2000 class Millennium Series event 1 at Weir Wood Sailing Club

An excellent turnout of 30 boats arrived at Weir Wood Sailing Club for the first Millennium Series Event of the year. We were met by an overcast sky but the clouds soon cleared, leaving sunshine and a light and variable wind.

With a very light forecast for Sunday The Race Team took the great decision to run five races on Saturday to make the most of the better conditions.

During the first race the fleet played a game of snakes and ladders along with the wind shifts/gusts. The winners were Simon and Katie Horsfield who showed their speed in the strongest wind of the day, followed home by Pete Vincent and Victoria Upton.

2000 class Millennium Series event 1 at Weir Wood - photo © Vince White / WWSC

In the second race (in his first 2000 event) Paul & Jesse Kibble showed the fleet a clean pair of heels for the first two laps before being overhauled towards the end. It was a photo finish at the line with Matt & William Larkin just pipping Jonathan & Louisa Ching.

Pete & Victoria and Jonathan & Louisa had a good match race in the third race pulling clear of the fleet with Pete edging the win.

In the fourth race the wind started to shift around more, Chris & Gillian Jordan took an early lead but Rob & Gemma Burridge used their experience to read the conditions correctly to take the win.

The fifth race proved challenging for the Race Team as the wind had shifted before the start, prompting a change of course, only for it to shift back just after the gun, then back again after the first lap. This led to some interesting positions and sailing angles; however, it was Pete & Victoria and Matt & William who were again fighting it out for the race win, which all came down to the final leeward mark rounding and gave Matt & William the win.

2000 class Millennium Series event 1 at Weir Wood - photo © Vince White / WWSC

The fleet had an excellent social event with dinner and drinks at the club, with delicious catering once more from Adam at The Galley and many were seen to be doing a wind dance and praying for more wind than was forecast for Sunday.

Unfortunately, the wind gods were not listening and after a short postponement the wise decision was made not to race on Sunday, so the results from Saturday were counted as final. This gave the overall meeting win to Matt sailing with his 8 year old son William and they also took first place in the Family Junior award, second place went to Pete Vincent and Victoria Upton and third place to Jonathan and Louisa Ching.

2000 class Millennium Series event 1 at Weir Wood - photo © Vince White / WWSC

There were excellent results from two newcomers to the fleet - Paul and Jesse Kibble who won the bronze fleet and Jay Whitehead and Alice Moore coming second. The silver fleet was won by Adrian and Roz Stell, with Jeremy and Alison Short coming second. The 2000 class is very proud to be a great family class and we had six under 18s taking part in the event.

Prizes were generously given by the Club, West Country Boat Repairs and the 2000 Association.

The next event on the circuit is the West Country Boat Repairs 2000 Inland Championships 2023 at Bristol Corinthian YC on the 29 & 30 April.

Extra photos at photos.app.goo.gl/r729une9iducjKN18

Overall Results:

2000 class Millennium Series event 1 at Weir Wood - photo © Vince White / WWSC