Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster 2025

Solo open meeting at Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club

by Nick Fisher 26 May 2023 13:17 BST 20 May 2023

The reservoir at Cheddar was bathed in glorious sunshine with a forecast 10 - 14 knots NE'ly, which did not bode well fighting with the incoming sea breeze from the South West.

The briefing took place at 1100 with a dying wind as the sea breeze started to fill in. Course was changed to a trapezoid to enable the RO to at least endeavour to set a decent beat.

We sailed out to the start at the Southern end of the lake to be greeted with the AP hoisted. With some judicious mark moving and the sea breeze failing in its attempt at overturning the gradient wind AP down and into the sequence.

It is a combined Solo/Laser open, with the Lasers being the faster boats they set off first, their start being our 5 minute signal. Having been warned by the RO that he wanted clean starts due to the fickleness of the wind, there was orderly behaviour at the gun, or it could just have been that some of us are now pushing on a bit in years and need to conserve our energy.

The wind stayed fairly steady for the first beat until about 100 yds from the windward mark, whereupon it decided to drop and shift all over the place, this caught several of us out as we struggled to make the mark. I was in good company as myself and Ollie Turner had come in on Port and got completely stuffed with the shifts which appeared to be about 40 degrees.

Ollie, being the canny sailor he is managed to extricate himself, whereas l managed to come off the mark last. The wind was relatively steady for most of the race apart from the windward mark. Charlie Nunn (Torpoint) took the gun with Ollie Turner 2nd and John Steels (Starcross) 3rd.

Race 2 started after lunch with much the same as race 1: flukey winds and despite the RO shifting the windward marks 75 yds downwind to avoid the horrible shifty patch it was still a bit of a lottery for some. Steve Mitchell (Torpoint) made the best of it and being a lightweight sailor made the most of the conditions to take the win from Ollie Turner with Roger Guess (Salcombe YC) in 3rd.

Race 3 started off with an individual recall, Tim Wade (Lymington Town SC) being an offender. Roger Guess flew off the line and was leading by 50 yds when he was informed he was OCS, straight in for the early bath and finished for the day.

Meanwhile the wind had piped up to such an extent that even Vernon Perkins was sitting on the gunwhale, he reckoned he was fully hiked but all l could see was two rather large bum cheeks peeking over the side while lightweight Steve Mitchell was fully hiked but the glory of the previous race was to elude him.

Meanwhile with the wind shifting it paid handsomely to stay left on the second beat and the man to take advantage of that was Shaun Welsh (Torpoint) who rounded the windward mark with a good lead, however in the following pack was Ollie Turner, Steve Roberts (Torpoint) John Steels and Charlie Nunn. Shaun was unable to fend off the sustained pressure from the hunting pack and it was Steve Roberts who took the win with John Steels 2nd and Charlie Nunn 3rd.

So, with 3 races complete and a discard kicking in it was Charlie Nunn who took the overall win with Turner 2nd and Steels 3rd. Next Western Area Event is the Area Championship at Chew Valley on the 1st weekend of June.

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3Pts
1st5901Charlie NunnTor Point Mosquito1‑534
2nd5546Olly TurnerSalcombe SC22‑44
3rd5926John SteelsStar Cross YC3‑1025
4th5642Steve RobertsTor Point Mosquito7‑818
5th5251Roger GuessSalcombe SC53(DNC)8
6th5204JohnTeagueBCYC44‑78
7th5905Steve MitchelTor Point Mosquito‑9189
8th5731Vernon PerkinsSouth Cerney‑137613
9th5072Jon CoatesBCYC‑126915
10th5629Tim WadeLymington Town6‑121016
11th5844Nick FisherTor Point Mosquito89‑1117
12th5778Shaun WalshTor Point Mosquito‑1413518
13th5479Bill ChardChew Valley SC1011(DNC)21
14th4514Charles DavidsonBCYC1114(DNC)25

Related Articles

Burwain Solo Open
Another day at the picturesque lake Arriving for the Northern Area Solo Open Meeting, sponsored by Winder Boats, another day at the picturesque lake at Burwain. We were greeted by blue skies and a light south westerly breeze, that would provide a challenging day's sailing. Posted on 30 Apr
Salcombe YC Sailing Club Series Race 2
A shortened course necessary in the light East North Easterly and building Spring tides Saturday saw 12 boats arrive on the Fast Handicap fleet line, despite the building spring tide and the predicted lack of wind towards the latter stages of the afternoon. Posted on 28 Apr
Burghfield Solo Open
It was all looking a bit ominous during the week It was all looking a bit ominous during the week leading up to the Burghfield Sailing Club Solo Open Meeting on Saturday 26th April. A poor forecast of very light winds - if any - meant that the entry list was looking very depleted. Posted on 27 Apr
Salcombe YC Sailing Club Series Race 1
A good afternoon of beat and running for the fleets With a Force 3 to 4 East North Easterly breeze in the main harbour the thirteen Solos that arrived at the Salcombe Yacht Club start line looked forward to a good afternoon of beat and running racing. Posted on 22 Apr
Solos at Broadwater
Thames Valley & Eastern Series opener The 2025 Eastern and Thames Valley Solo Series kicked off on a sunny Saturday at the end of March with fifteen boats from ten clubs taking part. Posted on 21 Apr
The Solo Welsh Championship and a Bit of History
Tata Steel Sailing Club, Port Talbot, hosted the event, first run in 1996 Tata Steel Sailing Club, Port Talbot, hosted the event which was first contested back in 1996 and was won by the pubescent Harvey Hillary sailing 4004 Kevin's Widget (Gosling). Posted on 20 Apr
Ron Beasley obituary
A seven-year joinery apprenticeship lead to being a world champion dinghy builder Ronald William Beasley was born on the 31st January 1931 and grew up in Bradley, Bilston in the Black Country. He left school at age fourteen. He then completed a seven-year joinery apprenticeship at 'Wilcocks' in Wolverhampton. Posted on 16 Apr
Ogston Solo Open
22 entries of which 14 were visitors for first northern event of the season Sunday the 13th April saw the first Northern Solo Open Meeting of 2025 take place at Ogston Sailing Club in Derbyshire. There were 22 entries of which 14 were visitors. Posted on 16 Apr
Solo class Southern Area Series at Spinnaker
The mark-laying boats were busy throughout the day Spinnaker Sailing Club hosted the first open meeting of this year's Solo Southern Area Series this Saturday, 12 Apr. Seventeen sailors arrived to blue skies and a forecast F2/3 Easterly veering SE. Posted on 15 Apr
HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers at Bardowie
Plenty of time for a chat in the sun before racing As we usually do the Scottish Solo fleet headed to Bardowie for the first event of the 2025 HD Sails Scottish travellers series on April 12th. Posted on 15 Apr