BIFFA

Westerly force 7 to severe gale force 9 for Saturday 3^rd the chap from the Met Office said and, by golly, that is exactly what we got.  Spectacular white horses and glorious spindrift, with the keelboats straining at their moorings, made RO Alistair Colvin’s “no racing today” a straightforward decision.  The early call off allowed the troops to find their own entertainment before returning to the clubhouse for the evening social.

The programme was quickly amended to allow up to four races on the Sunday.

Typically, Sunday dawned with the loch and mountains in glorious technicolour but, alas, no wind.  Undeterred, 24 fifteens took to the water and, as promised again by the weatherman, a force 2/3 Westerly arrived in time for a 10.45 start. Although fitful at times, the breeze persisted through the morning and excellent race management allowed four good back-to-back races.

Race 1 saw Terry Crumpton and John Mathie establish an early lead which they comfortably maintained to the finish.  Nigel and Gavin Tullet finished second with John Hardisty and Roger Errington third.

In the second race Craig and Iain Hepplewhite lead until the final beat where the Tullets squeezed past to take first with the Hepplewhites second and John Hardisty third.

A win for Simon Robinson and David Vasey in Race three, with John Hardisty second and James and Eric Gerrard third, meant the fourth race would be crucial.  The Tullets, Hepplewhites, John Hardisty and Simon Robinson were all potential overall winners.

With the wind dropping, the last beat of a closely fought final race developed into a tremendous tussle with John Hardisty just edging out the Hepplewhites on the finishing line with Simon Robinson a further nanosecond behind in third.

Overall, a good day’s racing and an excellent weekend for John Hardisty whose first overall was supplemented by a bottle of Loch Lomond malt as reward for his 25 year perfect attendance at the event.

First place in the classic fleet went to Bobby Salmond and Robert Till in their beautifully restored No 627, Vamoose.

The resukts after round 4 with one more to go at Dovestone

Click here

The former South eastern Travellers Series re-created this year.   The original series was instigated by Brian Turner of Broxbourne SC, and was very helpful in setting up the 2009 programme.    In all 6 clubs agreed to incorporate their existing inland Open Meetings into the series.   The aim is to encourage club sailors, who tend to sail their own Open only, to feel welcomed and encouraged to travel to other similar local events.   To aid this attractiveness, none of the 15 Worlds qualified Open sailors are eligible for the Open section.   2009 was set up as a re-establishing year, and started at Datchet and Bewl in March, then Llangorse in May, Cardiff (Classic and Silvers only) in June, Broxbourne in July and the final event in September at South Cerney.

The Open section was very well attended at Datchet with 16 qualified, and Bewl with 18, but proved to be a false dawn, with only 4 at Llangorse, 2 at Broxbourne and 1 at South Cerney. Ultimately only two raced at both of the first two, but no-one raced at three – the stipulation of the series was that you count your best three results, but have to attend 2 to qualify.   Chris Swallow and Matt Pallet, and Mike Kilbee and Patrick Keats who were second. Well done to series leader

The Silver section came down to a duel between two Datchet boats, Mike Firth and Phil Tinsley in 3385 won the last event at South Cerney to clinch the series, with Andy Clark and Nadia Melinkova in 3378 second overall.   Two South Cerney boats raced two events, Andrew McArthur and Roderick Aitken in 3330 and Alex and Mike Tatlow in 3288.

The Classic section was the best attended overall, and it came down to the final event. John Craddock and Paul Kendal from Llangorse had a purple day at South Cerney, scoring 2,1,1,1,2 to win, beating Bob Tait and Peter Comber from Broxbourne into second place. They ended up level on points, with the South Cerney result separating them.   The only other crew with 3 results were Tony Oatley and Tim Greaves from South Cerney.   6 boats recorded 2 results each.   Well done all.

Plans for 2010

This year, we based the Series on the existing opens provided by the 6 clubs.   Datchet and Bewl were in March – too early and too close together – we need one a month.   We await the date for the Bewl open next year and then we can hold one at Datchet in an empty month to provide a better balance.

We will also promulgate earlier and more widely – in the BIFFA website if it is fully operating and via Yahoo Groups as well as via Fleet Captains.   As soon as we have the dates for next year

Southern Travellers Series Result 2009

TNT POST NORTH FLYING FIFTEEN TRAVELLERS SERIES

Round 3 Burton Sailing Club – 12th and 13th September – Nine boats including four from Dovestone Sailing Club joined the strong local fleet at Burton Sailing Club to take part in the third heat of this five event Series. The glorious weather, possibly the last of the summer, greeted the competitors on Saturday, however, disappointingly there was no wind. After a delay of 2½ hours a zephyr filled in and it was possible to hold two races in fluky and testing conditions.

Burton, as usual, were excellent and welcoming hosts putting on a high quality three course meal in the evening at the Club House followed by a bar triathlon event.

Sunday dawned colder and overcast but with a reasonable wind that gradually built during the day. It was therefore possible to complete three races and the Series as planned. Old Olympic style courses were set for each race and the growing wind produced some exciting racing. The racing proved competitive throughout the fleet. The winners of the Open meeting were David McKee and Chris Hewkin from Dovestone scoring four bullets. Second, and also from Dovestone, were Andy Goddard and Mal Hartland who prior to the start of the first Sunday race was seen to dive under the boat apparently to remove the rudder bag forgotten in a hasty launch. Third place went to Richard Hope and Scott Smith from Draycote, winners of the Travellers Series for the last two years. Leading Silver boat was Scott Train and Graham Lamond and first Classic, Ian and Gavin Shaw..

After the first three heats therefore the jockeying for overall supremacy of the Traveller Series is hotting up. The first two boats of Chris Swallow and Matt Pallett of Burton Sailing Club and Richard Hope and Scott Smith of Draycote are tied on four points each. In the Silver Division the team of, Scott Train/Graham Lamond and Colin Pierce/Mandy Thackray are separated by only one point. At this stage Pete Needham and Brian West look to have the classic section under control. There are however still two events at Notts County on the 26th and 27th September and the final event and prize giving for the Series at Dovestone on the 3rd and 4th October. The overall positions can radically change and it looks as though the Series will go to the final event for resolution.

David McKee

FLYING FIFTEEN SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIPS.

A small but high quality fleet of seventeen boats competed for the Scottish Flying Fifteen Championship, (The Skelly Trophy), over the weekend of 22nd and 23rd August, at Loch Earn. Open, Silver and Classics were all represented.

The forecast West to Southwest force 4 or 5 for Saturday did not quite materialise, nor thankfully did the breeze back to the South during the day as had been indicated . Overall the mean strength was around Force 3 for the day and after the two races were completed the top five boats were covered by a spread of only four points with a different winner in each. The Windermere team of Hart and Rigg in 3917 with a 1st and a 5th were tied with Derwent’s Robinson and Vasey  in 3737 who collected the same positions in reverse order. Goacher and Evans in 3821,who had let the lead slip in the second race , and Hardisty and Errington (no. 3906) were hot on the heels of these leading pairs.

Heavy rain and Easterlies were promised by the Met Office for the Sunday and they got it spot on with torrential downpours from time to time in winds that reached Force 4/5 on occasions. Race 3 looked as if it might decide the outcome of the weekend but even with Goacher/Evans winning handily the placing of Hart, Robinson and Hardisty in the top five boats meant that it would be all to play for in the final race. In some ways this was the least satisfactory race for wind as shifts to the South produced tricky conditions around the final South windward shore mark. There were several changes of lead during the three rounds and coming up the final beat any one of Robinson, Goacher and Hart could have snatched the regatta. As it was the order across the line, decided in the last fifty yards, was Hart, then Goacher followed by Robinson.

The final positioning, after discards, was Hart/Rigg (RWYC, 3917) first and winner of the Skelly Trophy with two wins and a second, Goacher/Evans (RWYC, 3821) second  with a first, a second and a third and Robinson/Vasey (DRSC, 3737) third with a first, a second and a fifth.

The Silver Fleet was headed by Scott Train and Graham Lamond (TSSC, 3362). It particularly pleased old Loch Earn hands to see ‘Gilmac’ (no. 485) , a boat that had begun its career on the Loch in the 1960s, sailed by John McMillan and Stan Wichiaj, win the Classic Fleet.

22 Fifteens participated in this year’s Fed week. It was great racing in 10-20 knot winds all week with excellent harbour courses set by race officer FFI Commodore Greg Wells.
Andrew Jameson and Richard Kent won both Monday and Tuesday races. Ian Nicholson and son James won Wednesday’s race in their new boat. Thursday’s race was won by Russell Peters and Zeb Elliott. By Friday, the overall winner was still undecided. Alan Bax crewed by Tim Rumfitt joined the fleet for the day and won the final race. Andrew Jameson and Richard Kent came 3rd which made them overall winners for the week by .25 points ahead of Russell and Zeb.

With good racing and social events, all agreed that it had been one of the best Fed weeks of recent years.

Clywedog Open – August 8-9 2009

A truly exciting weekend of close tactical racing was enjoyed by 8 ff’s  inc 3 classics from the Clywedog fleet with sadly no visiting boats.

Two races were held on Saturday afternoon in a gentle north-westerly, with all the positions changing throughout with 3 boats  ff 3317 Bob & Hazel Rowley, ff 1855 Keith Rollinson & Jane Install and 3377 Mike Install & Dave Grant.  All three finished the day on 5pts each, and two more with 6pts.

Sunday dawned with mirror-calm water, and the first race was delayed until 11.30 when Race Officer Steve Gamman set a small triangular course in front of the clubhouse, which resulted in much shouting at marks and penalty turns – great spectator sport!!.  Bob & Hazel Rowley ff3317 scraped in 1st with  Keith & Jane ff 1855 2nd and  ff1457 Peter Jackson and Paul in 3rd.

The wind filled in after lunch and the RO set a long course down the lake for two back-to-back races.

Keith Rollinson & Jane Install ff 1855 jumped the gun and had to start from the back of the fleet but over the three laps fought back to win by a few seconds on handicap with  Bob & Hazel Rowley ff 3317 in 2nd and Mike Install and David grant ff3377 in 3rd.

The last race was just as full of drama, with a number of boats still in with a chance of victory and leading  places being swapped during the race. Clywedog’s legendary windshiifts helped some and frustrated others!

The first home were Mick Edwards & Andrew Watson ff 3365 and 2nd Bob & Hazel Rowley  ff 3317 and Keith Rollinson & Jane Install ff1855 in 3rd.

Once the final  scores were totalled there was still a tie for 1st place  and the best discard had to be counted which gave victor y to Keith & Jane in  the classic ff1855 by just 1pt

Overall Results  
1st   5pts         ff 1855   Keith Rollinson & Jane Install
2nd  5pts        ff 3317   Bob & Hazel Rowley
3rd   6pts        ff 3365   Mick Edwards & Andrew  Watson
4th   8pts        ff3377    Mike Install & Dave Grant

The report on ~  The Fairleigh Hospice Regatta at Burnham on Crouch.

How often do you a get two mile long flat out planing reaches on flat water? Once again the Crouch turned on the wind and sun for the annual pilgrimage to the Royal Corinthian at Burnham on Crouch. We started on the club line with the Dragons on a flat out three sail reach downriver, by the time we reached the first turning mark they must have been almost half a mile behind. The next leg saw a hard beat against the tide up the Roach and then another fast reach / run  back to the Crouch during which the flying fifteens were rarely more than a few boat lengths apart. On this leg we had a chance to catch and test our speed against the Hunter 707s who had started five minutes in front, and then sailed past the squibs too. At the finish Justin and Amanda Waples prevailed over Pip and Alice Hudson.

The next race saw a committee boat start and a beat to the specially laid mark before another fast run. Justin stormed off only to not notice the laid mark and thus Pip was able to build a large lead, so large in fact the he was unable to find the penultimate mark (something about it wasn’t where it was shown on the chart) before local knowledge may have helped,and Justin took the advantage and led home once again. 

The Club was full with 85 for dinner, and more coming in for the dancing later, so when…….

Sunday dawned with a little less wind ( a few were quite grateful ). It looked like it would be a much closer race with the Dragons and so it proved to be. A long  run of about four miles saw the Fifteens and Dragons neck and neck, at the mark there was only a couple of boat lengths in it. Sue Bannister was the first to tack for the shore and hit slacker water. This was to prove decisive and Sue crewed by Gayson Eacott went on to a well deserved win, but not without worry, having chosen the slower south shore on the last leg home, nearly leaving the door open for Justin to sneak in from the North shore at the finish!
 
The wind had picked up for the final race during which the Fifteens were within a few boat lengths of each other for most of the race. This time the long beat back to the club line against the tide allowed the Dragons to show their mettle and both fleets finished within a couple of minutes after one and a half hours of racing.Finishing Justin, Pip and Sue. ( apparantly Sue and Grayson would have left everyone for dust, except they were caught by the Burnham mud cutting a corner at the critical point ! )

As someone was heard saying “it was great to have sailed at BOC”

Who won you ask ? ~ well does it matter when you can have a cracking two days competitive sailing, and be part of a regatta that raised over £2,500 for the local Hospice.
 
report contributors : Pip/Sue/Justin