2021 Hansa TT at Frensham Pond Sailability
by Kate Whyatt & Peter Etherton 9 Sep 2021 07:24 BST
1 September 2021
A busy 303 1 Person Fleet race start during the Hansa TT at Frensham © Tony Machen
A cool but constant north easterly breeze, sometimes quite lively, greeted the 11 visiting helms and a record 14 local sailors (4 making their TT debuts). The conditions encouraged competitive sailing across all four Hansa fleets for the final TT of the year.
The 2.3 fleet was limited to four local boats due to Covid but included 2 sailors new to TT racing, Andrew Lebec and Ray Bedwell. With five TT wins already under her belt Lindsay Burns was assured of the 2.3 series title and dominated once again with three straight wins. It was good to see some close racing between Ray, Andrew, and Lara Sturgis. With only one point separating them after four races these three battled to the end with Andrew taking his first win in race 4, ahead of Ray who just claimed 2nd overall on countback from Lara in 3rd place. Lara also took 2nd place in the 2.3 TT series. All sailors enjoyed the day and just as importantly all are looking forward to next season
The 303 1P fleet was the largest and had 11 entries in total. Rory McKinna from Clyde Cruising Club came first by managing to dominate the fleet with clean starts and insightful tacking in all races. Behind Rory the racing was fierce with places changing right up until the finish of every race. Local sailor James Woosnam squeezed second place due to some very lucky shifts on the last leg of two races with Richard May, also from Frensham, managing to clinch overall third place on his debut TT.
Harry Kennington stormed up the beats gaining two places at the very end of the first race finishing 4th overall. Mike Everitt has had a brilliant TT season but could only manage 5th place on home water while Hannah Nicoll (Whitefriars) in her 4th TT added sparkle with an excellent 6th place overall. Judith Riggs and Dennis Hantman (both Frensham) had the distinction of finishing a race in a dead heat and finished on equal points, with Judith getting 7th on countback.
Andy Holmes (New Forest), Andy Robson (Frensham) and Logan Bell (Rutland) all had their own battles for the tail of the fleet. It was especially good to see more younger sailors (Logan, Hannah, Harry and Dennis) competing and sailing well. The overall 303 1P TT series saw Rory McKinna take 1st with Mike Everitt 2nd and James Woosnam 3rd.
Not everyone in the fleet was able to sail the four 303 races as generous sailors swapped out for a race to allow everyone to participate in at least three races. This was to make up for the six missing Hansa UK boats which were stuck on a closed M1 for most of the day. A huge thank you goes to Steve & Ron Sawford for eventually getting the six boats to Frensham, and to every other TT, and to the Frensham support crew for rustling up substitute boats and organising rotas to allow everyone to sail.
The 303 2P class saw Steve Kitson and Jane Knight (New Forest) take race 1 before Natalia and Alan Hillman (New Forest) took to the water with three straight wins in races 2-4 (two races in iCandy kindly loaned by the Ethertons). The consistent Philip Hall and Tom Hepburn (Chesil Sailability) claimed all four 2nd places to take 2nd overall from Steve and Jane and Frensham's Colin Freeman and Paul Kingston.
The Liberty class included 3 boats from Rutland (great to see Ric Cassell competing again), 1 from Whitefriars and 2 local boats for a game of snakes and ladders with lots of position changes on the beat with legs two and three being a bit more of a procession. Paul Phillips (Frensham) knew only an outright win at Frensham would be needed to take the series, but it was David Durston (Whitefriars) who took the first win of the day from Paul. Race 2 went to Paul with David 2nd, race 3 to David with Paul 2nd so the day and series results were dependent on race 4. David got ahead after a luffing match at the start when both boats thought they were over but there was little in it until Paul found some extra speed and pulled away to the finish to claim the TT win and with it the TT series to add to his 2021 Nationals win.
Chris Emmet, Ric Cassell, Paul Pearson (all Rutland), and Tessa Watkiss (Frensham), all raced hard but were unable to overtake the excellent racing of Paul and David. Positions 3 to 6 were only separated by one point, so the rest of the results were decided on count back.
The combined 2021 TT Series results of Lindsay Burns, Michael Everitt and Paul Phillips were enough for Frensham to win the Ben Ainslie Team Trophy for a record 14th time!
Frensham Pond Sailability are celebrating their 20 years anniversary this year so a huge tea, including cake, was there to be had after the racing and boat packing up. A big 'Thank You' must be given to everyone who helped to make the day such a success including the Race Officer and his team, the team of Frensham helpers and all the visitors without whom the day wouldn't have been so exciting.
Overall Results:
Hansa 2.3
1st - Lindsay Burns (Frensham)
2nd - Ray Bedwell (Frensham)
3rd - Lara Sturgis (Frensham)
Hansa 303 1 Person
1st - Rory McKinna (Clyde Cruising Club)
2nd - James Woosnam (Frensham)
3rd - Richard May (Frensham)
Hansa 303 2 Person
1st - Natalia & Alan Hillman (New Forest)
2nd - Philip Hall & Tom Hepburn (Chesil)
3rd - Steve Kitson & Jane Knight (New Forest)
Hansa Liberty
1st - Paul Phillips (Frensham)
2nd - David Durston (Whitefriars)
3rd - Chris Emmet (Rutland)