Solution Open at Felpham Sailing Club

by Kathryn Clark 15 Jun 2023 07:08 BST 10-11 June 2023

We'd like to start this report by saying that Felpham SC welcomed the Solution fleet once again with wall-to-wall sunshine, perfect breeze and champagne sailing conditions. Unfortunately, the wind that they'd ordered was delivered late, only arriving in time for the last race.

Nevertheless, the club put on a fantastic open meeting and the final race was as good as it gets weather-wise, leaving everyone with smiles on their faces. Race officer Richard Bentley and his team did a sterling job to get 6 good races in given the challenging conditions. Even the local fishermen were supporting the Solution fleet, marking their lobster pots with a friendly Solution fish.

In terms of racing, Martin Tubb took a dominant lead and was virtually untouchable in the first two races. By race 3, newcomer to the fleet Richard Gibbon decided he'd had enough of being polite and decided to take a turn at the front instead. Behind Martin and Richard, the racing was very tight with places changing all over the place. Come Sunday morning, Richard once again took line honours making it 2 firsts apiece and the title to play for. In race 5, Kevin Clark, sporting a new flat-cut sail, decided he'd had enough of these lightweight leaders. After spotting a left-hand shift in the light and fluky breeze, he took the lead from Richard and Martin and managed to just sneak his way around the bottom mark before a major windshift turned the rest of the race into a procession. With Kevin Clark not just completing a race in light winds but actually winning it as well, the fleet started to worry that hell had finally frozen over.

There wasn't much time to worry though, as the major windshift foretold the arrival of the breeze and with all to play for in the final standings, the last race was completely different to the previous 5. Kevin once again took the win, which meant the top 3 each had two 1sts and a 2nd with four races to count. Richard's other result was another 2nd place, Martin was counting a 3rd and Kevin's next best result was 4th meaning they finished overall in that order.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1st	413	Richard Gibbon	Lee‑on‑Solent	‑2	‑2	1	1	2	2	6
2nd	456	Martin Tubb	Leigh and Lowton	1	1	2	‑3	3	‑4	7
3rd	464	Kevin Clark	Lee‑on‑Solent	‑5	4	(DNF)	2	1	1	8
4th	455	Kathryn Clark	Lee‑on‑Solent	‑7	3	3	4	‑5	5	15
5th	469	Mark Fox	Lee‑on‑Solent	‑6	‑5	4	5	4	3	16
6th	405	David Craddock	Thornry Island SC	‑8	6	(DNF)	7	6	6	25
7th	431	Tony Lord	Felpham SC	4	(DNS)	(DNS)	6	DNC	DNC	28
8th	439	Ian King	Felpham SC	3	(DNS)	(DNS)	DNS	DNC	DNC	30