Blithfield Barrel 2023/24 - Week 1

by Alastair Reid 25 Nov 2023 20:15 GMT 19 November 2023 - 18 February 2024

There wasn't much sun to greet the sailors on the damp Sunday morning of the first chapter in the iconic Blithfield Barrel racing series. That didn't really matter as there was plenty of wind!

With a day that never saw the south westerly wind dip below 16 knots and top out at 34 knots, it was definitely one for thrills and spills. With 27 boats from across the Portsmouth Yardstick taking to the water for the first race, including two boats manned by Blithfield Juniors, all raced away with a clean start at first ask. A course zig-zagging across the Reservoir gave 3 beats and plenty of downwind work.

The race was initially dominated by a tussle between the Merlin of Andy Davis & Chris White and the home team Osprey of Richard & Mark Hartley, both of whom pulled away from the rest of the fleet by lap 2. Team Hartley eventually managed to put in some serious distance to build up a lead before disaster struck during a squall and put them over whilst under spinnaker. Andy & Chris shot through and maintained their lead thereafter.

With much thanks to the foresight of the Galley Team for having chosen home-made soup, rolls and cake as the ideal restorative for lunch, a smaller fleet of 20 returned to the water for the 1400 race. The wind had obeyed its forecast and moved round to the west.

A different course was used to keep exploiting the whole of the water putting in some additional high speed reaches. The wind started at 16, gusting 24 knots and then moved up a gear to 23 knots with one gust of 34.

Again a clean start was had with Andy & Chris showing their heels to the rest of the fleet. With some decent waves coming down the long fetch that is typical of Blithfield in a westerly, and some punishing gusts, there were plenty of capsizes, particularly under spinnaker. This spread the fleet out considerably although the Phantoms managed to keep fairly closely bunched together.

However, the safety crews were rarely needed to assist, with most sailors sorting themselves out.

Unsurprisingly, fatigue and gear failure saw a few retirements. And just when they thought it was all over, nature showed impeccable timing by making an already challenging return to shore just a little more sporty with a 37 knot onshore gust. Some great anticipation by fellow competitors and the Blithfield junior sailors saw all the boats trapped onto their trolleys without too much drama, albeit some sailors' pulses wouldn't necessarily agree with that assessment.

Overall winners of Round 1 were a very impressive Andy Davis & Chris White from South Staffs SC in their Merlin (also with line honours in both races), Andy Couch from Blithfield was second in his Finn and Matt Biggs & Ben Hollis from Bartley SC were third in their Merlin.

Thanks to Hartleys for their generosity in providing some spot prizes to make some more winners in the fleet.

The next Round is on 10th December 2023. For details, or to enter online, see www.blithfield.org.uk

Results after day 1:

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	Pts
1st	MERLIN‑ROCKET	3814	A Davis	Chris White	SSSC	1	1	2
2nd	FINN	0	Andy Couch		Blithfield	3	2	5
3rd	MERLIN‑ROCKET	3801	Matt Biggs	Ben Hollis	Bartley SC	4	3	7
4th	HADRON H2	166	Steve Hendon		Blithfield	5	7	12
5th	MERLIN‑ROCKET	3749	Colin Anderson	Sean Anderson	Bartley SC	8	5	13
6th	PHANTOM	1449	Adam Froggatt		Chasewater SC	6	9	15
7th	GP14	13326	Steve McCarthy	Gareth Thomas	Blithfield	11	6	17
8th	SUPERNOVA	1066	Julian Bassett		Blithfield	10	8	18
9th	PHANTOM	1370	Duncan Adams		Burton SC	10	11	21
10th	FINN	JG	John Greenwood		Blithfield	2	RET	22
11th	RS 300	346	Eden Hyland		Blithfield	14	12	26
12th	OSPREY	1381	Richard Hartley	Mark Hartley	Blithfield	RET	4	31
13th	LASER RADIAL/ ILCA 6	4.7	Henry Walker		Blithfield	18	13	31
14th	GP14	14051	James Ashworth	Hayley Wycherley	SSSC	22	10	32
15th	PHANTOM	1492	Jim Hopton		Shustoke SC	12	RET	32
16th	HORNET	2189	Justin Jones	Chris Anderson	Chasewater SC	16	RET	36
17th	MERLIN‑ROCKET	3716	Steve Leney	Gill Leney	Blithfield	7		39
18th	RS 400	732	Tom Chadfield	Andy Chadfield	Blithfield	20	RET	40
19th	OSPREY	1333	Doug Rankin	Paul Rankin	Blithfield	24	RET	44
20th	PHANTOM	1428	Sam Coxon		Chasewater SC	13		45
21st	GP14	13868	Oliver Dumbelton	Harriet Dumbelton	Nantwich BCSC	15		47
22nd	MERLIN‑ROCKET	3730	Paul Hollis	Paula Mason	Blithfield	18		50
23rd	OSPREY	1363	Rob Burdekin	Al Raynard	Blithfield	19		51
24th	RS FEVA XL	2579	Rosie Griffith	Isaac shirley	Blithfield		RET	52
24th	TOPPER	TOP	Lara Griffith	Ollie Green	Blithfield		RET	52
26th	SUPERNOVA	1332	Nick Woodhead		Blithfield	22		54
27th	Javelin	579	C Sagar	A Edmonds	Blithfield	23		55
28th	RS FEVA XL	2579	Lara Griffith	Ollie Green	Blithfield	RET		59
28th	Topaz Xenon	5088	Rosie Griffith	Isaac Shirley	Blithfield	RET		59
30th	GP14	13813	Peter Thoms	Dawn Frost	Nantwich BCSC			64
30th	SUPERNOVA	1328	Rob Swinnock		Blithfield			64