Kestrel Open Meeting at Hickling Broad Sailing Club

by Rod Brown-Lee 10 Apr 2002 11:03 BST

Photo © Rod Brown-Lee

The first Kestrel Open Meeting was held at Hickling Broad Sailing Club over the 6th/7th April. A fresh Force 4, gusting 5 greeted the fleet. Seven boats made the committee boat start of Race One. Dave Hearsum & Paul Jarvey crossed the line first followed by Steve & Lynn Worf. Having reached the windward mark first, Hearsum and Jarvey bore away and took off, then capsized on a bigger gust. This allowed the Worfs, followed by Dusty Miller and John Ellingham to pass, but they recovered to maintain third. Miller and Ellingham later passed the Worfs to take the win having sailed steadily throughout as other crews made mistakes. Hearsum and Jarvey caught the Worfs on the run, then having to gybe to hold second, the Worfs capsized. Hearsum and Jarvey saved a capsize to sail on with half a boat-full of water to second place. The Worfs recovered to take third. Richard & Robert Whitefoot sailed well to come fourth.

For Race Two, Miller and Ellingham stayed ashore to make repairs. James Jarvey and Ian Bray, with replacement top batten, (having lost it before race one) reached the windward mark second behind Hearsum and Jarvey. They then powered passed on a gust early on the reach. The Worfs and Whitefoots followed. Hearsum and Jarvey who, thinking about control lines rather than mark rounding, capsized. Jarvey and Bray stretched their lead over the six laps. Hearsum and Jarvey, now "fired up" chased and recovered to second. The Worfs then took back second on the penultimate beat, then dropped their centreplate in the mud rounding the last mark. Hearsum and Jarvey saw an opportunity to get inside at the mark, but the Worfs took their air on the short reach to the finish and managed to take second by less than a boat-length.

Saturday’s racing had passed without a single spinnaker coming out of a chute, quite unusual for the Kestrel fleet. The evening was spent at The Greyhound Pub, in the village, where we had an excellent meal and the usual leg pulling amongst the fleet.

Sunday started with a Force 4. Race Three was a battle between Jarvey and Bray, taking an early lead, Hearsum and Jarvey and Miller and Ellingham. Hearsum and Jarvey took the lead and held it for a couple of laps to the finish. Jarvey and Bray took second and Miller and Ellingham third. John and Jane Parker in a borrowed boat took fourth.

Race Four on the same course was a re-run of race three. The first three finishers were the same. The Whitefoots took their third fourth place. Kate Hearsum & Andy Page (who kindly stepped in as crew on Friday night) took their third fifth place.

Race Five, with a course change had two boats fighting for the overall win. Miller and Ellingham lead for a while, but retired from fourth, unable to improve their overall position. Jarvey and Bray made a good start and although pushed hard by Hearsum and Jarvey, pulled away on the last lap. The Whitefoots came in third, Ernie Miller and Caroline had their best result of fourth.

So, tied on points, James Jarvey and Ian Bray clinched the open with Hickling’s last race rule. We could not have hoped for a better start to the open meeting season. An out and out blast on Saturday and decreasing wind through Sunday gave a full range of conditions and close racing. Hickling Sailing Club’s team of Race Officers and Rescue did an excellent job of hosting the weekend. A big thank-you to them from all the Kestrel sailors who thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Sail No
1st	James Jarvey	Ian Bray	1550
2nd	Dave Hearsum	Paul Jarvey	1555
3rd	Dusty Miller	John Ellingham	1558
4th	Richard Whitefoot	Robert Whitefoot	990
5th	Steven Worf	Lyn Worf	909
6th=	Kate Hearsum	Andy Page	964
6th=	John Parker	Jane Parker	1562