2 A float - Weir Wood Sailing Club

Afloat Autumn/Winter 2009
6
G
Fireball fun
were third. The wind claimed about
a third of the starters with 24 boats
finishing.
By race two the wind had swung more
westerly but the wind still blew with a
will and rain squalls came and went.
The fleet got away first time with Matt
Larkin and Dave Mason in a Fireball
starting on the pin end of the line and
getting away best to lead the dwindling
fleet of 18 away and establish a good
lead which they extended throughout
the race. There were many spectacular
capsizes not least by the hardy group
of Laser Roosters rig competitors who
decided a standard rig for a laser was
not big enough for a wind gusting 30
kts and so put up their larger sails. At
the finish Mason and Larkin had not
established a large enough gap over
Holroyd and Stevens who again won
on handicap. Burridge and Burridge
were again third.
At the lunch break it was pointed out
that in the race card in a series of three
races there was to be one discard. This
was never meant to apply to the club
championships but with no sailing
instructions to say otherwise it was
accepted that this would have to apply
to the event. This meant Holroyd and
Stevens had won and so were able to
leave the rest of the racers to scrap
it out for the minor placings. Some
decided not to do so and so a rather
depleted fleet of 10 started the pursuit
race. The first class away was the Laser
2000 followed soon after by the Laser.
The wind remained as strong as ever
but it had swung again giving the
course two long fetches which did not
G
Dave & Matt in the RS 400
allow the spinnaker boats to fly their
kites. The Lasers made the most of this
and Peter Young won convincingly
from Ollie Bush in another Laser. Giles
and Giles in the RS 400 were third.
Larkin and Mason showed flashes of
great speed which was rather spoilt by
bouts of breast stroke in between.
And so to the prize giving. The race
results were delivered within minutes
of the last race finishing and were
presented by Ailsa Giles. The full set
of results can be seen on the web
site. Congratulations to Holroyd and
Stevens for an impressive victory. Their
names will become immortal on the
Champions of Champions board in
due course. Peter Young came second
with Rob and Katie Burridge
coming third.
The spot prizes (awarded to
competitors outside the main prizes
i.e. the top three) proved popular
with Vice Commodore Chris Fyans
getting a particular cheer for winning
the converted endurance award (last
A Nearly on the wire A
placed boat having completed all three
races). Matt Giles won the youth award
and with dad David Giles in the same
boat won the family (helm and crew
from the same family) award while
Linda Hulley won the Ladies award
and with hubby Tim won the “Love”
category (first husband and wife team).
Next year a new category for a spot
prize is to be created, the “Duckhams”
award. This will be for the competitor
who makes the biggest blunder during
the day. Had we run it this time around
without a doubt it would have been
won by Dave Mason, crewing Matt
Larkin in the Fireball, who managed to
sail out to the start line for the pursuit
race minus his trapeze harness! As
their start gun sounded Dave was to be
seen frantically running up the shore
to grab it!
Thanks to the race Team who did
a first class job in organising and
running the day and of course to all
the competitors who braved such
demanding conditions.
The winning pair