Stokes Bay Yacht
Club Presents the Musto Skiff and B14 Open Meeting.
Report : Tom Wright
Photos : Tania Samus
http://www.photoskiff.com/sailing/stokesbay11/
Bright Hot Sun along with a consistent
strong sea breeze brought close to 30 Skiff sailors
to the south coast of England. The first warning signal
scheduled at 12:25, there was a relaxing atmosphere
around the boat park whist sailors spent their time
rigging and preparing for a good day on the water. With
a 16knot Eastly breeze funnelling down the Solent waters,
the fleet launched and headed out towards the start
line.
2011 Stokes Bay Open meeting was under
way…
Race one begin with sailors peeling off in opposite
directions to either; battle the channel tides in a
stronger wind or head for the shore to attempt to escape
the channel. Forming back towards the mark, sailors
grouped back together with little advantage from either
way. Round the windward mark. Round the spread mark.
With flying colours the fleet made their way towards
the gate. Attacking boats from behind gybed off taking
a risk to gain a couple of places, with the majority
of the fleet continuing inshore. The race continued
Bruce Keen, Andy Peak and Tom Wright breaking away from
the fleet, fighting for the first available bullet of
the day. Close racing brought pressure and excitement
between the three sailors. The race… continued. After
40mintues of competitive racing Tom round the windward
mark in first place followed very closely by Bruce and
Andy. Tom performed a slow peaceful hoist letting Speed
Bruce past and followed by Andy. Seeing the light at
the end of the tunnel the fleet made their way down
the last leg and through the finish line.
1st Bruce Keen 2nd Andy Peak 3rd Tom Wright
Different strategies and plans between
the sailors became more vitally important as the tide
was increasing in speed and the wind started to shift
round to the left. With race two on the way 80% of the
fleet headed off the start line close to the pin end,
sailing towards the left hand side with the course with
intensions of the wind continuing to shift left. With
a different strategy of starting from the usual port
end, Tom set up for a ‘duck and weave’ start on port
tack aiming to immediately head towards the channel.
With few boats following, the stronger winds out to
the right shown to be the fasted route to the windward
mark. Tom round the windward and once again closely
followed by Bruce and then Dan Vincent. The race continued
with the fleet separating. Three large 20 minute laps
put Tom in first place followed by Bruce and Dan.
Race Three begin, again with the majority
of the fleet heading left and odd sailors going right;
the increased ripping tide had overcome the stronger
pressure, with the Sailors from the Left leading the
fleet. There was great confusion among the fleet as
the windward mark had drifted 100m short of the spreader
mark.
Race four brought a whole new level of
exciting sailing to the fleet, with a one lap rule apparently
displayed on the committee boat, which half the feet
didn’t notice. The streaming Solent waters created a
difficult race with sailors hugely overstepping the
windward lay line trying to avoid the deadly tide. Close
to the windward mark, places where being lost and gained
as the tide refused and made it difficult for sailors
to pass around the mark. The last race of the day brought
close to 5 hours of sailing and a table of results.
With entertainment planned for the evening
sailors de-rigged and prepared for Dan’s mind boggling
quiz.
Sunday was a perfect day for a nice paddle
in the flat reflecting waters along with attempting
to catch the sun, this in most cases resulting in sun
burn. Sunday Racing was cancelled.
Overall Results:
1st Bruce Keen
2nd Andy Peak
3rd Tom Wright
Full
results here >>>
A Brilliant Event hosted by Stokes Bay
Sailing club. Once again a big thanks to Tania Samus
for supporting our class with a large amount of fantastic
photography.
|
