Overall position U16ft Dinghy Championship
1st Boat: Flash Type: Laser Skipper: Reece Tomlinson
2nd Boat: Nessie Type Laser Skipper: Alan Dodd
3rd Boat: Crackin Cheese Type: Wayfarer Skipper: Tom Roberts
Overall position of the Women’s Championship
1st Boat: Flash Type: Laser Skipper: Alex Rigby
2nd Boat: Nessie Type Enterprise Skipper: Claire Dodd
3rd Boat: Nighthawk 35 Type: Falcon Skipper: Sue Gamble
With the biggest turn out of boats this season Officer of the day Ken Southall had to get 21 boats onthewater ready for the start of this dual races of the Women’s Championship and the Under 16ft Dinghy Championship. The start was delayed for over 5 minutes giving all the participants the opportunity to launch on time.
For the Under 16ft Dinghy Championship 14 boats set off in this event with a strong input from the Laser sailors, it was soon clear that these dinghies would prove to be strong contenders if they could master the tricky conditions which is something that Reece Tomlinson & Alan Dodd proved to the rest of the fleet as they gave lessons in boat handling.
After the first mark none of the other Under 16ft dinghies could not make any impact on their progress. After an hour of racing the Lasers were on the finishing stretch with Alan Dodd being just a few feet away from Reece Tomlinson as they crossed the line, some might say, formation or synchronised sailing.
As for the rest of the fleet in their GP14s & Wayfarers, Tom & Marilyn Robert previous winner of this trophy had to settle for third place in their Wayfarer Crackin Cheese just head of GP 14 GEE PEE helmed by Ian Scouler & Jade Flynn. Other notable performance came from Brother Simon & Nick Lowe in their GP14 Overdraught who finished a creditable 6th, 5 boats retired from this race due to conditions, which gave the safety boat teams a lot of ground to cover and assistance to the dinghy fleet.
The day was enjoyable and produced some excellent personal performance from Reece and Alan.
The biggest event of the season so far produce the biggest turn out of boats, and with so many boat not sailing today as they prepare for the Menai Straits Regatta just as well they didn’t all turn out or resources would be stretched. Thanks to Safety Teams and the Officers of the day Ken Southall & Club Commodore Dave Rigby, Support team of Craig Hinkin, Sue Worswick.
7 boats competed in this race for the FFSC Women’s Championship 2011 with previous winner Claire Dodd & Alex Rigby being favourites to take the title again. But this year it would prove to be a little more difficult with a larger field of competitors.
The 4 mile course soon started to impact on the strength and stamina of the competitors with a couple of boat retiring after the second mark on the course as the wind speed increased. Claire Dodd took an early from Alex Rigby on her Laser followed by Sue Gamble on Falcon Night Hawk 35. By the halfway mark the this situation had not changed but as the tide started to Ebb the race was to become faster and more challenging as a result of wind over tide making the river very lumpy.
As the women’s fleet headed for the final turn a mile from home, a good lead had been established by Alex Rigby over Claire Dodd, which was to be the final position. With 2 retirements the fleet was reduced further, allowing juniors Eden Wall & Caitlan Whitehead to take the fourth spot behind Sue Gamble a creditable performance from two of the youngest competitors in the fleet. Overall the conditions did prove to be a challenge but provided some useful experience to those who have never sailed in a major competition.
Winner Alex Rigby recognised that the depth of women sailing at FFSC is growing annually and competition for this trophy is improving each year, which will require everyone to train hard if they to win it.
The race proved to be very challenging and capsize drill was for some the order of the day, with good safety cover on duty, everyone had a great time.
Yours faithfully
Colin Howard, Sailing Sec
