Small Yacht racing Championships 2009
Round 5, hosted by Sedgemoor MBC, Sunday 6th September
Report & scores by Neil Harvey
Apex Lake was the venue for round 5 of the Yacht series. After deciding where to lay the course Clive Cheesley laid out the buoys with an extra one to give the Lasers a larger course.
We had 9 skippers in attendance representing 3 of the 4 classes, no 100 Class again !!!
The weather was dry with enough wind to keep us occupied. The wind picked as the afternoon progressed, causing over powering in all classes, it’s a long time since we saw Fiesta’s playing submarines on the downwind legs.
65 Class – 7 boats took part with Paul Newman entering for the first time this year. We had 2 Micro Magic’s and they were given a 60 second start. This would have been sufficient, if the wind had been constant, as proved in the afternoon session where Dave Offiler and Dave Semper were caught by the Fiesta’s in the last couple of metres before the finish line.
The morning session was closely contested with Paul Newman, Geoff Portlock, Gordon Evan and myself each winning 1 race. After lunch I won the first 3 races with Paul scoring success in the last race of the day.
1st - Neil Harvey – 8 pts
2nd - Paul Newman – 11 pts
3rd - Geoff Portlock - 17 pts
78 Class – 4 boats competed in this class. With Gordon Evans having the most consistent day winning 5 races, Clive Cheesley 2 wins and Geoff Portlock 1 win were the other successes.
Betty Evans was usually at the back of the fleet but managed to overhaul Geoff Portlock at the lie when he was caught out by a wind shift.
1st Gordon Evans - 7 pts
2nd Clive Cheesley - 10 pts
3rd Geoff Portlock - 14 pts
!00+ Class – 4 Lasers took part in the class with some very close racing. We started the day on the large A rig and by the final race should probably have been using the C rig. The morning session, on the A rig, went to Paul Newman who won all 4 races with Dave Offiler and myself trading places for 2nd and 3rd. After lunch I won the next 3 races followed by Dave, with Dave winning the last race of the day. With the wind gaining strength in the afternoon we were struggling with wipe-outs on the A rig and changed down to B rig for the last 2 races which still proved difficult in the gusts.
1st Paul Newman - 9 pts
2nd Neil Harvey - 10 pts
3rd Dave Offiler - 11 pts
My thanks to all Sedgemoor MBC for hosting the event especially Geoff Portlock and Clive Cheesley for their assistance on the day.
As the series goes to the last event of the year the Class winners are still to be confirmed.
65 Class – My lead over Clive Cheesley is just 6 points.
78 Class – Geoff Portlock and Clive Cheesley are tied on 73 points.
100+ Class– Dave Offiler’s lead is 2 points.
**** Last round of this years series at Dartmoor Radio Sailing Club (Cadover Bridge, Nr Plymouth) Sunday 11th October. ****
Also SWAMBC AGM – proposals for next years series, ie, Venues changes, Class amendments, any other suggestion. Please contact me or come along to AGM.
Neil
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