Parkstone Yacht
Club Skiff Weekend - July 24-25
Report by Nigel Walbank
Sunshine and a light sea breeze greeted
competitors, from Plymouth in the west, Chew Valley
in the north and Wilsonian in the east, to Parkstone.
Racing was held out in Poole bay with the wind shifting
in strength and direction. Bruce Keen started where
he left off at the nationals with a win from Dan Vincent
and Brendan Jenner. Jenner went one better in race two
as the wind had picked up, leading for a long time,
and was only just pipped at the line by Keen with Vincent
slipping into 3rd place.
Races three and four saw Vincent and Keen
battling all the way to the finish, Keen took race three,
with Vincent taking the bullet in race four. Jenner
again slotted in to third place in both races after
close racing with Nigel Walbank, Paul Clements and Mark
Ponsford. The OOD did well keeping the Skiff regatta
on schedule, slotting our starts in between the 29er
fleet, who were having numerous general recalls.
The evening was spent on the club balcony
discussing the closeness of the racing whilst enjoying
spectacular views of the sunset over Poole harbour,
the Purbeck hills and Corfe castle. Walbank also found
the balcony very useful for rethreading his main halyard
which broke during race four.
Sunday saw a slow sail out to the start
in the gradient NW wind. At the end of the first lap,
Vincent led from Walbank and Ponsford, the wind had
faded to almost nothing, Keen drifted far out to the
right hand corner to grab another win as the race was
shortened. The sea breeze then filled in from the other
side of the course for the start of race 6 and Vincent
took the win from Keen and Ponsford.
Race 7 saw Keen over the line at the port
end, after the first lap the fleet was altogether as
Keen recovered, he was leading by the next windward
mark but Walbank found the better waves on the run to
lead at the finish from Keen and Vincent. Race eight
was abandoned after a 45 degree shift and restarted
with the wind in the west. Keen and Vincent were again
out front, but Ponsford found the better wind to the
north, to overtake both of them on the final run. Jenner
was forced to retire after his securing pin came out
of his rudder pin causing it to drop and then get bent
beyond being able to fix it on the water.
Overall Keen took the meeting by 4 points
from Vincent while Walbank grabbed 3rd place from Jenner
on the tie break.
Report by Nigel Walbank / full
results on Parkstone YC website
|
