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The weather followed the pattern of the season - not much wind.
Unfortunately the location (a long way for the Southerners who
make up much of the fleet) and date (just within school term time)
cut down the entry list. However the major culprits were all there,
although Dave Roe wasn't sailing having cut up his hand badly
the week before with an electric plane. The venue, New Quay Sailing
Club, West Wales is relaxed, compact and friendly, and comes complete
with dolphins in the bay. The racing followed the new pattern
of having lots of short races, 14 races over 4 days best 12 to
count, using windward/leeward courses with a gate.
A somewhat fickle force 2-3 wind, but just about trapezable
uphill and down for the first two races. 3 races were held back
to back, with Andy Kinchin & Simon Roberts taking the early
lead with 1,1,4 . Other early leaders were Graham Dickenson &
Sarah Tindal 2,8,2 , Mike Chalmers & Matt Stobbart 4,3,1 &
Andy & Alex Paterson 3,2,6
The wind was even lighter, rarely exceeding Force 2. Cue Rebel!
Steve & Tom Edward's Howlett design is never far from the
front in sub planing conditions, appeared in the results sheet
with 1,PMS,1,5 Unfortunately they'd had to miss the first day
giving them virtually no chance of catching the early leaders.
Mike Chalmers & Matt Stobbart took the lead with 4,1,2,1,
ahead of Andy Kinchin & Simon Roberts 3,3,5,2 & Graham
Dickenson & Sarah Tindal 2,2,3,3
The weather was much the same as the day before, and there
were some who felt that sitting on the beach was a better way
of spending the day! The tide was more significant in these races
and tended to bunch the fleet together again, and there were some
nailbiting downwind finishes! At the end of the day Graham's 4,2,1,2
put him fractionally ahead of Mike Chalmers & Matt Stobbart
with 3,6,2,3 . Steve & Tom Edwards was the star of the day
again though with 1,3,4,1, and Martin Harrison & Linda Newnham
also demonstrated good light airs speed with a first and a second
in "Death by Chocolate"
Three more races, back to back, and three boats in with a chance
of a win.
Conditions for the first race were not over welcoming with a very
fickle breeze against the tide and a choppy swell. Quite a number
of crews felt they had better things to do! Light weather flyers
Steve & Tom Edwards and Martin Harrison & Linda Newnham
battled it out for first place, Steve & Tom Edwards getting
the gun, whilst behind them in the battle for overall places Mike
Chalmers & Matt Stobbart was 3rd ahead of Andy & Alex
Paterson and Graham Dickenson & Sarah Tindal.
The second race was greeted with a more reasonable (by the standards
of the event) force 3, and there was actually a chance to do some
trapezing and surfing! Andy Kinchin & Simon Roberts &
Graham Dickenson & Sarah Tindal got away at the start and
battled through to the end, with actually crossing the line first
but losing first place through touching the distance mark gybing
inside Andy Kinchin & Simon Roberts who had right of way.
Mike Chalmers & Matt Stobbart took 3rd leaving him half a
point behind Graham Dickenson & Sarah Tindal overall with
one race left. Andy Kinchin & Simon Roberts, who hadn't started
the first race of the day couldn't now catch the leading two,
and had done just enough to hold off Andy & Alex Paterson
for third.
A starting line battle saw Mike Chalmers & Matt Stobbart force
Graham Dickenson & Sarah Tindal over the line at the start,
but in doing so he managed to foul the distance mark. (This
is beginning to sound like a Laser race - Ed) Graham Dickenson
& Sarah Tindal managed to get up to second with a port tack
flyer down the run, whilst Mike Chalmers & Matt Stobbart had
more trouble getting through the fleet. Andy Kinchin & Simon
Roberts somehow managed to break a rudder fitting and retired,
so Graham inherited the lead and secured the Championship. Steve
& Tom Edwards held off a fast approaching Mike Chalmers &
Matt Stobbart to take 3rd place.
Graham's overall consistency secured him his first champion ship after "quite a few" years of trying, proving that its never to late to go for it. All that mountain biking and circuit training has paid off - perhaps I should start doing some! One of my correspondants did suggest that Mike & Matt's consistent high performance partying might have had an effect on their on-the-water performance. The fleet showed its usual eclecticism with 8 designs in the top 10 places. A particularly strong performance came from Steve & Tom Edwards in the Howlett, who not only made the most of the conditions that suited them but also gained good results in the Force 3 where the Howlett is usually outclassed. Another good performance came from Martin Harrison & Linda Newnham who took home the "Most Improved Helm" trophy. The strong light airs performance - at times they seemed faster than the Howlett - is very interesting from a boat that looks much more of an all rounder. Design wise there was not much else of especial interest. Bistros taking first and second demonstrates that the design is still as fast as anything around. Martin also attempted to gain notoriety by attempting what I am pretty sure was the first Cherub v Cherub protest in the UK since the 1980 worlds. However it got thrown out because his protest flag fell off!
Jim Champ (with thanks to Graham Dickenson for providing me
with a report to butcher)
| 2647 | Graham Dickenson | Sarah Tindal | Bistro | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 2637 | Mike Chalmers | Matt Stobbart | Bistro | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2645 | Andy Kinchin | Simon Roberts | Dog | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | dns | 1 |
| 2650 | Andy Paterson | Alex Paterson | Paterson 6 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 2624 | Steve Edwards | Tom Edwards | Howlett | dns | dns | dns | 1 | pms | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2663 | Martin Harrison | Linda Newnham | Death by Chocolate | 9 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | dns | dns | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| 2654 | Richard Edwards | Heidi Walker | Trifle | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | dns | 8 |
| 2660 | Will Lee | Claire Spens | Pasta Frenzy | 10 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | dns | 9 | 8 | 7 | dns | 5 |
| 2669 | Simon Clifton | Maddy | Hardon | 11 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 9 | dns | 7 |
| 2662 | Tim Dean | Una-Mary Colclough | Pasta Frenzy | 8 | 5 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 | dns | dns |
| 2649 | Ian Praine | Pam Heritage | Bistro? | 7 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 12 | dns | dns | 10 | 10 | 10 | pms | dns | dns |
| 2705 | Nick Spens | Paul Liddington | Murray mod. Snow | 13 | 10 | dnf | dns | 10 | 10 | dns | dns | dns | dns | dns | dns | dns |
| 2643 | Matt Searle | Alex Matthews | Bistro | 12 | dnf | dnf | 13 | 11 | 11 | dnf | dns | dns | dns | dns | dns | dns |
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