Small Yacht racing Championships 2009

Round 1 - Woodspring MSC 19th April

Report, scores and photos by Neil Harvey

The first round of the series took place

 on Sunday 19th April at Marine Lake,

Portishead hosted by Woodspring MSC.

Although there were only 11 skippers

present we managed 18 boats in the

three classes with the majority of skippers sailing in two classes.

65 Class – This was the most represented class with 10 boats originally but the usual technical gremlins caused a couple of early retirements. The field was split evenly between Fiesta’s and Micro Magic’s with the MM’s benefiting in the lull’s and the Fiesta’s racing away when the wind picked up. Clive Cheesley led the way with consistently finishing in the top 5 of the field followed closely by Dain O’Driscoll.

78 Class – Unfortunately only 4 boats in this class. Gordon Evans (The Welsh Wizard) ran away in this class with 6 wins, he was ably chased by Geoff Portlock, Clive Cheesley & Gordon’s Wife Betty.

100+ Class – Again only 4 boats (Lasers) in this class with some very close racing throughout the day. Chris Jackson and Dave Offiler recorded 3 wins each and Neil Harvey 2 wins. Chris Jackson won the day with his consistency.

We welcomed a couple of newcomers to the Yacht series Richard Wall and Dain O’Driscoll who both sailed well in the 65 Class with Micro Magic’s.

We were looked after by the Woodspring Club with Beryl and John providing tea and coffee plus Brian Gayle setting the course and recording the finishing positions.

Results.

    meeting SWAMBC

65 Class    points points

  Clive Cheesley (Fiesta)   25 21

  Dain O’Driscoll (Micro Magic) 27 18

Geoff Portlock (Fiesta) 30 16

  Chris Jackson 32 15

  Neil Harvey 34 14

  Gordon Evans 43 13

  Ray Frankcom 55 12

  Richard Wall 61 11

  Dave Offiler 69 10

  Dave Semper 86 9

78 Class

  Gordon Evans 11 21

Geoff Portlock 19 18

Clive Cheesley 21 16

  Betty Evans 30 15

100+ Class

  Chris Jackson 15 21

Neil Harvey 18 18

  Dave Offiler 19 16

  Dain O'Driscoll 28 15

This was my first event as Yacht Leader, I believe everyone had an enjoyable day, the weather was fine and sunny with enough wind to keep us all entertained. One observation I made was that we all require a reminder of the rules at the briefing for the next round to avoid a repeat of the various contacts and the requirement to complete penalty turns.

Look forward to seeing you all and more at the next Round in Poole.

Yachting Leader

Neil Harvey

Future rounds:-

Poole Radio Yacht Club - Rd 2 31st May Poole Park Lake, Poole.

City Of Plymouth MBC - Rd 3 28th June Millbrook, Torpoint, Plymouth

 

Exeter & Disctrict MBC - Rd 4 26th July Dragonfly Lake, Crealy Park, Exeter

Sedgemoor MBC - Rd 5 6th Sept Apex Lake, Marine Drive, Burnham-on-Sea