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First National Circuit Event – 1st & 2nd May 2010
Saturday May 1st, the first day of the first 2010 May Bank Holiday weekend was sunny and windless! At the Blackwater Open Meeting there were puffs of wind occasionally but everyone agreed that it was lottery sailing. It was difficult to predict whatever would happen next. The wind came and went from a variety of directions and the race officer did very well to get two races out of the day. The normal technique of sailing over to the puff of wind showing on the water didn’t work because it was gone when you got there! Sometimes a boat that was next to you on one occasion would then be half an hour ahead of you on another. It was quite frustrating but it only served to enhance the contrast with the next day, Sunday 2nd May. Richard Stone from Medway YC did however have some method because he mustered a 1st and a 3rd on the windless Saturday.
The predicted low pressure came through on Sunday with cold northerly winds and driving rain. ....
Maybe it was the bank holiday weather forecast that caused the relatively low turnout for the event. There were unfortunately only seven visitors to Blackwater SC and, with the six local boats, that made a total fleet size for the event of only 13. However, spirits were high and Blackwater SC provided very good hospitality with a very good meal on the Saturday night at the Club. The good spirits lasted through the Sunday as well, despite driving rain and very strong winds! The Club anemometer was slightly deceiving us all on Sunday and so at about 1 pm boats left the hard for the afternoon’s racing. Everybody flew off the hard for a fast reach towards the Committee boat which was over a mile away and the speed of the reach gave some indications of things to come. One intrepid crew flew their spinnaker just before the start to test conditions and ended up rapidly ‘in the drink’! The open waters of the Blackwater estuary allowed the cold northerly
wind to come howling down from the North Sea. There was quite a chop and spray was flying everywhere. The race officer said that the anemometer on the Committee boat was showing a steady 27 knots which meant that the occasional strong gusts were approaching force 7. It certainly looked liked force 7 on occasions but, then again, it always looks more dramatic when you are out there with it! As the gun went, Richard Stone was fast away on port tack with others struggling to make the pin end mark on starboard and struggling to tack in the conditions when in close proximity to other boats. Brian Lamb capsized on the line but made it back up and carried on racing. Richard Stone was first to round the windward mark with Mike McKechnie quite close astern in second. The reach to the wing mark was very fast and this stretched the field with some boats handling the conditions better than others.
No spinnakers were in evidence! At the wing mark Richard decided, as did several boats following, that discretion was better than valour, and he wore around through the wind to avoid the gybe in a particularly strong gust! The boat order remained more or less the same throughout the race except that Gordon Harris was valiantly making his way up through the field after a disastrous start, when he couldn’t make the pin end mark on the start line. On the last triangle lap of the race he courageously gybed at the wing mark and made it inside Mike McKechnie to steal 2nd place at the finish. Conditions were very difficult and the Race Officer sensibly decided that the last race should be abandoned before boat and body damage became too much of an issue! It was thus a weekend of total contrasts and will remain memorable for exactly those reasons! Richard Stone did particularly well over the weekend in a borrowed boat and won the event with a 1st a 3rd and a 1st. There were a number of new Hartleys in evidence and, of the seven visitors, three Hartleys had only been picked up from Derby a couple of days beforehand! Race results are attached.
Two Wayfarers overtaking a 29er !!
A. M. D. McKechnie
UKWA Racing Sec.
3rd May 2010
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