Solo Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

Burghfield Solo Open © Dario Marangio

It was all looking a bit ominous during the week leading up to the Burghfield Sailing Club Solo Open Meeting on Saturday 26th April. A poor forecast of very light winds - if any - meant that the entry list was looking very depleted until a flurry late on achieved critical-mass and it was game on.

On the day, 17 competitors arrived to find - as forecast - a very light ENE breeze along the length of the lake, albeit bright and dry. The event was shared with the friendly Comet class and everyone launched enthusiastically to head for the start line whereupon the breeze promptly died to nothing! For the next 45 minutes or so, the race team, led by Deryck Lovegrove, attempted to set a course with the occasional zephyr emerging from any random point of the compass you'd care to choose. It did eventually settle into its forecast direction - but still very patchy and shifty - and racing commenced.

Burghfield Solo Open - photo © Dario Marangio

For the home boats, local knowledge proved to be no advantage whatsoever as visitors dominated the top 5 positions. Very much to the credit of the race team, 3 races were completed and coming out on top - also last year's winner - was Tom Gillard (Sheffield Viking/Staunton Harold SC) with 3 straight winds. And whilst he eventually pulled clear in most of the races, Mark Maskell (Blackwater SC) provided the main challenge - never far away - coming in second place in all 3 races. Nick Charles (Papercourt SC), Mark Williams (Llandegfedd SC) and Chris Bolton (Norfolk Broads YC) all mixed it with the leaders to add a bit of spice to proceedings.

Burghfield Solo Open - photo © Dario Marangio

Of the home boats, Jon Ibbotson and Andy Jones pressed hard but were just not quite able to turn their presence amongst the leading boats into podium positions at the end of the day.

Running the racing at BSC can often be quite challenging, so a big thank you to Deryck Lovegrove and his race team who managed affairs in exemplary fashion, and also to Kevin Druce for all his efforts in organising the event.

Burghfield Solo Open - photo © Dario Marangio

Find out more about Burghfield Sailing Club (near Reading) at www.burghfieldsailing.org or our Facebook page.

Overall Results: