Contender Travellers Trophy Round 5 at Felpham Sailing Club
by Duncan Ward 3 Jul 13:17 BST
21-22 June 2025
Contender Travellers at Felpham © Tony Lord
The weekend of 21st and 22nd June saw the fifth round of the Contender Traveller's Trophy at Felpham Sailing Club on the West Sussex Coast. A classic summer's weekend was forecast with temperatures reaching 25 degrees and sea breezes expected, especially on Sunday which the forecast certainly delivered on!
The Contender Class joined in with Felpham Sailing Club's summer regatta, which included a separate class and course for the Contenders. The host club could not have done a better job, full praise must go to the race committee, shore crews and house team, who put on a faultless series of races, with great catering and Saturday evening entertaining in the club house.
Racing got under way on Saturday, with race one starting under a warming blue sky, with a moderate South Easterly breeze and ebbing tide. For a change, the fleet got away fist time with no recalls! Most of the sailors headed in shore, out of the building tide, whilst a few went out to see looking for more wind pressure. The inshore option paid out, with the usual suspects of Graeme Wilcox (2025 World Champion) and Stuart Jones leading the way around the Windward mark, these two continued to split away from the fleet, with Graeme taking the win. Adrian Smith sailed a nice clean race to take third spot, coming back to form after difficult weekend at the previous event.
With the Sea Breeze starting to fight the SE gradient somewhat, the wind speed was more variable for race 2 and 3, whilst the direction stayed relatively stable. These conditions made the side of the course less of a binary choice, with sailors benefitting from going left or right on the beats on any given lap. Race two again saw Graeme take an early lead and extend through the race, this time with Ed Presley moving up through the fleet into an excellent second place, with Simon Mussell taking third spot.
For the final race on Saturday the tide had turned, nudging the starters towards the start line and a some of the fleet couldn't resist taking a look at the course before the start gun! Graeme realised he was one of them and turned back, Simon was the other and decided he was ok, sadly he was wrong and was classified OCS, which was a shame given he led most of the race on the water, before being reeled in on the final lap by Graeme, who completed a hattrick of wins on day one. Stuart Jones completed the top three in the last race.
Sunday dawned with the wind direction veered to the South West and increased to some 20 knots with more forecast. A few boats were packed up without going afloat, the rest of the fleet took a deep breath and headed out until the building sea swell! It must be noted the Felpham shore crew did a sterling job of getting us all away, a very slick operation!
The first race got away with the wind now gusting up to 25 knots, with the conditions remaining pretty constant for the rest of the day's racing. Naturally there we a few capsizes but by and the large the fleet coped well, with the Contender thriving in these conditions. Ed Presley led the way up the first beat, with height and speed the rest of the fleet couldn't quite match, Graeme followed but couldn't repeat his previous day's exploits and finished second with Duncan Ward, managing to stay upright for a change finishing third.
The next race followed a similar pattern, but Graeme got his nose ahead of Ed and wrapped up the series with another first place. Rob Smith sailed a really good race for well deserved third place. The final race was sailed with the wind increasing a little more if anything and the sea continuing to build, which offered some great surfing conditions downwind, and a few scary moments around the gybe mark particularly! After a tight first beat Ed again led the way, from Duncan and Graeme. Graeme even managed a notable (because he so rarely does!) capsize around the wing mark, offering the rest of the fleet a chance, but not for long as Graeme soon righted his boat and gave chase, finishing second to Ed, with Duncan close behind in third.
The Overall results were: 1st Graeme Wilcox, 2nd Ed Presley, 3rd Stuart Jones
Overall a fantastic weekend's racing, hosted by a lovely friendly club with a great bunch of volunteers, the Contender's will happily come back anytime. The Contender fleet now look forward to the World championship at Malcesine, Lake Garda. Contender World Championship 2025
Fraglia Vela Malcesine, which at the time of writing has 170 entries!
If you would be interested in getting a Contender and joining the fleet, all events and classified are available at Home - British Contender Association.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 2787 | Graeme Willcox | Netley | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 2nd | 2826 | Ed Presley | Chew Valley Lake | ‑8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| 3rd | 2706 | Stuart Jones | Datchet | 2 | ‑5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 18 |
| 4th | 2711 | Duncan Ward | Lymington Town | 4 | ‑7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 18 |
| 5th | 705 | James Spikesley | Netley | 5 | 6 | ‑9 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 28 |
| 6th | 2449 | Robert Smith | Castle Cove | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 3 | (DNC) | 31 |
| 7th | 678 | Tom Hooton | Burton | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | (DNF) | DNC | 36 |
| 8th | 2661 | Nick Curry | Weston | 10 | ‑12 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 40 |
| 9th | 2751 | Richard Buttner | RNSA | ‑11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 43 |
| 10th | 2730 | Adrian Smith | Hythe & Saltwood | 3 | 8 | 6 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 45 |
| 11th | 2420 | Simon Mussell | Highcliffe | 9 | 3 | (OCS) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 54 |
| 12th | 666 | Bill Hooton | Burton | 12 | 11 | 11 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 62 |
| 13th | 2710 | James Daniels | Netley | (DNF) | DNC | DNC | DNF | DNC | DNC | 70 |