Dale and Jamie Whittaker, Peter Doran and Richard Phillips in Flying Dutchman with the 505’s of Ross Short and Charlie Walters and the Hartley’s Osprey close behind, however when the handicaps were worked out whilst the Hartley’s were first Nick Jones and Arthur Butler were second, also in an Osprey with Ross Short third in the first race. In the second Charlie Walters got the bullet and first on handicap with the Ospreys of Nick Jones and the Hartley’s second and third.
The last race, round a ‘P’ course, in about 12 to 15 knots, provided some superb fast reaching for all the classes. Again the bigger boats had the lion’s share of the honours, although the Laser 2 of Michael Clapp and Mark Bond scored an excellent fifth.
There were lots of prizes thanks to our very generous sponsors. Superspar, Craft Insure, Marlow Ropes, Harken, P&B, Sailing Shirts, + a bit of wine from Fastsail. Queen Mary SC were excellent hosts making everyone very welcome and running a brilliant regatta.
The event now in its 4th year unfortunately had a low turn out of just over 30 boats. Notable absentees were the Fireballs who had just one representative on each day. Those who were not there missed a fantastic weekend’s sailing, lets hope the numbers return for next year’s SGP.
Overall Results:
1st Osprey 1312, Richard Hartley & Mark Hartley (Blithfield) 16pts
2nd Laser II 10588, Nigel Skudder & Keith Hills (Starcross) 17pts
3rd Hornet 2179, Peter Bennett & John Shelton (Shoreham) 26pts
4th 505 8834, Russ Short & Andy Short (Rotherham) 28pts
5th 505 8835, Charlie Walters & Dougal Cram (Datchet Water) 28pts
6th Osprey 1310, Nick Jones & Arthur Bulter (RYA) 31pts
Nick Jones in his Osprey was the winner of a Superspars mast.