Exmoor Beastie 2024 at Wimbleball Sailing Club

by Tony Paine 28 Mar 2024 19:10 GMT 24 March 2024

Unusually the weather was perfect, with blue skies and fair wind, except in the notorious dam area of the lake where there was very little and shifty. The wind elsewhere was a bit gusty and variable in direction but that is entirely normal and anything else would not be Wimbleball.

The race: first away and worth a mention, starting even before the race was officially started, Lewis Ryles in his little RS Tera, got a bit lost and ended the first lap firmly in last place, but soldiered on to finish. Well done.

So, to the good and the great, it was not long before the class sailors showed their metal with a battle royal ensuing between the top three who engineered a big lead on the field. Luca Mitchell, Simon Hawkes and Peter Barton. With the clock ticking down a Wimbleball special mini gust surged Luca past Simon to snatch top spot. As well as picking up top spot - Luca also bagged the under 25 award.

Luca was sailing a RS Aero 7 as was Peter Barton in third - part of fleet of 9 Aeros on the start line. K1s, which was Mr Hawkes craft of choice had 6 entrants, the rest of the fleet made up of a wide range of dinghies, the Hornet last away having to wait 37 minutes on the line, whilst the wind eased down, that's the luck of the draw.

The Exmoor Beastie was the last in the South West Series, and whilst being pipped at the post on the day Simon Hawkes was the clear winner of the Series with a fantastic set of results.

The race was generously sponsored by Exmoor Ales who supplied some very welcome Ales for the competitors, including the eponymous Exmoor Beastie.

As ever it is the raft of volunteers who allow these events to happen, thanks to them!

Overall Results:

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Start Time Down	Lap 1 Pos	Lap 2 Pos	Lap 3 Pos
1	Rs Aero 7	2150	Luca Mitchell		Paignton Sailing Club	21	3	1	2
2	K1	4	Simon Hawkes		Wimbleball	22	5	3	1
3	RS Aero 7	4396	Peter Barton		Lymington Town SC	21	2	2	3
4	K1	84	Paul Birbeck		Wimbleball	22	10	8	5
5	Blaze	843	chris dyer		wimbleball sailing club	25	9	5	4
6	Rs aero 7	1846	Zak Mitchell		Paignton Sailing Club	21	8	6	6
7	K1	169	Paul Harwood		Wimbleball SC	22	13	9	7
8	RS Aero 7	3011	Iain Horlock		Homeless SC	21	6	7	8
9	Challenger	312	Val Millward		Rutland Sailing Club / Sailability	6	1	4	9
10	Aero 7	2545	Dave Stockton		Wimbleball	21	12	10	10
11	RS Aero 7	2550	Chris Jones		Sutton Bingham SC	21	11	11	11
12	K1	129	Gordon Keyworth		Homeless SC	22	14	13	12
13	K1	145	Mike Green		WSC	22	15	12	13
14	Hornet	2184	Terry Curtis	Gavin Poulloin	Castle Cove SC	37	24	17	14
15	Ilca 6	182597	Nick Ryles		Wimbleball	9	7	14	15
16	Ilca 6	185306	Jemima Ryles		Wimbleball	9	4	15	16
17	K1	142	John Clear		Wimbleball	22	16	16	17
18	RSAero 9	3502	Mark Lambdin		Bradford on Avon SC	27	22	18	18
19	RS200	787	Nathan Muggeridge	Phil Maher	Wimbleball SC	24	21	20	20
20	Lark	2065	Martin moore	Darren moore	Lyme regis	21	23	21	21
21	RS Aero 7	1174	Andrew Smith		Wimbleball SC	21	17	22	22
22	Supernova	449	Leo Muggeridge		Wimbleball SC	19	18	19	19
23	RS Tera	2224	Lewis Ryles		Wimbleball	‑5	25	25	24
DNF	Supernova	1191	Dave Birt		Wimbleball	19	20	23	23
DNF	Wayfarer Mk4	11317	Kevin Ogilvie‑White	James Russell	WSC	15	19	24	DNF
DNF	Rs Aero 7	4400	Jacob Chambers		Wimbleball	21	DNF	DNF	DNF