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International
Flying Dutchman |
1997 FD UK National ChampionshipAbersoch, North Wales - 20-25 July 1997The British Open National Championship was held during the Abersoch Dinghy Week. A High Pressure weather system dominated with light winds the order of the day. Courses were set around a circle of marks instead of conventional layout. It made racing posssible and the South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club must be congratulated. View of events from from Hugh Myers/Gordon Kingston...It was hot and sunny. Great!! The beach was nice if a little full of boats, sadly not all FD's. Great!! There was no, well very little, wind. Not so great!! Well, obviously that is the view of one of the heavier participating teams, the lightweights had a field day! At least, they had a much better chance than usual, and there was quite frequent muttering in our boat at least, as the World seemed to trickle by at various stages of the week. There have to be disadvantages to having about 200 kg in the boat! The advantage of being part of the 300 boat Abersoch Dinghy Week, in addition to 280+ teams seeing the FD in action, was that racing was going to happen every day almost regardless of the conditions! Had we had a National Race Officer (RYA Qualified, of course) looking out for steady winds from his Committee Boat in the middle of the bay, we almost certainly would not have started a race! Definitely not before Wednesday!! OK, so the club line start and finish lines may not have been ideal, and I went for the wrong buoy a couple of times, but it was still a good week just to be a part of. With our racing taking place in the afternoons, the mornings were free for other activities or just watching the Laser start, which was great entertainment! Richard Westwood came out of retirement once again with Rory Staunton in the front. Sadly they could not bring themselves to join in the camaraderie on the beach, but they were pretty competitive on the water, leading for most of the final race and finishing 5th overall. Of the lighter teams, Julian and Cathy Bridges and John Berry and Ian Aldridge took best advantage of the conditions. Julian and Cathy were unlucky not to win on Tuesday. Peter Doran and Richard Phillips started well, shunning all this gybing downwind to take the first race. Tony Lyall and Colin Burns did win on Tuesday, before having to pack up and go home. Eventually, two of the three heaviest teams did take first and second overall! John Best and James Cole were by far the most consistent in the difficult conditions, although they and Richard Westwood/Rory Staunton did have a bit of luck to come back from the dead in the first race! Hugh Myers and Gordon Kingston really blew it in the second race, but after a win on Wednesday would have stayed in contention if they had done it again next day. Despite leading on Thursday, Hugh and Gordon lost out on the run so the "Biggles" team did not have to sail the last day. Steve Parry and Dave Parr were also remarkably consistent in their results often making spectacular gains to be so! Westwood and Staunton spoiled their chances with two 10ths on Monday and Tuesday. With everyone having plenty of time, and the weather being good, there was a very sociable atmosphere about the championship fleet. John and Catherine Best held a very pleasant soiree on the Monday evening. The Monday Suicide Club held its inaugural meeting in their garden! "Winsday" (sorry) was celebrated on the Ffestiniog Railway's "Jazz Train", which may have accounted for Thursday's performances! On most other occasions the FD sailors and various support teams were to be found together in the SCYC bar. No surprises there!
Overall Results
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This page was last updated on 06 December 1998 - Please send contributions and comments to Richard Phillips mailto:100446.2371@compuserve.com . For more sailing links see www.sail-cd.demon.co.uk/index.htm |