Solo Eastern Travellers event at Norfolk Broads Yacht Club

The Norfolk Broads Yacht Club hosted the latest Solo Eastern Travellers event on the 7th June. The growing club fleet welcomed visitors from various East Anglian clubs and 11 boats contested three competitive races as part of the NBYC Dinghy Weekend. Wind conditions were generally light but built throughout the day and were quite variable in direction, therefore a normal day on Wroxham Broad!

Race 1 had the lightest breeze and after a very competitive start, Vince Horey and Matthew Frary pulled away from the rest of the fleet and enjoyed a good battle taking advantage of the 50 or so other dinghies on the broad delaying the rest of the Solo fleet. At the finish Vince finished 1st, followed by Matthew in 2nd and Mark Maskell 3rd.

Race 2 commenced after lunch in a building breeze with the threat of the forecast thunderstorms. Vince and Matthew pulled away from the rest of the fleet once again with Steven Bishop chasing hard. Vince looked steady in 1st having worked out some of the intricacies of Wroxham Broad until one of the squalls hit bringing rain and at least a force 3!, Vince capsized whilst tacking handing the lead to Matthew who then had to fend of Steven Bishop for a further 1.5 rounds of the broad. At the finish Matthew took 1st, Steven 2nd and Vince recovering well to record a 3rd place.

With one race remaining, the event was still wide open with a number of potential winners.

Another competitive start saw the fleet split; half the fleet attempted the high risk/big reward port tack start whilst the remainder went for the safe (sensible!) starboard end start at the clubhouse end of the line. A large shift (not that large by Wroxham Broad standards) saw the starboard end boats come out on top with the port tackers struggling to get across the line. Starting in the middle of the line Chris Bunn emerged with a decent lead at the windwark mark which he extended throughout the race for the race win despite having to negotiate his way through the Optimist, Streaker, Firefly and Handicap fleets.

Chris was chased throughout the race by Steven Bishop (who was sniffing a potential open meeting win), Mark Maskell and eventually Matthew recovering from a poor start. Vince had an even worse start (and even worse excuses) and never recovered handing the Open Meeting to Matthew Frary who was quite happy to cover Vince whenever possible. Steven Bishop was unlucky to be overtaken by Mark Maskell up the final beat demoting him to fourth overall.

Results:
1st Matthew Frary - 6122 - Norfolk Broads Yacht Club - 3 points
2nd Vincent Horey - 6134 - King George Sailing Club - 4 points
3rd Mark Maskell - 6007 - Blackwater Sailing Club - 5 points
4th Steven Bishop - 5723 - Hunts Sailing Club - 5 points
5th Chris Bunn - 6067 - Lady Yacht Club - 6 points

Next on the Solo Eastern travellers is Dabchicks Sailing Club on the 14th June, Wroxham Week is fast approaching at NBYC (28th July-1st August) where a large dinghy attendance is expected and all are welcome.