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Whitstable YC Open
Photos: Paul Manning & Carol
Baker
We arrived on Friday evening to a lovely
sunset over oyster beds in Whitstable bay. The B14’s
having already started their Europeans with 2 great
races and party in full swing. Whitstable has a nice
relaxing and fun atmosphere with sun and good sea breeze,
a sailor’s paradise. With 23 Mustos racing its made
for close racing through out the fleet with lots of
chances for picking a good wind shift or doing a bad
tack to gain or loose a few places.
 Race
1
Started in marginal wiring conditions Richard Stenhouse
got a good start but couldn’t match the speed of Graeme
Oliver, Kit Stenhouse and Ant Chapman, on the second
lap Kit got through in to the lead, Ant made an error
at the leeward mark to drop back into the fleet.
Graeme Spotted the shortened course flag at the leeward
mark and sailed straight to the finish to win, Kit turned
back downwind to get second and Dan Dixon sneaked third.
Race 2
Sten lead the race for the first two laps and Graeme
broke cover on the last beat to win the race and take
a commanding position in the series.
Race 3
The sea breeze had built to full trapeze conditions
now, Sten won, Dan second and Graeme 3rd to be over
night leader.
In the evening we had a BBQ followed by
a chance to hear about Graeme exploits in the 18ft Skiff
class and find were he has got all this extra speed
from, mostly from being relaxed giving smooth steering
also good trapezing posture giving perfect balance and
trim, the all important flat is fast.
Race 4
Light winds and a shift to the right on the first beat,
Ant lead at the top.
Kit caught him on starboard at the leeward mark to steal
the inside rounding to win the race. Rick Perkins got
some extra pressure down the right hand side of the
downwind to take second off Graeme.
 Race
5
Ant got a perfectly timed start, Sten picked the lay
line well to just beat Ant to the top mark and had to
cover him for the remaining 4 laps with Ant going faster.
Kit pulled through to 3rd at the finish.
Race 6
And all to play for between Graeme, Sten and Kit, who
ever won the last race would win overall. Kit and Graeme
had good starts and battled it out on the left of the
beat for the lead, Sten got rolled and had to tack off
for clear air. The wind filled in stronger from the
right giving Dave Poston the lead at the top mark closely
followed by Sten. On the hoist sten passed Dave and
covered Greame how was now in third for the rest of
the race to win overall.
Overall
1st Richard Stenhouse Helly Hansen Rutland
SC 9 pts
2nd Graeme Oliver SELS Whitstable YC 11pts
3rd Kit Stenhouse Helly Hansen Rutland SC 15pts
4th Rick Perkins Harken Whitstable YC 22pts
5th Dan Dixon Stone SC 24pts
6th Simon Reynolds Whitstable YC 26pts
7th David Poston Datchet SC 32pts
8th Gareth Davies Stone SC 33pts
9th Ant Chapman Seldon Rutland SC 37pts
10th Tim Chapman Rutland SC 42pts
Photos
http://www.k9media.co.uk/photography/sports/mustowhitst/index.html
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