36R Vane Beesley Cup 2025 at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 28 Sep 2025 13:24 BST
14 September 2025
36R Vane Beesley Cup at Fleetwood © Tony Wilson
The beauty of the Vane sailing days, is that they are only a day for each Trophy. Thus great if you can't make a full series for the ever popular Radio sailing.
The weather forecast wasn't too great with rain coming in, but that would be in the afternoon with a little precipitation through the morning. The wind was from the South East and probably 'B' rig size, so we thought. Whenever it's from the roadside, you just can't tell and early on it was a little patchy.
It's all guesswork and chance when picking the right size suit to sail with and unless you have the added luxury like Olly for all his rigs being shroudless, it can be a bit of a long winded chore for when you need a quick change.
Everyone opted for their biggest rig, except for Alan thinking it was going to be a blow out and bringing just his smallest. 2 points out and 3 back for the six boats in attendance. Wizzy had loan use of Derek's boat for the day and we had Bob and Harry along to assist on the nearby bank.
A little slow for the first couple of races, but we decided to forgo lunch and get the job done. Five races planned otherwise percentages are worked out if we fall short on a race or two. Midway through racing Olly went down a size. He was doing well and hardly dropping a point.
Alan also seemed to be doing well with his tiny rig, as the lightweight boat didn't mind. Eric wished that he had also gone small from the start, with the wind picking up. The last couple of sprints had some nosediving for those with oversize canvas. Most remained fixed vane as the legs were both reached for each direction.
We completed the day by 2pm with Wizzy just pipping Olly for the Trophy. Everyone saved on sun cream and it had remained mainly dry. Olly sailed really well and had a good day.
Results:
1 Wizzy 20pts
2 Olly 18pts
3 Peter Whiteside 16pts
4 Alan Crawford 10pts
5 Tony Wilson 7pts
6 Eric Austwich 4pts