2 A float - Weir Wood Sailing Club

Enterprise Open Meeting 19th July
Dirk Lankester
Enterprise Fleet Captain
For as long as anyone can remember, the Enterprise
Open meeting, which is always held in mid-July, has been
accompanied by hot and generally windless conditions,
resulting in sunburn but not much excitement.
In the days leading up to this year’s event, it seemed that
things might be a little different. As luck would have it, the jet
stream moved conveniently south to pass right over the top of
East Grinstead a week or so before the event, resulting in an
extended period of unsettled weather.
And so it came to pass that the 3 Weir Wood crews (Nick
Bush/Harry Burry, Chris Daniels /Ray Nevard and Dick & Jo
Lankester) and 8 visiting crews were greeted on arrival at Weir
Wood by scudding clouds and a 20 + mph gusting SSW wind,
in stark contrast to last year’s drifting conditions.
Enterprise Masters winner, Nigel Bird, arrived with not one
but two boats on his trailer. He was intending to sail with his
lightweight, 8 years old son, Ian, and asked for a volunteer to
sail with wife Andy in the second boat. An urgent call was put
out to your editor (former Enterprise sailor before he lost his
way and bought a Laser 2000) who was roused from a deep
sleep in South Coulsdon and told to be at the club ready to go
in 45 minutes. To his great credit, he made it.
In spite of some misgivings about the conditions, all 11 crews
took to the water for the first race, with self-bailers in the ‘open’
position. Race Officer Ernie Hatton and Assistant Peter Clifton
set a beat up to No. 5 and the fleet got off to an orderly start.
David and Maggie Beaney pulled away into the lead on the
first beat, but approaching the windward mark Nigel and Ian
Bird found a good lift up the shore to round just behind the
Beaneys. On the reaches, the lower crew weight of 8 year
old Ian told and the Birds planed serenely into the lead. Up
the next beat the Beaneys regained the lead and towards the
end of the beat, Ian decided that the wind was too strong for
him and the Birds retired. This left the Beaneys with a big lead
ahead of Martin Brooking/Jane Anderson in second and first
Weir Wood crew Nick Bush/Harry Burry in third. This was
a particularly remarkable performance, as was the first time
that Harry had ever sailed in a dinghy! Behind the leaders,
several crews discovered to their surprise that the water was
surprisingly warm for the time of year.
Race 2 was sailed back to back in similar, gusty conditions.
The Beaneys led around the first mark followed by Bush/
Burry. Third pace Brooking/Anderson found a big gust on the
run to the next mark and planed through to claim an overlap
on the Beaneys and to lead down to the bottom mark. On the
beat back up, David sailed through Martin’s cover to regain
the lead which he defended to the finish. Bush/Burry were
in a comfortable third place throughout until getting blown
in about 1 boat length short of the finish line and were beaten
into third by Paul and Andre Turner. Further down the fleet,
Chris Daniels/Ray Nevard found themselves boxed in by
the Lankesters when rounding No. 4 for the last time and,
unable to ‘wear round’, capsized spectacularly on the gybe. The
Lankesters survived to finish in 5th place, but their smugness
was short-lived, as they capsized while approaching the shore.
As forecast, the wind had increased significantly by the time
crews ventured out of the club house after lunch for the 3rd
race and several crews turned around and headed straight back
to the club house, so that only 5 boats took the start. Nigel
Bird, now sailing with his wife Andy, revelled in the conditions
and sailed into a comfortable lead on the first beat which he
held to the finish. The Beaneys rounded the windward mark in
2nd place, but both the leading crews lost their way down wind
and Brooking/Anderson, having correctly located the mark,
sailed into 2nd place. Up the next beat the Beaneys pulled back
to finish 2nd with Brooking/Anderson 3rd and Bush/Burry 4th.
The Beaneys, having won the meeting, sailed to the shore
before the start of the 4th race, Maggie deciding that she had
had enough sailing for her 29th wedding anniversary! Dick
and Jo Lankester threw caution to the wind and ventured out
again for a do-or-die last effort. The Birds again led round all
the marks, but this time had more difficulty pulling out any gap
from Brooking/Anderson in 2nd and Bush/Burry in 3rd. The
wind had increased back to a full gale by the end of the race,
and Dick and Jo Lankester celebrated finishing in 4th place by
icapsizing spectacularly while planing back to the shore.
While those at the front of the fleet seemed to be able to
cope quite comfortably with the very challenging conditions
(the weather station recorded a gust of 38 mph during the
afternoon), the also-rans admitted to being well outside their
comfort zone for most of the day. Nevertheless, everyone
agreed it had been a great days sailing, impeccably run by Ernie
and Peter in the committee boat, Barbara (results) and
Ann (cakes).
1st David & Maggie Beaney (Castaways SC) 4 points
2nd Martin Brooking & Jane Anderson (Bewl Valley SC) 6 points
3rd Nick Bush & Harry Burry (Weir Wood SC) 10 points
4th Nigel & Andy Bird (Papercourt SC) 14 points
5th Dick & Jo Lankester (Weir Wood SC) 14 points
6th Alan Ross & Pear Heart (Chipstead SC) 16 points
7th Paul & Andre Turner (Chipstead SC) 19 points
8th Adrian & Louise Howse (Bewl Valley SC) 28 points
9th Chris Daniels & Ray Nevard (Weir Wood SC) 28 points
10th Andy Bird & John Chisnall (Papercourt SC) 31 points
11th John Pledger & Mark Early (Havering SC) 33 points
A
Nigel & Ian (aged 8) blast down the first reach
Afloat Autumn/Winter 2009
7