Club Championships 2011

Warm sunshine, clear skies, 20 Celsius and a patchy easterly wind? It must be time for the club championships again. With a near carbon copy of last year's conditions 49 Weir Wood members entered the premiere club event of the season, the Weir wood Club championships. This was one entry up on last year despite most of the Optimist fleet being away. The format followed last years with two handicap races in the morning, one of which could be discarded, and a pursuit race in the afternoon. Race management was in the capable hands of Ernie Hatton and Peter Clifton.

Race one started on time with a slightly pin end bias line. The course was windward leeward with a leeward gate. David Giles and Fiona Harrington shot off the line and disappeared as if they were in a race of their own. As it turned out they were, having been judged over the start line at the gun. Meanwhile the two RS 400's of Colin and Tony Prince and John Ching and Peter Jenkins were pulling away from the rest of the fleet until the International 14 of Matt Larkin and Paul Jenkins caught the slightest of gusts and roared into the lead. In the chasing pack Matt Giles and Emily Giles in an RS 200 along with Nick Bush and Nick Rae in an Enterprise looked well placed to take the race on handicap. The leading three boats were given an extra lap to sail and with the wind freshening slightly extended their lead enough to take overall race honours with Jon Ching winning from the Prince Brothers, Bush, Larkin and Giles.

For race two the course was changed to a "round the cans" format so that a there were also some reaching legs. The wind had dropped generally and become patchier so it was vital to keep your eyes out of the boat to spot the gusts of wind that blew through the course. Again the RS 400's quickly established a lead on the water with the International 14 struggling in the stop start breeze. David Giles was handily placed just behind the 400's with Paul Luttman and Colin Hatton in their RS 100's also well up. This group benefitted from not becoming becalmed around buoy one and pulled out a large gap on the rest of the fleet. It looked like the RS 400's would win on handicap but just as they crossed the finish line the breeze filled in allowing the chasing boats to quickly cover the distance left to the finish line. Giles and Harrington closed the gap on the RS 400's enough to take overall honours with youth David Hoar in a Laser 4.7 doing well to register a third place just behind Ching and Jenkins. Fourth and fifth were the RS 100's of Paul Luttman and Colin Hatton.

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Going in to the lunch break Giles and Ching were taking a win into the afternoon pursuit race, Prince a second, Hoar and Bush a third, Luttman and Larkin a fourth and Matt Giles and Hatton a fifth. It was probable that the overall winner would come from this group. First away in the afternoon pursuit race (that had to be counted) was the Laser 4.7. The wind had all but disappeared and just the occasional Zephyr ruffled the lake surface making progress very slow. Class after class drifted off the line as their start time arrived. However as the last boats started the wind began to fill again giving the quicker boats an advantage. Probably the most advantaged was the international 14 of Larkin and Jenkins who were able to "double wire" off the start line and very rapidly passed the boats ahead of them. The 14 took the lead about half way through the pursuit race and went on to win by a country mile. The battle for second place was on. With wind strengths varying in different parts of the race course fortunes ebbed and flowed. The RS 200 of Giles and Harrington sailed into second place about 45 minutes into the race just ahead of Martin and Julie Pascoe in another RS 200. These two, however, were being chased down by the RS 400's. The leading RS 400 of Ching and Jenkins took second place with about 15 minutes to go and the second RS 400 third with about five minutes to go. Also closing in on the 200's were the RS 100 of Hatton and the Phantom of Mike Uher. As the finish time arrived the finishing order was Larkin, Ching, Prince, Giles, Pascoe, Hatton and Uher. The race results were published within an hour of the pursuit race finish, a great tribute to the mathematical prowess of Barbara Hatton and Tabatha Ching who were calculating the results. First overall was John and Peter Jenkins in an RS 400 who was never out of the top two all day and thoroughly deserved their new title of club champions 2011. Second place went to the International 14 of Matt Larkin and Paul Jenkins, a great result given that the 14 is not really suited to Weir Wood reservoir. Rounding out the top three was David Giles and Fiona Harrington in an RS 200. As with other years there were several "spot" prises for those who did not make it into the top three places, only those outside the top three were eligible for these. First Master (helm over 50 years of age) went to Colin Hatton who finished in fifth place in his RS 100. First lady was awarded to Janine Blundel in 7th place sailing an RS 200. First youth helm was David Hoar in 17th place sailing a Laser 4.7. The loving trophy is awarded to the first placed husband and wife team. This was won by Martin and Julie Pascoe in an RS 200. The family trophy is for the first placed team from the same family. This was awarded to Colin and Tony Prince sailing an RS 400. The Endeavour trophy is awarded to the least well placed boat that completes all three races. Popular winner of this was John and Jean Chisnall sailing a Laser 2000. Finally the Duckhams award is for the competitor who manages the biggest "bloomer" of the day. There were three finalists for this award. In third place was David Giles who managed the only OCS of the day. Second place went to Peter Young who managed to forget the only essential piece of sailing clothing required to sail, his life jacket. Winner by a mile though was David Wyle. Somehow, despite repeated media warnings that the clocks were going forward by an hour, David managed to be oblivious of this rather important development. Consequently when the time came to go sailing David was still in bed asleep! A full set of the results can be found by clicking here Photographs by Captura Images can be seen by clicking here The next major sailing event in the club calendar is the Laser Open on the 30th April. David Giles Sailing Secetary