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GJW Direct 2024 Dinghy

Solo Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

by Steve Middleton 23 Apr 2024 09:49 BST 20 April 2024
Burghfield Solo pen © BSC

The good, the bad, and the Adonises of the Solo class rocked up to Burghfield Sailing Club for an open meeting on Saturday 20th April to do battle on a much expanded lake due to flooding in recent months. The northerly and extremely shifty breeze blowing across the lake meant that Race Officer Deryck Lovegrove and his team had their work cut out.

Thirty-three (that's 33) Solos lined up on a start line where a certain amount of assertiveness was required to get yourself off in reasonable order. But the breeze was pretty feisty - with moments of "shut down", and with islands coming into play, a complex puzzle was left for competitors to get their heads around!

The challenge did not, however, phase Tom Gillard too much. Bullets in all four races, whilst plain greedy, doesn't paint the whole picture. He was headed at times, principally Chris Jennings made him work for his money, but ultimately... well, he won. By a bit.

A little bit further down the fleet, at the halfway point after 2 races, Ian Matthews (6,5) and Marc Sollars (4,8) were showing up well.

After lunch, the breeze dropped a notch and more competitors came into play. At this point your reporter was ashore, and whilst sorting out sponge cakes and biscuits, things started to change a bit bringing Dave Mason and Simon Maskell into the picture in a trickier breeze.

In very tricky conditions, massive thanks to Deryck Lovegrove and his race team..not an easy day. Our open was shared with the Comet class who were perfect partners. A special mention from the Solo fleet to Meg Warren (Comet) 82 years old, who sailed all the races and takes no prisoners! And also the bloke who cooked the sausage flan!

Overall Results:

PosHelmSail NoR1R2R3R4Pts
1stTom Gillard602111113
2ndChris Jennings544422256
3rdDavid Mason55823107212
4thSimon Maskell6037943714
5thIan Matthews59776515415
6thRichard Cornes54928186317
7thMark Maskell60077135618
8thAdam Meekings56765911923
9thDave Bull547317391325
10thTim Lewis601024641525
11thMarc Sollars558448163428
12thNigel Bird5903101281129
13thJohn Reed50451411133438
14thJonathan Hirsch5189227141839
15thStephen Dickinson58351514101739
16thAndrew Jones57261122121639
17thPatrick Ward5770191634843
18thRob Starling58381215173444
19thSteve Jones57301619191045
20thTim Wade60661817211247
21stKevin Druce55892024341458
22ndJames Cutler44832126181958
23rdDarren Ballard38402620202060
24thRichard Goss56601323343470
25thWynn Kenrick50292825342174
26thIan Bartlett59022321343478
27thNick Jackson53612534343493
28thPaul Bristow47222734343495
29thSte Litherland37292934343497
30thTim Medcalf508934343434102
30thAdam Kirkwood380434343434102
30thPeter Ash399634343434102
30thSausage Flan587034343434102

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