Challenger Harry Fisher Trophy at Ogston Sailing Club

Challenger Harry Fisher Trophy at Ogston © Marion Edwards

The Challenger Open at Ogston SC took place on the weekend 3-4 October. The Challengers were joined by the D-Zeros. There was a rather depleted fleet of Challengers. Several usual attendees were at the 2026 World Sailing Inclusion Championships and several more were unable to come because of life getting in the way.

The fleet would have been even more depleted if Ogston hadn't loaned Richard Sant Challenger 230 at very short notice. Richard had started his journey down from Scaling Dam when, only a few miles from the club, a (new) trailer tyre blew out. He decided to return to base and come down without a boat.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and windless. Cody Braithwaite looked at the weather and decided it wasn't for him. This left just five Challengers: four in the silver fleet and one in the gold.

The wind was forecast to be mainly north westerly but only 3kts gusting (possibly) 10kts. The wind direction meant racing would take place in the northern arm within view of the club. There was a short postponement in the hope that the wind would build a little. The D-Zeros were to start first with the Challengers two minutes later.

The race officer generously provided two lead boats: one for the D-Zeros and one for the Challengers. A lead boat for the D-Zeros (PY 1029) ends up too far ahead to be useful to Challenger (PY 1175) sailors unfamiliar with the Ogston racing marks.

Throughout the weekend it for paid the Challenger sailors to watch the ten D-Zeros to see who had wind (and from what direction) and who didn't. Essentially there were ten wind indicators spread across the course!

At the start of Race 1 Graham Hall (270) clocked that two D-Zeros started at the pin end on port to great advantage. He copied them and was able to fetch the windward mark (for once good judgement rather than his usual good luck!). This enabled him to catch up with the tail of the D-Zero fleet. The Challenger lead boat wisely decided to leave him to it and concentrated on showing the rest of the Challengers the way. The D-Zeros and Graham completed three laps of a approximate figure of eight course (there were five marks!) and the other Challengers two laps.

Challenger Harry Fisher Trophy at Ogston - photo © Marion Edwards

Chris Hannan (5) held second place for much of the race but on the final run she was overtaken by Lynn Steward (238). Unfortunately Lynn got in a bit of a muddle at the leeward mark allowing Chris and Richard through. She managed to overtake Richard on the final reach and held third to the finish.

This set the pattern for the weekend: Graham H taking the lead and chasing the D-Zeros (with varying degrees of success) and close racing among the remaining Challengers.

The fleet then came in for lunch (soup and generously filled rolls) before heading out with the intention of doing two back to back races.

Shortly before the start of Race 2 Chris was towed in with rudder failure. A vital pin had been omitted. It was surprising she had managed to complete the first race at all. The missing pin was eventually located in the depths of her van.

The D-Zeros and Graham H completed two laps and the remaining Challengers one very painful one. Graham H lapped Richard just before the line when Richard was "pirouetting around going nowhere" and Graham H just managed to ghost through the patch of particularly contrary wind. In between these two, Lynn was second and local sailor Graham Turner (4) third.

With the wind becoming increasingly fickle, the race officer took pity on the fleets and, with a forecast for more wind on Sunday, abandoned racing for the day.

Most sailors remained at the club for the excellent and substantial evening meal (it is thought that by the time Cody had had two slices of chocolate cake and cream even he had had enough!).

So, at the end of the day Graham had the lead, with Lynn in second and the remaining three boats only separated on countback.

Challenger Harry Fisher Trophy at Ogston - photo © Marion Edwards

Sunday dawned and looked slightly more encouraging than Saturday - at least there were ripples on the water! The fleets were launched with the plan to hold three back to back races. The wind now had a southerly(ish) component but was erratic in both strength and direction, so the course was moved further towards the southern arm of the reservoir.

Unusually in Race 3 there was an individual recall. The shout of the offending sail number could even be heard onshore! Lynn was OCS. With the I flag flying and very light wind, her restart was slow leaving her firmly at the back of the fleet. She later blamed Graham H for her error. Following the D-Zero start, he had been encouraging (yelling at) the Challengers to "get up near the line". He is quite emphatic that he said "near" not "over" the line. Lynn was not mollified.

While Graham H pulled out another substantial lead he was unable to catch tail of the D-Zero fleet. The D-Zeros were probably quite glad not to have a 3.5m wide boat getting in their way! Chris notched up another second and Graham T another third.

The wind was becoming unstable and there was a delay while the race officer moved the committee boat and reset the course, going even further into the southern arm (making it more difficult for the spectators to see what was happening).

Chris was at pains to point out that in Race 4 she was last to start but managed to claw her way back up to second. Four races also brought the discard into play allowing her to lose her Race 2 DNS.

Challenger Harry Fisher Trophy at Ogston - photo © Marion Edwards

Race 5 saw the club racing fleet joining in. They started 2 mins after the Challengers. By this point the wind was very unstable with unhelpful 60-70 degree wind shifts. Graham H managed to touch a mark when hit by a particularly nasty header. His penalty turn took sometime and this allowed Chris to achieve her closest finish to him.

All credit to the race officer in managing to complete all three of Sunday's races. The fleet slowly crept back to shore, some with the aid of the safety boats.

At the prize-giving, local D-Zero sailor, Rohan Daniels, presented Graham H with the Harry Fisher Trophy as overall winner of the Challenger fleet. Chris was second and Lynn third.

Thank you to Ogston SC for hosting an excellent event, to the race officer Andy Gomm and his assistants Janet and Sarah, the safety/lead boat crews and especially to the galley team. Thanks also to everyone who helped launch and recover the Challengers.

Overall Results:

Challenger Harry Fisher Trophy at Ogston - photo © Marion Edwards