2022 Mirror Western Area Championship at Restronguet Sailing Club
by Martin Egan 15 Jun 2022 11:52 BST
12 June 2022
The 2022 Mirror Western Area Championship was held at Restronguet SC, Cornwall on 12th June. Sadly no sailors from any of the other Mirror clubs in Cornwall or the greater SW travelled, but Restronguet's fleet came up trumps with 9 entries. Conditions in the Carrick Roads were pretty well perfect with a force 3-4 from the North West, a flooding tide and sunshine.
Ben & Wilf Lloyd-King sailing 70447 'Fever' (sailing as 63392) led at the first mark of Race 1 with Huw & Beth Reyolds sailing 70790 'Te-feti' and Poppy Luxton & Lottie Tregaskes sailing 69667 'Bold Forester' in hot pursuit. Max Phypers & Emma Sellwood in 70785 'Vegemite Sandwich' (sailing as 70519) had made a rather indifferent start, but steadly moved up through the fleet, capitalizing on any errors in spinnaker handling by the younger, less practiced, crews ahead of them. By the third lap they had taken the lead and race 1 with Huw & Beth second & Ben & Wilf third. There was then a break for lunch ashore - very civilized.
For race 2 Max & Emma made a much better start. Martin Egan & Felix Heffernan in 15563 'Blyskiawica' were OCS and re-crossed the line. This time Max & Emma had a clear lead at the windward mark with Huw & Beth second. At this point Martin & Felix were third, but got the spinnaker retriver line caught under the boat after the gybe and had to retire. Max and Emma held their lead to the finish ahead of Huw & Beth with Poppy & Lottie third.
For race 3 it seemed to pay to go right, which enabled Huw & Beth to build a good lead over Max & Emma which they held to the finish. Poppy & Lottie were unlucky to break their tiller gybing on the final mark while lying third and had to retire. This allowed Ben & Wilf through to take third and Torrunn Brown & Murray Oates in 70190 'Va Va Voom' up to 4th and 4th overall, there being no discard.
It was lovely to see some familiar faces from the past - Steve & Kim Long from Q-Mark Sails travelled down from Devon to say 'hello' and watch the action. Thanks to Dave Hollingsworth & team for running the racing and to Kyle Brown for presenting the prizes.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No / Boat Name | Helm & Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 70785 / Vegemite Sandwich (sailing as 70519) | Max Phypers & Emma Sellwood | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 2 | 70790 / Te‑feti | Huw & Beth Reyolds | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | 70447 / Fever (sailing as 63392) | Ben & Wilf Lloyd‑King | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | 70190 / Va Va Voom | Torrunn Brown & Murray Oates | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 |
| 5 | 69667 / Bold Forester | Poppy Luxton & Lottie Tregaskes | 4 | 3 | RTD | 17 |
| 6 | 70725 / Grey Hound | Tristan Sellwood & Sam Davis | 9 | DNF | 5 | 24 |
| 7 | 70390 / Salty Dog | Florence & Sally Luxton | 8 | 6 | RTD | 24 |
| 8 | 15563 / Blyskawica | Martin Egan & Felix Heffernan | 5 | RTD | DNS | 25 |
| 9 | 70303 / Sounds of Silence | Paul & William Scullion | 6 | DNS | DNS | 26 |