Osprey Open and Southern Championship at Poole Yacht Club

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.

Osprey Open and Southern Championship at Poole - photo © Mike Millard

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.

Matt Rainback & Phil Angrave win the Osprey Open and Southern Championship at Poole - photo © Mike Millard

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: