Thorpe Bay Open - 13th & 14th September 2008

14 sailors arrived at Thorpe bay yacht club for a shared open with 29er/49er and B14 to be greeted with no wind. after a 1 1/2hour postponement the race committee sent the fleets afloat .

Saturday

Race 1 started in light and patchy breeze, Tim Chapman reached the windward mark first after the right hand side came good, he was later pasted by Dan Henderson who built up a good lead only to throw it away when he started an extra lap than required letting Richard Stenhouse take the win.

Race 2 the wind was lighter still ,again the right paid and again it was Tim Chapman who took the first mark. Iver Ahlmann, after missing the first start, was showing great speed to take the lead only to be rolled by Richard Stenhouse just before the line but managed to hold of Tim Chapman.

Sunday

The fleet awoke for the 10 o'clock start with a few sore heads due to the free bar and BBQ to a 15 knot breeze, racing got under way on time.

Race 3. The boats powered away from the start with all the heavier sailors breathing a sigh of relief to be on the wire Richard Stenhouse was first round the windward mark and was not challenged to the finish Dan Henderson scored his worst result of the regatta when his outhaul rope jammed the boom causing him to capsize again and again until most of the fleet had past .

Race 4 again it was Richard Stenhouse who lead round the windward mark with Jon Simpson in second (thanks to some good tips from Richard cheers )Richard lead to the finish Dan Henderson and Kit Stenhouse pasted Jon on the downwind and looked to finish in that order but Kit stuck it in just before the last mark giving away one place.

Race 5 first round the windward mark was Richard Smith under pressure from Richard Stenhouse. Smith shot his kite only to have it fail at the pole putting him out of the race leaving another win for Stenhouse with Henderson in second an Simpson in third.

The Musto Skiff fleet would like to thank Thorpe bay yacht club for there hospitality and Steve Hopper of EITS sailing for the BBQ and free bar

Report: Jon Simpson
Photos: Paul Manning

Results

1 369 RICHARD STENHOUSE (1) 1 1 1 1 4
2 305 DAN HENDERSON 2 6 (11) 2 2 12
3 368 KIT STENHOUSE 3 (7) 2 4 4 13
4 160 JON SIMPSON 6 (9) 6 3 3 18
5 170 IVER AHLMANN (10) 2 3 8 8 21
6 333 TIM CHAPMAN 4 3 7 (13) 7 21
7 209 TOM WRIGHT 9 5 5 (11) 5 24
8 228 RON BARNES 12 4 4 7 (15) 27
9 30 DANNY CLARK (11) 8 8 9 6 31
10 291 GRAHAME SMITH 8 (10) 9 10 9 36
11 355 NICK HOLLIS 5 (15) 15 6 15 41
12 304 TONY COULSON (15) 11 10 12 10 43
13 260 RICHARD SMITH (15) 15 12 5 15 47
14 202 MARK WILD 7 12 (15) 14 15 48