Sunset Salver Series at Fishers Green Sailing Club
by Christian Hill 24 Sep 2022 09:11 BST
April - September 2022
Fishers Green Sunset Salver Series © Angie May
The sun has set on the 2022 Wednesday evening series, the jewel in the crown of Fishers Green SC Sailing Programme. The number of boats taking part in the 22 race series was regularly in the high teens, and on occasions pushing 20 plus. A highly competitive menagerie fleet lining up each Wednesday for a prompt 19.05 start.
The biggest fleet was the Solos, but a good number of vintage Merlins and Lasers weren't far behind in numbers, and a plethora of other classes added to the mix. This series offered something for everyone, from seasoned racers to new faces on the racing scene.
With such a congested start line, and first beat, getting a good start and clean air was a must. Graham Sexton (Solo 6015) and Blake Newman (Aero 3600) were consistently the best, and at the halfway stage were clear favourites for the title. The chasing pack largely contained vintage Merlins composed of Team Cooper aka Tony Cooper and daughter Jess (Patriot 3252), Jon Steward and Hannah Baker (1742), and Nick Yanna crewed by Matteo Mancini (Shogun 3055), 3 great young crews straight off the FGSC production line.
However, Wednesday evenings at the Green wouldn't be the same if you didn't add in the wild card factors of windsurfer Matt Stolton, random wind shifts, and Lasers matching Merlins and vintage Phantoms tack for tack (I know it shouldn't happen!), and the wind turning off halfway through the race, but that is the beauty and craziness of the Wednesday evening series.
Of course the promise of burgers or toasties after racing adds to the appeal. Over the series we had 54 different helms enter, and 11 different race winners, most notably Harry Steward and Claudia Mancini winning in a modern Merlin (3575). A great effort.
As the series progressed the mid-fleet competitors grew in confidence, with boat speed increasing, and so started to push those at the front. Roberto Mancini (Streaker 1777) and Geoff Holmes (Solo 5020) in particular. By the second half of the series it became clear that the silver salver was a 2 horse race for the title. Graham Sexton was uber consistent, never dropping out of the top 3 but Blake Newman was always hot on his heels. However with 4 races to go Graham had secured the Silver Salver with Blake as runner up. As their final placings were settled Graham and Blake teamed up in a vintage Merlin to show the others how it was done and narrowly missed out on the win.
Unfortunately we lost the last three races of the series. One due to torrential rain, second no wind and the third due to lack of light. The decision was made that our time would be better spent having fish and chips and beer.
Many thanks to all the competitors who fought through the rush hour traffic to make the start line and well done to those of you who found the courage to get on the race track for the first time. Thank you too to all the crews, Race Officers, and rescue crews who gave up their time so we could race.
Congratulations to Peter Hollis who was awarded the inaugural John Williams Trophy, voted for by the Sailing Committee, for the most improved sailor, all round positive attitude, and feelgood factor.
Overall Results:
1st Graham Sexton, Solo 6015
2nd Blake Newman, Aero 3600
3rd Jon Steward and Hannah Baker, Vintage Merlin 1742
4th Tony and Jess Cooper, Vintage Merlin 3252
5th Geoff Holmes, Solo 5020
Looking forward to April 2023.