2021 Clevedon Sailing Club Regatta
by Martin Gibson 9 Jun 2021 10:48 BST
6 June 2021
2021 Clevedon Sailing Club Regatta © CSC
Sunshine and a force 2-3 West-South-West wind greeted the thirteen sailors who turned out for the 2021 annual Regatta.
Race 1
In the Fast handicap fleet, Benedict Whybrow (Laser Radial) Chris Cooper (Laser) and Stuart Turner (Laser) were the first to reached the Pier mark followed by the rest of the pack who were jockeying for room to round the mark. The beat out to the Sea mark proved challenging in the tide and those who tacked to soon to lay the mark suffered badly and allowed Cooper, Turner the RS200 of Mark Elliott and Evie Summerell and the D Zero of Neil Ballard to break away. Martin Gibson (Laser Radial) recovered well to stay with the leading 4 boats. Results: 1st Stuart Turner (Laser) 2nd Martin Gibson (Laser Radial) 3rd Chris Cooper (Laser) 4th Neil Ballard (D Zero).
In the Slow Handicap, Cadet Rory Stretch in a Topaz Race was the only boat to make it round the challenging course.
Race 2
Race Officer Robin Goff set a smaller starboard triangle due to the falling wind. In the Fast Handicap it was once again Turner that got away early, closely followed by Ballard and Cooper. Ballard in the faster D Zero passed Turner on the reach to the sea mark and remained unchallenged for the rest of the race. Results: 1st Neil Ballard (D Zero) 2nd Stuart Turner (Laser) 3rd Chris Cooper (Laser) 4Th Martin Gibson (Laser Radial).
In the Slow Rory Stretch in the Topaz proved to quick for the Topper of Sam Newall, who sailed well to complete the course.
Race 3
The beat down to the Bandstand mark saw a lot of place changes, and it was Ballard who led the way to the seamark followed by Turner, Cooper, Elliott and Gibson. It looked like Ballard had it in the bag but together with Elliott he stopped thinking they'd finished, allowing Turner to take over the lead. After realising his mistake Ballard was unable to recover and also allowed Gibson and Cooper to challenge for 2nd. Results: 1st Stuart Turner. 2nd Martin Gibson. 3rd Neil Ballard. 4th Chris Cooper.
Once again in the slow fleet Stretch proved too fast for Sam Newall's Topper.
Overall Results:
Fast Handicap
1st Stuart Turner (Laser) 2pts
2nd Martin Gibson (Laser Radial) 4pts
3rd Neil Ballard (D Zero) 5pts
4th Chris Cooper 6pts
Slow Handicap
1st Rory Stretch (Topaz) 2pts
2nd Sam Newall (Topper) 4pts