Club Championship Races 1 & 2

Saturday was the opening of our 2023-24 sailing season and the gods/godesses dished up sunny skies and a beautiful 12-18 knot oscillating southerly. We don’t get the harbour to ourselves very often, but it seems the slight chill in the air kept other boat traffic to a minimum. Other than one general recall, both fleets were well behaved on the start line, which was surprising given it was the first club championship heat of the year. Plenty of young sailing talent was on show, some returning from the recent ILCA Open Worlds, the U21 Europeans and the 4.7 Youth Worlds in Greece. They were looking sharp but still plenty of masters sailors were in the hunt. PRO Mike Dunne reports:

Beautiful wind… irrespective of the direction… just great to have our first championship race day with an atypical southerly. And even better that it wasn’t a monster breeze. It oscillated between SW to SE: being at the right place at the right time made some sailors legends, and conversely… The game of snakes and ladders was on!

Setting the course was, as always, a fun experience… Left or right, what’s happening now v. what might happen in a few minutes. We basically chose the middle ground and set a southerly course. On the principle that perfection is the enemy of the good, we decided to go for good.

There were 43 boats across the 3 fleets. Only a couple of 4.7’s, so they started with the Radials. The racing was good, and it was enjoyable to see close, competitive battles within the fleets, and also how different strategies and tactics played out. No quarter was offered, and mistakes were costly.

Race 1 Radial: Yep, we messed up the start… That was on us in the start boat, a combination of sound signals and flag failures, we were definitely rusty. The RC decided to start over to give everyone a fair go. Once we got going, however, both fleets behaved well. I think the tide helped as not many racers being pushed over the start.

ILCA 4 (1st /2nd /3rd ):

Race 1 results: Ben Constandi / Charlotte Jenkins /

Race 2 results: Ben Constandi / Charlotte Jenkins /

ILCA 6 (1st /2nd /3rd ):

Race 1 results: Sylvie Stannage / Martin White / Healy Ryan

Race 2 results: Sylvie Stannage / Peter Heywood / Healy Ryan

Shout of the day: The racing was very competitive for 2nd place in the radials, with Sylvie dominating both races, showing that her summer in Europe was not misspent. Big call out to Peter Heywood for challenging and nabbing 2nd in Race 2.

ILCA 7 (1st /2nd /3rd ):

Race 1 results: Campbell Patton/ Dave Newman / Luke Parker

Race 2 results: Otto Henry / Daniel Costandi / Campbell Patton

Shout of the Day: Huge shift to the right at start of Race 1, with Luke enjoying a refreshing dip, so that we were stunned to see him first at the bottom mark.

Thanks to the on-water crew of Mike Dunne & Rod Barnes on the start boat, with Richard George & Scott Finlayson on Paul Adam, with Ben Byford and David Evenden on Bergman. And of course thanks to Shirley in the canteen with help from Nick Pellow and Josh Dorey.