Comet Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

Burghfield Comet Open © Dario Marangio

The twelve competitors found a gentle wind across the reservoir on arrival at Burghfield's Comet Open on 26th April. However, just before the start the wind died away and what was left kept shifting by up to ninety degrees. The race officer, Dereck Lovegrove, postponed the start for 45 minutes until the wind steadied and filled in. During the postponement he took the opportunity to move the start line into better wind.

In the first race the line was square, but the right-hand side of the beat was best. Eddie Pope took the lead followed by Henry Jaggers and Alun Bevan. On the beat of the second lap Eddie pulled away, but further back there were several place changes in the fickle wind. Ben Palmer came into the windward mark from the left-hand side of the course to take second place from Alun while the leading lady, Jacky Stagg, moved up to fourth place.

Fearing the wind might drop, the race officer decided to postpone lunch and continued with the second race. The line was biased, favouring the committee boat end. The boats jostling for position on the line were too early and started to run down the line, with Jacky being pushed over at the start. Meg Warren led for much of the first beat, but was overhauled by Eddie at the windward mark. Henry also caught Meg and on the second beat Ben moved up to third while Carol Butcher moved up to fifth position behind Meg by coming up the left-hand side of the beat. On the final run the wind dropped away and the fleet spread out, but there were no further changes in position. The fleet returned to shore for a late lunch hoping the wind would hold for the afternoon's racing.

With the racing running late the race officer took the decision to drop the fourth race so there would only be one race in the afternoon. This gave Eddie, with two first places in the morning's racing, first place overall. Ben, with a second and third, was lying second overall, but could be caught by Henry or Alun who each had a second place from the morning's racing. Five of the competitors were women, and after two races Meg, with a fourth and seventh, was leading from Jacky who had a fourth and tenth.

Burghfield Comet Open - photo © Dario Marangio

At the beginning of the final race there was still wind, but in the final three minutes a wind shift made the pin the favoured end. Several boats at the committee boat end were caught out by the shift and were unable to cross the line on starboard. Ben led from the pin end, followed by Eddie. These two pulled away from the rest of the fleet. After the second beat Jacky was leading the following pack of boats. On the next run the wind began to drop away and the race officer elected to shorten the course at two laps which proved to be a wise decision as the wind did not return. The front three positions were unchanged, with Peter Mountford taking fourth and Helen Evans fifth place.

Ben's win in the last race ensured he kept his second place overall. Jacky's third place in the final race gave her equal points with Henry. However, on count back Henry's second place in race two ensured he took third place with Jacky fourth. However, Jacky had overtaken Meg to claim the first lady prize.

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

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