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Designer: John B. Brooke
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Datchet Water Sailing Club Winter Warm Up Series - Week 4
Author: Huw Pearce
Sunday 25th February
The weather was different again for this weekend, beautiful sunny but cold and good Force 3-4 breeze. The breeze and the air temperature made the wind chill -11C! Sailors just think of the safety boat hurrying at 30-35 knots upwind to check if you are OK, for them the wind chill equals -50C.
The Race Officer decided to try and recover one of the races lost the previous week due to the lack of wind, so that competitors would be allowed two discards. Two races were sailed back to back in for a short lunch break and back out for a 3rd race. Twenty hardy competitors made it to the start and enjoyed slightly stronger winds.
The efficient race results officer had things sorted so that the prize-giving was at 16:00 hrs and those who stayed for it were able to get on the way home still in daylight.
Datchet Water Sailing Club would like to thank all 119 of the visitors and club members who took entered for making a worthwhile series. We look forward to seeing you all again next year together with newcomers.
All the results, individual races and overall, by class and by division are available on the Datchet web site.
Laser 2 by Mike Clapp:
Despite the cold (snow in South-East London) numbers in the Laser 2 fleet were up again for the final Sunday of the Datchet Winter Warm-up. Nine boats took sailed the first morning race before in a sunny force three to four before the wind chill started depleting the numbers in the later races. Due to the lack of sailing the previous Sunday three races were run each of them being very closely fought in the Laser 2 fleet.
During race 5 it looked as though the pecking order from the previous weeks was being re-established. There was a close battle going on for first place between Matt McCarthy and Jo Dillon and Terry Palmer and Caroline Cooper while there was a separate battle for third place between about four other boats. By the finish Matt and Jo got ahead of Terry and Caroline. Mike Clapp and Dave Neave in front of Simon Lomas-Clarke and Sarah Mason followed them.
Race 6 saw a change in the order. Matt and Jo again managed to establish a fairly early lead but Terry and Caroline did not manage to break out of the back to join them. Instead Mike and Dave managed to find some clear air in front of the pack and by the finish were challenging the leaders. Simon and Sarah managed to edge past Terry and Caroline near the finish giving them a useful third place and guaranteeing an overall victory to Matt and Jo.
The reservoir seemed quiet for the afternoon race because many of the fleets decided not to bother with the cold, despite the fact it was a point's race.
Matt and Jo had already established first place so decided to pack up their boat, but at least six other Laser 2's braved the cold as most of the other places were still up to grab. Mike and Dave established an early lead by starting fast at the pin end of the line and finding the right wind-shift on the first beat. By the end of the first reaches it looked like they had a safe lead. Then they tacked too early and let three pursuing find a lifting gust up to the windward mark, putting them back to fourth place. The third beat saw Simon and Sarah sneak past Terry and Caroline on a wind shift and Mike and Dave edge past John and crew near the windward mark. The battle continued all the way down the final two power reaches, but no one could quite find enough to change these positions although there was only a matter of a few boat lengths in it by the time the first three boats got to the finish line.
Simon and Sarah's first place in this race put them on equal points with Dave and Mike for third place in the Laser 2 fleet. The tiebreak meant this first place gave them the advantage. Interestingly the Laser 2's took four out of the top five places in the fast handicap fleet. Terry and Caroline somehow managed to beat Matt and Jo in this fleet. (WebMaster note - it is down to the positions within the class and separately within the Division, compare the individual boat results in the class and the division)
RS600's by Mark Sempers:
The final weekend of Datchet Water SC's Winter Warm Up series saw some excellent, if very cold racing for the RS600 fleet.
Race 1 saw a very convincing lights to flag win for Matthew Barton, in his last outing before selling the boat. Further down the fleet things were less cut and dried. Sempers was OCS and having restarted, got a very good first beat which put him straight back in touch with the back of the fleet, but there it stopped. For much of the race Barton led from Wilson, Robson, Sempers and Hughes. An unfortunate capsize on the last lap saw Wilson drop from second place. The final order being Barton, Robson, Sempers. In the meantime, an unfortunate piece of windward-leeward shenanigans saw a 49'er narrowly miss Sempers, only to broadside a contender at full tilt with all 3 sails up. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt, though the ferocity of the collision was such that both boats are probable write-offs.
Race 2 was held in a somewhat increased breeze. Sempers took a port flyer to clear the whole fleet, and lead early on. A combination of a broken outhaul, and a silly, attempt at wearing around instead of gybeing saw the lead go to Robson in the closing laps with Sempers demoted to 3rd. However, a tactical mistake on the final run saw Sempers win from Robson with Barton and Hughes in close pursuit.
Race 3 was held in the afternoon, unusually counting for the series. With the easing breeze slowing the Laser II's this turned into a 600 benefit, with Sempers again pipping Barton to the line, after another scare with an asymmetric that couldn't see past his kite! The eventual margin was small, with an impressive burst of speed from Barton on the final two reaches.
Unfortunately due to insufficient numbers the 600's did not rate fleet status, and were sailed with fast handicap, which was rather a laser II benefit. However, within the 600's the final order was: Mark Sempers (GBR610) (4th handicap), Gerard Huges (NED887) (12th handicap), and Mike Bean (GBR631) (17th handicap).
Catamarans by Viki:
Sunday dawned bright & sunny, the overnight forcast had been frost snow & cold - hopefully this would mean a lazy Sunday no wind, no sailing. Trouble was there was wind at 6 am it was westerly, by 8 it was going a little more northerly - ouch wind chill factor something like minus 11.
In this series there was a lot riding on who could win especially in the Hurricane fleet, the main contenders, all of who had at least one first in their results were Phil Marks & Danny or Viki( 485), Tom Gradon & Pippa (102)and Leighton Hamish & Helen (452) out of the highly competitive fleet of 11 Hurricanes. Many of the others had a good run of seconds which meant that depending on skill, judgement and luck with the Lady of the Wind, First place was not guaranteed.
The race officer promised that wind chill factor and competitors willingness the aim was to do 2 morning races and to then repeat another morning race after a short "warm up break". The PRO was particularly aware of the wind chill factor, having had the mishap to overreach for a painter, only to slip on ice and headbutt the water in a serious wetting way!
The first race on this cold and frosty morning saw 10 Catamarans lining up on the start line, the start was not without incident, a couple of boats were a bit over keen and tried to push the front runners out of the way, turns were executed so protests were avoided. The race was hard with first place being hotly contested by Tom & Pippa vs Phil & Viki, places were swoped with at one stage the race having that "who get's the right wind shift - wins" factor . The gusts were vicious at times, the spray was freezing and the fact that it was only 4 laps was welcomed by all with Tom & Pippa beating Phil and Viki to first over the line. Peter Bennet & crew finshed third over the line yet in the handicap start result Suzi French & crew Jo beat all of them in their Dart 18!
The second race or 6th in the series saw the same boats on the line, Hurricane 485 was a bit too keen and had to restart, from there, they slowly battled their way to the front achieving a first place over the line and on handicap. They were helped by the fact that Tom thought it was time for a quick swim and abandoned Pippa for a short period at the Windward mark. Again Peter Bennet and crew managed to achieve a third over the line and on handicap. Perhaps the cold was telling on the Dart 18, Suzi & Jo who came in 4th on handicap.
After a short lunch break / thaw time the PRO declared that a race would be run with a warning signal at 13:54.
Weary helms and crews once more squeezed themselves into their kit ready to do battle. It seemed a fairly empty start line with only 7 catamarans lining up. There was still a lot to play for with only a few points separating the leaders, Phil and Viki (H 485) had to sail as first place was still in the balance.
Post lunch it was a much more sedate race, although every one was still trying, the cold was starting to sap strength, numb minds and generally impede the agility of the competitors. Phil & Viki seemed to have the race in the bag only to beset by some alarming wind shifts which slowly pushed them into a third over the line position. Tom and Pippa seemed to have all the luck and sailed away to be first over the finish line followed by Peter Bennett and crew. Phil & Viki were 3rd over the line, closely followed by Helen & Hamish. These were followed over the finish by Suzi French & Jo (Dart 18 ) who had enjoyed a close race with Mike Rothery and crew, another Tom (H 437). Yet for all the Hurricanes hard effort they were beaten on handicap by a well sailed Dart 18 - Suzi & Jo, sail No 7333. Watch out for these girls now they've got their confidence they could be going places, opens, nationals, worlds are all planned good luck to them.
- Winter Warm Up Series Results Page
- Datchet Water Sailing Club
See also: CORONET 20 for sale
