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Osprey Open and Southern Championship at Poole Yacht Club

by Jamie Blake 4 Jun 06:09 BST 20-21 May 2023
Osprey Open and Southern Championship at Poole © Mike Millard

A little behind the Contenders and Fireball's report as yours truly decided to escapade to France for a week, but it's alright as we were the fastest on the water (although that didn't stop them trying to sail through us)!

Anyway, onto the racing; with the forecast for 10-18 knots, a healthy fleet of 16 boats took to the water for a cool but sunny 3 races. With the course being set at 40 degrees, but with shifts 10 degrees either way, going fast wasn't going to be the only factor.

Race one got under way promptly, with all boats being well behaved not pushing the line too much. With everyone not sure which way would pay, the fleet split (I can't remember who went which way), but converged at relatively the same time at the top mark. Race one went the way of locals Matt Rainback and Phil Angrave, who would go one to win race 2 as well. Race 3 was more difficult to say how it went as the Blake pairing decided to mess up the start, and so were focused on playing catchup rather than who ended up where.

One (well attended) healthy curry on Saturday night later, Sunday dawned much the same as Saturday with the same wind speed and direction albeit with a left shift to come through at some point. With this shift, the fleet headed to left up the first beat until this hit, spilling 4 boats into the drink! Lots of close racing in the mid fleet, with places changing every leg meant the fleet kept nice and close. Upfront, it stayed down to the wire, with the event win being decided in the last race. Congratulations to Matt and Phil on a deserved win, and to Matt and Vyv, and Terry and Peter too for pushing right to the end.

Special thanks from myself to my helm too for putting up with my super competitive attitude all weekend, and it was great to see so many boats on the water with smiling faces. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next event; Weymouth Dinghy Regatta 8-9th July.

Overall Results:

PosBoatSail NoHelmCrewClubR1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
1stString Driven Thing1352Matt RainbackPhil AngravePoole YC11(DNF)2217
2ndTeal1353Matt BurgeVyv TownendPoole YC‑5211127
3rdPlan B1281Terry CurtisPeter GreigWeymouth SC3‑4333416
4thGhost Ship1382Roger BlakeJamie BlakeGreat Moor SC45‑754523
5thSwiftwun1290Martin CooneyPeter FrithPoole YC23947(DNF)25
6thPeakaboo1322Ben TownsendEd RichardsonEmsworth SC766‑96328
7thGreat White1373Richard MarshallRob GillespiePoole YC‑99285731
8thWaimanu1291Alex WillisNick WillisHISC‑88868636
9thLight and Bitter1292Paul HeatherMartin Osgood ‑10105109943
10thThe Duke1317Simon TownsendJack TownsendEmsworth SC(NSC)1210711848
11thBig Girls Blouse1295Mark ReynellChris GreethamPoole YC674(DNC)DNCDNC49
12thAquaholic1318David BestTony PauffleyPoole YC‑11111111101053
13thGremlin1269Alan LaingMark GriffithPoole YC131412(DNF)DNCDNC71
14thShades of Green1249Lily EyreNico DunfordPoole YC(NSC)1513DNF12DNF72
15thLast Chance1355Ian HartSteve EhrhartPoole YC1213(DNF)DNCDNCDNC73

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