Snipe South East Championship and European Circuit Leg 2 at Blackwater Sailing Club

Start Line during the Snipe South East Championship at Blackwater © Zoe Nelson

Top 3 in the Snipe South East Championship at Blackwater © Zoe Nelson

The Snipe fleet shared its open meeting at Blackwater Sailing Club with the Wayfarer fleet on the weekend of 2nd 3rd of May. It was also the Snipes South Eastern Championship and the second leg or the European Circuit (a series of 6 events throughout Europe).

Quite a few people arrived on Friday evening with food organised by Richard and Debbie Marshall for the first get together of the year. Saturday morning the rest of the fleet arrived to a beautiful morning but with very little wind, a first Snipe Open experience for quite a few. We launched at 11.45, just as the tide was filling the narrow channel to the club, getting a tow out to the river as it was straight into the wind and too narrow to tack down.

Saturday was sailed in a light, unusually shifty wind for Blackwater making the race officers job even more difficult, the course was Olympic giving a good mix of reaches and runs, The first race got away first time, with the first boats approaching the windward mark from both sides of the coarse, Iain Gregory and Mike Ker rounding first followed by Tim and Kay Tavinor from the right getting further out the tide, with Matthew Wolstenholme and Eiichi Higuchi 3rd, leading from the left having had more consistent pressure, Kristof Woutters and Roos Hertsens, Peter Wolstenholme and Jess Welch and Lloyd Roberts and Emma Preen chased very close behind. Iain/Mike mastered the patchy conditions to hold off Matthew/Eiichi, Peter/Jess, and Tim/Kay.

Before the next start the course had to be relayed due to a roughly 40 degree wind shift. The tide was now near slack allowing the course to be much more open to going different ways up the first beat. Matthew/Eiichi led at the windward mark from Dave Hall and Guy Welch in second showing good speed for a new comer to the Snipe. The wind shifted a further 40 degrees for lap 2 allowing the fleet to lay the Winward mark in pretty much 1 tack. Matthew/Eiichi held of Dave/Guy to win, with Peter/Jess, and Tim/Kay following.

The last race of the day saw the tide change before the start now pushing you through the line leading to the first general recall of the day, with three boats being OCS on the restart, it was a typical Snipe race with lots of changing positions and a very tight fleet, particularly the first leeward mark as much of the fleet sailed very high, battling for position and being pushed up by the tide, having to run down to the mark, while others further back doing a better job of the lay line on the tide all arriving at the same time. Matthew/Eiichi took the win with Kristof/Roos second after gaining 5+ positions being the first to tack back into the strengthening tide on lap 2. Guy Marks and Sam Boniface were 3rd and Sue And Steve Roberts 4th. A fantastic evening awaited us with traditional British fish and chips and a band playing in the club.

We awoke to not quite such a sunny morning on Sunday but with the prospect of more wind and very much looking forward to the racing again we waited for the tide to allow us to launch. Race 1 got under way in a little more breeze than the Saturday but not as strong as forecast, Matthew/Eiichi recovered from a poor start to reach the windward mark first ahead of Elliot Marks and Sophie Wantling second. Matthew/Eiichi went on to get their third win in a row followed by Peter/Jess, Tim/Kay, with Elliot/Sophie starting what was going to be a much better day for them in 4th with a lot riding on the Marks Father/Son battle.

Rounding the wing mark during the Snipe South East Championship at Blackwater - photo © Zoe Nelson

The fifth race started with an Individual recall and Peter/Jess headed back to re-start, Lloyd/Emma led from start to finish, building a commanding lead at the finish, followed by the ever consistent Matthew/Eiichi, Alan Williams and Liz Pike passed the also consistent Tim/Kay on the final reach to take 3rd.

The last race saw Chris Surridge and Tessa Hellston lead at the windward mark, closely followed by Guy/Sam and Alan/Liz with Guy/Sam taking the lead by the leeward mark which they held to the finish with Alan/Liz finishing the regatta with another strong result followed by Tim/Kay and Matthew/Eiichi.

Peter and Jess during the Snipe South East Championship at Blackwater - photo © Zoe Nelson

The racing had been very competitive with at least 12 National champions (6 Snipe) sailing from various fleets on a tight race course, in the end won convincingly by Matthew and Eiichi although all their races were hard fought. While everyone was in the boat park packing up after the discussions were all about what's next, some going to Belgium in a couple of weeks for the their nationals and the 3rd leg of the European circuit. Stone is the next UK Snipe open on the 6th/7th June with training being organised for Thursday & Friday. We also have boats going to Norway for the Woman's Europeans and Masters, at least three going the Junior Worlds in Melilla supported by the UK and International Snipe fleets, 4 going to the European cup in Poland in June and four boats going to the Worlds in Minorca plus various people going to other events around the World.

Prize winners in the Snipe South East Championship at Blackwater - photo © Zoe Nelson

A huge thank you to Blackwater sailing club for hosting us and especially to Richard and Debbie Marshall for all the hard work they put into making it such a success. Also thank you to the event and circuit sponsors, Allen Brothers, North Sails, PL Sails, MAS Marine, Persson Marine, Cotesi & Alpha Ropes, Olympic Sails.

Overall Results: