SAILING
BRADING HAVEN YC
A DISAPPOINTING fleet of three took to the waters for the annual Pursuit Race on a beautiful bright and sunny Saturday morning.
First boat off scratch was Robin Powell in his Scow, followed 17 minutes later by Sarah Smith and Andrea Chiverton in a Swan and, lastly, Steve de Boise in his Solo after a further eight minutes. Despite the light fickle winds Smith had reeled back Powell by the end of the first lap with de Boise passing him in roughly the same waters by the end of the second. Although he had reduced the time difference to four minutes, Smith held onto her lead to take the honours.
Sunday’s racing attracted a dozen boats for the continuation of the autumn series. In the fast handicap Giles Easter and Marten Springett vied for line honour’s in their respective Europe and RS Vario.
Easter eventually won out over the long beat to take both line and handicap, with Springett pushed down into sixth on handicap with Gareth Jones, Solo, taking second and the Wayfarer of John Carter taking the final podium slot.
The second shorter race was again a win for Easter, who lead from the start. Only 40 seconds split the next four finishers with Carter piping Jones by three seconds but losing out on handicap honours to cadet Milo Wrenn in a Laser.
Four Scows made up the slow handicap races. Graham Sutton took command of both races to take the gun, like the fast fleet the second race which finished in the harbour saw some very close and tactical sailing resulting in Anne Barlow out manoeuvring David Earee to reverse the result of the first race.
GURNARD SC
An impressive turnout of 53 boats took to the water on Sunday.
First away was the cat handicap, boasting 12 starters. Robin Leather was not to be beaten but Mike Martin and Laurie Gustar enjoyed a close tussle for second place. The RS400 class was much depleted. Paul Bowen put clear water between himself and Graham Deegan to take the gun. In the fast handicap, Keith Hayden was unlucky to suffer gear failure having led for much of the race, leaving Martin Scott to take the win.
The 13-strong medium handicap class just avoided a general recall. The RS500 of Tim Wilkins was quick to take the lead and, despite a fight-back by Ella Symons, whose accomplished down-wind gybing allowed her to take some yards out of the leader, she was forced to settle for second. A strong finish by the Contender of Mark Robinson was not enough to allow him a podium finish.
Martin Bean took the win in the Laser class from Markus Bettum.
In the slow handicap class, Sam Metcalf put together an impressive race to take the win ahead of the more experienced Mike Peddar.
Congratulations go to James Downer/Jon Price and to Brett Aarons/Robbie Southwell, third and fifth respectively in the RS400 Nationals held at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club.
BEMBRIDGE SC
Four Redwings and ten One-Designs raced on Saturday, with two and ten finishing in the fickle and trying conditions. It took race officer Mike Samuelson four attempts to get a course and start line set.
However, Tom Scott, in No 36 Siskin, rounded a long way ahead of Serena Gosling, in No 45 Gosling, with Peter Grimaldi, in No 21 Redwing, and Mike Toogood, helming No 2 Avocet, a few minutes behind. Tom continued to build his lead and eventually finished nearly 20 minutes ahead of Serena. Avocet and Redwing both retired on the slow run to Under Tyne.
The One-Designs made slow progress to Britten and initially even slower headway on the run to Under Tyne. A bit of a lottery but well done to James Row in No 8, Donald Biddle in No 5 and John Deacon in No 6, who picked the winning tickets.
Sunday provided some nice racing for the three Redwings and eight One-Designs. Tom Scott, in No 36 Siskin, was again the first round the first windward mark and never looked as though he was going to be caught. Serena Gosling was second and Peter Grimaldi third. James Row sailing single-handed in No 8 rounded the windward mark first and managed to just keep ahead of Jos Coad in No 12 and Sophie Ross in No 4. The rest were quite spread out except for the last two, Roy Burrows in No 9 who crossed the finish line a couple of feet ahead of John Deacon in No 6 and his young crew.
ROYAL VICTORIA YC
Sunday’s weather disguised tricky racing conditions. Eleven Lasers tackled these fluky winds, a mixture of all three rigs. Jim MacMillan prevailed in his full rig, ahead of Brad McLaughlin and Fred Warren-Smith in Radials.
The Optimist fleet welcomed their 11th racer of the series in Daniel Wentzel and he did well over a long windward/leeward course to finish sixth. However, it was the usual trio of Whites, in the order Tom Harry and Charlie, who filled the top three spots, having benefited, along with five others, from some intense Bryan Willis training on Saturday.
It was great to see the slow handicap fleet continue from last week, again the victory going to the pairing of Annabel Lamb and Isobel Rae, pipping the other all-girl boat of Anna Bamber and Frances Garth over the same course as the Oppies.
Another clean start by Aquabat (Steve Warren-Smith and Jon May) saw them lead from start to finish over a challenging two-hour race for the Squibs and post their third bullet of the Harrison Black series. They were briefly challenged by the Evans boys in Outlaw, who then fell back and had to fight hard for their second place ahead of the stalwart Porteobrooks in Firecracker Too. All this proved good training for the Squib Southern Area Championships being hosted by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club this weekend.
• Nine-year-old Optimist sailor Oliver Evans enjoyed the light winds at the IBI Spinnaker Open meeting. Sailing in the regatta fleet, the young Royal Victoria sailor took second place turning in an impressive set of results with two seconds, a third and a fifth to finish on seven points, but was denied the overall top spot on count back, on the basis the overall winner had a better result in the last race. The trip was supported Wightlink.
YARMOUTH SC
Tide and wind conditions were ideal on Saturday for the final race in The Solent series.
The Picos were the only competitors in the handicap class and Alex Gallimore and Rachael Parsloe took turns at the front. Joy Mowle threw her chances away, when she omitted to sail through the line at the end of the first round.
Alex, who was ahead at the final mark of the third round, left room for Rachael to sneak round on the inside, but she touched the buoy and was unable to catch Alex after taking her penalty. Joy made up a lot of lost ground to gain third place.
In the Scows, Peter Giles started out as he meant to go on. At the end of the first round Nick Measor was consolidating his second place. The race was then on for third place with five boats all in contention but Roger P-E gradually made his mark and crossed the line ahead of the bunch to gain a third.
Sailors had had a strong tide together with a wind variable in strength and direction to contend with for the second race of the September series on Sunday. The Oppie race was won by Paddy Lord, Scarlett Lord was second and Daniel Lee third. In the handicap class, Ian North’s Mirror again gave the Picos a run for their money but was unable overhaul Alex on corrected time with Tim Lee taking third place.
There was an excellent turnout of Scows, including Rachael Parsloe in her new boat. Paula Sheaf and Roger P-E were the leading boats but were unable to hold on to their positions, when Mike Sheaf came to the fore, followed by James Lord. At the end of the first leg, Mike had a good lead and Alan Toms slipped into second place at the mark while James was sorting out a sail problem. The race finished on a high as Mike took first place, Alan second and Keith Brettell third.