2022 BOTTLE boat Championship at Waldringfield Sailing Club
by Roger Stollery 20 Sep 2022 20:17 BST
This year's Championship and Junior Championship had a very encouraging entry with as many juniors taking part as adults making up the entry list of twelve. The warm weather made it a very enjoyable day for both competitors and those watching the 16 race spectacle in front of the clubhouse.
The wind was not very cooperative initially, with a light south-westerly breeze blowing against the neeps ebb tide. RO Roger Stollery laid the windward-leeward course adjacent to the shore with the start initially downwind to prevent multiple general recalls.
This worked well with competitors behaving well when they arrived together at the leeward mark with few collisions and the IRSA Short Penalties carried out after there was an incident.
The tide tended to carry boats past the windward mark and it was only when running back past the mark that a few collisions caused entanglements, which John Smith in the rescue dinghy was able to separate. The racing was close and six different competitors won races.
Past champion Bernard Kufluk set the scene by winning the first race from Matthew Lake and Noel Fraser, but it was Noel who was the most consistent and was top of the lunchtime leaderboard after six races, with 10 points, Matthew second with 13 and Bernard third with 19.
After the lunch break the tide turned and a moderate sea breeze filled in so there were good beating conditions against the flood tide and occasional planing on the downwind leg.
Matthew kicked off the afternoon by winning his first race, Race 7, but let Robert Norris beat him into second in Race 8. Young Topper sailor George Moss then beat all the grown-ups in Race 9 and then in a very close finish with Bernard won the next. It was Robert's turn to win his third race in Race 11. He couldn't keep this up and let Matthew win again before coming back with his fourth win in Race 13.
Bernard was Mr Consistent with seconds in all these races, but broke this mould to win Race 14 and the final Race 16 to clinch the special BOTTLE boat Championship trophy again. George was delighted to become the junior Champion finishing in fifth place overall, one place ahead of Oliver Stollery in sixth and his brother Nathan in seventh place.
Margaret Lake, a great supporter of this event, enjoyed the spectacle in front of the clubhouse and presented the prizes, one for every competitor starting with the juniors, half of which gained a lot of experience from their first radio event. Competitors thanked Margaret, and the race team of Roger, Linda and Peter and John Smith in the rescue boat.
Results:
1st Bernard Kufluk (49) 31 points
2nd Noel Fraser (37) 40
3rd Robert Norris (2) 51
4th Matthew Lake (32) 56
5th George Moss (69) jnr 58
6th Oliver Stollery (164) jnr a68
7th Nathan Stollery (4) jnr 68
8th John Fish (10) 75
9th Lucas Fish (14) jnr 79
10th Josh Glen-Gowing (7) jnr 106
11th Liam Barnes (60) jnr 116
12th Daniel Barnes (50) jnr 126