Please select your home edition
Edition
Leaderboard new launch 2023 Spring

Bournemouth Digital Poole Week 2022 - Day 4

by David Harding 1 Sep 2022 06:11 BST 28 August - 2 September 2022

A different sort of same again

The second half of Poole Week started with the wind pretty much as it had been for the first half: a shifty north-easterly that occasionally swung round to the south east and kept everyone on their toes.

It was generally stronger for longer on Wednesday, though. Bands of pressure would move somewhat erratically across the harbour, sometimes lasting for 10 minutes or so and giving the crews of the trapeze boats an opportunity to stretch their legs.

For the Flying Fifteens it was a jumpy start in the Top Triangle. After a first general recall they were moved to the back of the sequences, behind the RS200s and ILCAs, only to put in a repeat performance at the second attempt. The black flag had to be broken out before they started cleanly, third time around. Eventually they were led home by Richard Whitworth who, with young Eddie Scroggie at the sharp end, leads the overall standings by a couple of points from Bob Alexander and Huw Willetts.

The winner of Monday's round-the-islands race, Jon Gorringe, is better known in Merlin Rocket circles but has borrowed a Fifteen for the week. Crewed by Kelly Aaron, he's currently sitting in third place after a 2nd and a 3rd on Wednesday.

The big story was when a boat from the middle of the fleet won the second race. Graham Davies and Homfray Vines spotted a shift to the right half-way up the first beat, rounded the windward mark in the lead, extended on the first reach and kept Richard Whitworth behind them all the way to the final mark. It was there that they indulged in a spot of spinnaker-trawling, managing to recover it up the short beat to the finish just in time to sneak over the line in front.

In some of the other fleets, the pace-setters of the week had poor races by their standards. In most cases they were able to count them as discards and maintain their positions. James Williams and Sarah Tuppen had a last-race 4th in the RS200s but still lead overall by eight points from Ben Whalley and Emma Hartley. Then again, Whalley and Hartley didn't sail on Tuesday, so are counting two DNCs.

Oliver Allen-Wilcox had his two worst results in the ILCA 6s (Laser Radials) on Wednesday - a 5th and a 4th - and is still five points clear at the top. Another front-runner to count a 5th was Hywel Roberts in the ILCA 7s (full-rig Lasers). Alan Davis won that race having finished a discarded 7th in the first.

Similarly, the top two Wayfarers were able to discard their last-race results, Sean and Helen Murray finishing 6th, two places behind Jackie Dobson and Dave Mitchell. Conditions were so unpredictable out there that even the front-runners couldn't do much about it when the wind simply vanished around them and moved elsewhere, or gave them an enormous header while allowing other boats to lay the mark without tacking.

Willie McNeill proved that when he finished 5th in the last race of the XODs having won the first. He's still in the lead overall by 14 points.

Duncan Glen, who has been leading the Slow Handicap fleet in his Byte C11, scored a 2nd and a discarded 3rd to maintain his lead over Nigel Pearce's Fusion. Both Glen and Pearce are sailing small single-handers this week, but both have form in other classes going back many years.

Despite the extraordinarily fluky conditions, in a few of the other fleets it was business as usual. Peter Stacey and Suzie Clayton recorded their fifth and sixth wins in the Darts. Suzie's father, Nigel Yeoman, led the Dolphins home yet again to discard Tuesday's 2nd place, which was brought about only by a misinterpretation of the finish line. And Steve and Ally Tyler in their Merlin Rocket notched up their sixth and seventh wins in the fast handicap fleet, despite being pushed hard at times by Nick Scroggie and Mimi Gorringe, also in a Merlin Rocket, who finished 2nd in both races.

There's still plenty of racing to come and it will be intriguing to see what happens on the unpredictable waters of Poole Harbour over the next two days.

To find out more, including provisional results, visit www.PooleWeek.org

More photos on www.SailingScenes.com

Related Articles

Bournemouth Digital Poole Week overall
A memorable day to end a memorable week Friday was a glorious day to bring the 74th Poole Week to a close. Even when the sun wasn't actually shining, the weather was still warm and bright, and there was enough wind for all the fleets to sail up to two races as scheduled. Posted on 3 Sep 2022
Bournemouth Digital Poole Week 2022 Day 5
It's not over yet, but the first winners are Although there's still a day to go, the top boats in several of the Poole Week fleets have already secured their victories. Posted on 2 Sep 2022
Bournemouth Digital Poole Week 2022 Day 3
A real day of Snakes and Ladders It's hard to remember a day when the wind in Poole Harbour has been shiftier than it was on the Tuesday. During the racing, between 2pm and about 5pm when the fleets returned ashore, the wind was flicking between about 020 degrees and 130 degrees. Posted on 31 Aug 2022
Bournemouth Digital Poole Week 2022 Day 2
Reading the wind, negotiating the tide, avoiding the mud For Poole Week competitors on Monday, it was all about getting on the right side of the wind shifts. There were a lot of them, and they were big. That and negotiating the tide, while some later in the day also had to think about keels and mud. Posted on 30 Aug 2022
Bournemouth Digital Poole Week 2022 Day 1
Not a bad day on the water That was the consensus among competitors on coming ashore after the first day. The wind had blown - not very hard at times, but generally enough - and the sun had shone now and again as well. So it had been quite a satisfactory day, all things considered. Posted on 29 Aug 2022
There's still time to enter Poole Week
Nearly 170 boats are already set to take part Poole Week, one of the country's biggest and most vibrant sailing weeks for dinghies and small keelboats, gets under way in Poole Harbour on Sunday. The weather forecast for the weekend looks perfect and the crews of nearly 170 boats are already entered. Posted on 23 Aug 2022
Poole Week 2022: Early-entry savings until Sunday
There's still time to take advantage of discounted entry fees if you're quick! Poole Week is now only three weeks away, but there's still time to take advantage of discounted entry fees if you're quick! They end on Sunday 7th August. Entries will still be accepted - indeed welcomed - after Sunday, but they will be at the full rate. Posted on 6 Aug 2022
Entries open for Poole Week 2022
Taking place this year from 28th August to 2nd September The British sailing season wouldn't be complete without Poole Week, which takes place this year from 28th August to 2nd September. Posted on 25 May 2022
Bournemouth Digital Poole Week day 6
That was Poole Week, that was For many of the fleets competing in Poole Week, much was riding on the final day. Points were tight at the top - often tied - and it could all go down to the last moments of the last race. Posted on 28 Aug 2021
Bournemouth Digital Poole Week day 5
Island Life Being a race officer can be a thankless task when the wind is all over the place. It's never easy at the best of times, but at least in Poole Harbour you usually have plenty of water to play with. Posted on 27 Aug 2021