Osprey Open at Castle Cove Sailing Club

by Kevin Francis 30 Sep 15:40 BST 27-28 September 2025

With the Osprey fleet being invited down to Castle Cove to join in with our regular travelling chums in the Contender Class, a good weekend was guaranteed. The various weather forecasts had been studied days in advance and looked to be interesting and varied away from the reliable South Westerly that so often greets the sailors at this venue.

Following the warm welcome from the club, bacon baps, coffee and catch ups it was time to get afloat into a southerly breeze of decent trapeze strength for both classes. The overcast sky and threats of incoming foiling Switches proved unfounded in the main as the courses were set far enough apart to allow everyone to play nicely. Triangle, sausage courses and 3 laps was the standard for the weekend with the Contenders going first with the greater number and decent breeze. The race officer Jock Fellows sensibly left a gap in the start sequence to avoid any interference with the 2 fleets and before long the 9 Ospreys for the first day were away.

The pin end seemed favoured but the fleet split early on mainly to avoid stacking up with even numbers headed for each corner of the course. Going up the middle proved unreliable as the influence of the Isle of Portland began to take effect, however on closing the windward mark it was obvious that there wasn't much of a gain either way and the crews heart rate started to increase with the arrival of the reach and the spinnaker work, none more so than multi dinghy specialist Sam Pascoe teaming up again with son Benjamin leaving the L2000 on the dinghy park for this one. This dynamic duo were to have their hands full all weekend as Benjamin steered happily in the vast expanse at the back of the boat with dad somehow managing to multitask like crazy to keep everything in order at the front and middle... at the same time!

The first reach was a proper one, the second a little softer and the runs were set correctly to allow tactics and gybing for pressure or angle. The Blake's were on a mission and in the very fast Mk VI Osprey they were dominant all day even when not making the windward mark at the front. 3 bullets and looking good. Elsewhere Simon Brewer and Alastair Ramsden were making the most of the trip over the bridge from Mumbles YC to score well in the first few races, and Jonathan Osgood with guest helm for the day Gavin Poullion working some magic to get 1292 firing on all cylinders with some blistering upwind speed. The other team that improved throughout was Emma Stevenson and Kevin Francis sailing together for the first time in the new Osprey Class boat for the first time they soon found a working formula and with a quick boat were able to get amongst the leading pack all weekend to keep the top teams honest.

Day one complete the crews returned to shore for a wind down and a hearty meal in the club house amongst friends, beers in hand and Rugby on the telly box. Later Sam went home for a well-earned bath, arms like Mister Fantastic!

The final day lived up to the forecasts with the wind switching over to a Northerly direction and steadily building throughout the morning. This time the Ospreys were allowed away first and at launch time is was lightish but by race 2 it was back to full trapeze conditions. The course was still shifty up to 30 degrees creating a lot of opportunity to work on tacking regularly to get the gains. Paddy Lewis and Mike Priddle were the standout team on this day, opting for the right side of the course and nailing the windward mark it was great to see. Asked afterwards what the secret was Paddy stayed tight lipped but flashed a bottle of something with the Cornish flag on it and a note from Steve George. It can only be assumed to be the performance enhancing elixir we have heard so much about.

Benjamin and Sam were revelling in the slightly lighter conditions and registered a race win in the shortened first race of the day. Another Osprey had entered the fray with Ian Cadwallader being joined by Gavin who handed over the helming duties on 1292 to class chairman Peter Frith to ensure a 10 boat attendance for this event, somewhat down on the usual numbers but a quality field and with another Osprey event running in Scotland and a number of health and holiday situations it was nice to hit double figures. This team took no time to show what they are capable of and powered by P&B they were quick all day.

By now the sun was out and Weymouth & Portland were at their best. Final team mentions and thanks to Rob Southern and Tristan Southern for coming along and being an integral part of the weekend, learning new things and improving all the time. Rob Burdekin and Alastair Raynard travelling down from Blithfield who plugged away all weekend to get some practice ahead of the home regatta to come and to Richard Marshall and Nick Willis as both were feeling decidedly under the weather and could easily have stayed at home but instead came along and mixed it with the rest in usual Osprey fashion, gentlemen your lemsip and Ibuprofen await you.

And so with the worthy winners in Roger and Jamie Blake we look forward to the final Osprey open event of 2025 with the final fling at Blithfield Sailing Club over the weekend of the 11th and 12th October for some tight racing and amazing hog roast!

Post report note to wish Alex Willis and Tim Bowden well with their recovery from injury and illness respectively and the class hopes to see you on the water again very soon.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	1382	Roger Blake	Jamie Blake	1	1	1	2	4	1	6
2	1385	Emma Stevenson	Kev Francis	4	2	2	4	3	3	14
3	1234	Benjamin Pascoe	Sam Pascoe	6	5	4	1	5	2	17
4	1386	Paddy Lewis	Mike Priddle	5	7	5	3	1	4	18
5	1276	Simon Brewer	Alastair Ramsden	2	3	8	6	6	6	23
6	1363	Rob Burdekin	Alastair Raynard	7	6	3	8	7	7	30
7	1292	Gavin Poullion/Peter Firth	Jonathan Osgood	3	4	6	9	9	9	31
8	1357	Ian Cadwallader	Gavin Poullion	DNC	DNC	DNC	5	2	5	34
9	1373	Richard Marshall	Nick Willis	8	9	7	7	8	8	38
10	1326	Rob Southern	Tristan Southern	9	8	9	10	10	10	46