Premier Event Weston SC 23/24 May

What a difference a year makes! At last years open meeting there was a 20 strong fleet, comprising 5 ICs and 15 ACs. This year, the same 5 ICs attended but disappointingly, local AC sailor Tony Robertshaw had no-one else to race against in his new boat “Crunchy Frog”, and was forced to join in club racing instead. Can we blame it on the recession?  Or holding the Open at the beginning of half term week, clashing with Coppet Week at Saundersfoot?  Probably both – the other classes we shared the open with – Moths, Cherubs and RS600FF could only muster 12, 6 and 4 entries respectively.  It must put in doubt the prospects of future open meetings at Weston – a shame as it’s a friendly club and a great place to sail.


Whilst short on numbers, it was a quality fleet, with former national and world champion Mark Goodchild and Europa Cup winner Simon Allen in attendance, plus Andy Pattison, multiple Cherub and Moth champion.  In the first season following the formal adoption of the new rules, the assembled sailors all showed off their latest development ideas. Andy’s Tin Teardrop has been subject of an extensive make-over, including moving the una-rig and daggerboard aft, a new funky looking square top main made by Barry Watkins on the Isle of Wight, plus the introduction of a double chine to facilitate tacking. To make sailing even easier the boat also sports a bridle stern mainsheet and twin tiller extensions, with copious amounts of shockcord to keep the “idle” extension neatly stowed. Is it a matter of time before we see wishbone tiller extensions again? The other new rules boats had more limited design development –  Alastair Warren had a very neat stern hung rudder in use for the first time and Phil Robin could only point to a couple of new blocks. Meanwhile Simon Allen’s Nethercot has had a major refurb job including a super new purple paint job and lighter sliding seat, plus a new suit of Rowsell sails, taking weight saving to the extreme by removing the lower batten. Mark Goodchild has painted all his spars “oilskin” yellow – will he get some  matching waterproofs?

And so to the sailing. Light winds prevailed, but there was sufficient to make for some close and interesting sailing for the Rutherford Trophy and the sunshine made the whole experience even better.   Race officer, Mike Jarman and his team used their local knowledge and expertise to complete the scheduled 6 races. A force 2 south-westerly on Saturday allowed 2 races to be completed, before the wind died and sailing had to be abandoned for the day. After close racing in each race, Phil Robin and Alastair Warren demonstrated the speed advantage of boats built to the new development rules, to finish first and second in each race. 

Racing was delayed on Sunday to allow a light breeze to fill in, which gradually increased to a force 3 by the end of the  four races held, allowing some lighter helms to be seen hiking off the end of their planks. Race 3 saw Phil leading the fleet and was followed home by Andy, and Mark finishing third in his one-design. By this stage, Mark was starting to get into his stride and took the fourth race followed by the ever consistent Alastair. Race 5 saw Alastair leading the race, but pipped at the line by Phil with Simon finishing third. Fortunes were reversed in the final race with Phil losing out to Alastair and Mark at the finish line as he became caught up with some slow moving Cherubs.

Now that the new rules boats have had a season of fine tuning, and their helms have also had a little more practice, it was interesting to compare the differences in performance. Unlike last year, they all stayed upright. In the lighter winds there is not a great deal of difference, but as the wind picks up, the new boats respond to every gust and this is especially the case off wind. In several races the one designs rounded the first mark ahead of many of the new rules boats, but generally could not match their downwind speed.  That said, they do not have it all their own way and a well sailed one design is still capable of winning races. 

IC Results:

  1. GBR311 Scarlett O’Hara Phil Robin, Hayling Island SC( 7pts)
  2. GBR308 Monkey Alastair Warren, Grafham Water SC (9pts)
  3. GBR265 Cunning Stunts Mark Goodchild, Wilsonian SC (14pts)
  4. GBR305 Tin Teardrop Andy Pattison, Gurnard SC (18pts)
  5. GBR 278 Simon Allen, Hayling Island SC (20pts)

Leave a Replay