2 A float - Weir Wood Sailing Club

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Afloat Autumn/Winter 2009 10 G David Giles & fiona Clark Wembley who decided he did not need to go to the briefing and so missed the bit about having to go through the start/finish line on every upwind leg. He therefore missed the “gate” out on the first race while comfortably leading to limp home eventually in 10th place. Prizes were awarded to the first five overall: David Giles and Fiona Clark Nick and Juliet Charles James Boyce and Sam Tozer Andrew and Geraldine Peters Steve Janery and Lottie Wakeling Spot prizes were for the first Master (Mike Chapman), Lady (Janine Blundell) and Junior (Matthew Giles). The full results can be seen on the web site. Thanks were given to race officers Ernie Hatton and Peter Clifton for the very professional way they ran the racing, to Barbara Hatton for doing the results and taking the entries and John Thompson who volunteered to move the marks around despite turning up only to watch and having no wet weather gear with him. G The first beat Laser Open 2009 David Giles Weir Wood held its annual Laser Open meeting on Saturday 2nd May. As part of the South East traveller circuit it attracted a good entry of 34 which included 13 visitors. Typical Weir Wood conditions were served up at the start of the day with a patchy 2 to 10 kts. mainly north westerly breeze that swung between the south west and north. The occasional stronger gust blew through which caught out one or two of the competitors. Principal race officers Tim and Linda Hulley had their work cut out not only because of the wind conditions but also because of the demanding race schedule that required 8 races to be sailed during the day. Provided at least 7 races were sailed two results could be dropped. Race one got away first time with only a couple of individual recalls. The early showing was from David Goddard of Bewl Valley sailing club, the man who tamed Chipstead a few weeks earlier. He lost out to home grown David Giles on the approach to the windward mark. With the front of the fleet closely bunched the long downwind leg was always going to be fraught. Goddard slipped back in the centre of the course while on the right Gary Bullock and on the left Tim Crook pulled through. Giles hung on to the lead round the leeward buoy and crossed the finish line just ahead to take first blood of the day. Race two saw the wind swing to the north just before the start allowing the leading boats to fetch the windward buoy. Veteran campaigner Bill Stein from Weir Wood scorched off the pin end of the start line and rounded well ahead of David Giles and David Goddard. Giles and Goddard team raced each other backwards down the long run allowing Stein a comfortable victory. Local ace Dave Binding succumbed to a vicious gust shortly after the windward buoy, the resulting capsize scuppering his hopes of a good result in the race. Race three again saw the pin end of the line pay, particularly for those who worked their way to the right hand side of the course as a new breeze filled in from there shortly after the start. Martin Brooking of Bewl Valley worked the conditions best and led around the windward buoy. The ever consistent Goddard was close behind while local hero Bruce Ramshaw started to show form in third. The leading group were so far ahead of the author of this article that it is hard to say quite what happened next but these three ended up 1, 2 and 3. With start delays due to the fading wind lunch was called at this point giving Goddard the half time lead followed by A Perfectly flat
G Even the best get it wrong Brooking and Giles. During lunch the Weir Wood “sea breeze” set in with the wind shifting to the south west and increasing to a relatively steady 8 to 10kts. The fleet got away on the second attempt with the Weir Wood trio of Giles, Ramshaw and Paul Luttman arriving at the windward buoy close together. Giles kept a close cover on speedster Ramshaw with Luttman a little further back and these positions remained until the finish. Race five saw Bullock pull off a daring port tack “flyer” to establish an early lead over Giles, Giles tried to break cover but only succeeded in falling back leaving Bullock to win comfortably from Giles and David Freeman of Queen Mary who had had a difficult morning but was now getting to grips with the conditions. Race office Tim Hulley was getting increasingly frustrated with premature starters and so the dreaded black flag was brought into play for the start of race six. A right hand shift at the start handed a huge advantage to those starting near the committee boat end of the line leaving those on the pin end to struggle. Fireball supremo Dave Mason showed some of his magic to power his vintage Laser off the start line and then used his weight disadvantage to build a slender lead. Much to the anguish of the on lookers Mason slipped behind Harry Harding A The winners of Queen Mary before the finish. However, the ever popular Mason held off the late charge of Queen Mary’s Rupert Bedell, another of the visitors who was now getting to grips with the fickle Weir Wood wind, to gain a credible second place. Black flags were the order of the day now and were taking their toll on the over eager. Giles returned to form in the nick of time in race 7 to lead around the windward buoy. Never looking comfortable he was harassed all the way by Bedell and Brooking. Brooking tried a little too hard to break through and incurred a penalty when he tangled with Giles around the wing buoy. However it cost Giles also as Bedell gave the incident a wide birth and sailed around the outside into the lead which he never lost. Giles hung on to second but while Brooking was spinning Freeman nicked up into third place. And so to the last race. Giles had the lead but with two poor races needed a reasonable result in the last race to win the day if his main rivals did well. In the frame was Goddard who had struggled in the afternoon, Bedell who had struggled in the morning and Ramshaw who had punctuated solid results throughout the day with a couple of shockers. Giles’s hope for a solid final race evaporated when his sail tie down failed at the start. Lounging mid fleet he was glad to see pre race favourite Binding finally coming good and holding back the young guns, along with Harding, to allow him to limp across the finish line and take overall honours. Ramshaw completed the top 3 to gain a well deserved second overall while Goddard’s miserable afternoon continued to drop him to third. A super efficient race team meant the results were ready straight after the racing. Outside the top three, spot prises were awarded to Dave Binding (first over 55) up and coming speedster Matt Giles (first youth) and Anthony Parke (first4.7). Thanks were given by first visitor Dave Goddard to the race team and Ali the chef who produced a splendid post race curry for all the competitors. Many thanks must also go to class captain and Bough Beech champion Peter Young for organising the event and for keeping his smile going despite holding up the other 33 competitors in the final results sheet. Afloat Autumn/Winter 2009 11
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Page 3 and 4: atmosphere and a meal. We are hopin
Page 5 and 6: Handicap Racing John Prince As most
Page 7 and 8: Enterprise Open Meeting 19th July D
Page 9: RS 200 Open Sunday 12th 2009. G And
Page 13 and 14: G Jean's turn Atlanta Yacht Club A
Page 15 and 16: G The Atlanta Yacht Club is the hom
Page 17 and 18: Camp A�oat��
Page 19 and 20: G Laying the base G The batch mixer
Page 21 and 22: D ◗ It is made from glass fibre,
Page 23 and 24: G Sailing A new life for old boats.
Page 25 and 26: G Instructors & guinnea pigs Assist
Page 27 and 28: G John Hamilton G Richard Baker G p
Page 29 and 30: D Katie The Laser 2000 being such a
Page 31 and 32: Attention all Novice Laser Owners.

2 A float - Weir Wood Sailing Club

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