Cowes Dinghy Week 2007 at Gurnard Sailing Club
by Mike Martin 2 Aug 2007 11:56 EST
22-27 July 2007
As the fireworks soared into a damp sky last Friday night the sailors in the Gurnard clubhouse were recovering from an energetic Cowes Dinghy Week - 5 tough days of sailing in plenty of wind, with 1 race lost to bad weather.
The first race on the Sunday was in perfect conditions, and the 200+ entrants hoped that the threatening forecast would somehow turn around – but this was not to be, and the wind and rain set in.
The juniors sailed each morning and the fleet ranged from the competent visiting Optimist sailors from Yarmouth to the newly-trained young Pico helms taking part in their first regatta. Under the watchful eyes of the safety boat crews these young sailors rather literally had a taste of heavy weather sailing, with the consistent Ghotaslo and Benton scoring for the visitors in the 2 Pico classes.
Some 25 catamarans in 2 classes were first away in the afternoons. Paul Bowen and Shaun Kellett (Hobie Tiger) scored an unaccustomed third in the first race but recovered thereafter to score a row of bullets.
The fast group contained a variety of entries, with the neat-handling RS500 of visitors Tim Wilkins and Heather Martin doing well in all conditions. They narrowly pipped the veteran duo of Barry Byham and John Hayden to first place, with Andy Paterson third.
James Downer came good in the lively RS400s, dead-heating with Mike Acton but taking the win in the last race to decide the positions.
No problems for Brett Aarons and Lisa Anderson in the home fleet of RS200s with an emphatic set of aces, while Mark Harrison and Pete Newlands fought it out for the minor placings.
Royal Victoria YC’s training programme with Lasers delivered results, with 2 Talbots and Jim McMillan in the top four positions. 4 other clubs were represented in the 17-strong fleet.
Six clubs provided starters in the Laser Radial class, with again a victor from Royal Victoria YC in the shape of Kyle Grant who was able to count a string of wins.
Carl Whitewood of Gurnard SC had a similar set of results in the Laser 4.7 class, which won him the John Davies Trophy for the best performing junior helm. The next 3 places were close on points giving J. Evans of Royal Victoria and J. Davies of Yarmouth the remaining top slots.
Henry Bagnall in his Finn looked to have a contest with Jo Richards’ National 12 on his hands in the first 2 races, but Jo was unable to take part in the full programme, leaving Henry to take a comfortable win from Chris Gillies’ Blaze in the medium handicap group. Roger and Dawn Bee popped up in third after scoring high in the rugged final race on Friday.
Martin Scott sailing his Sprint Sport catamaran was awarded the Yachts and Yachting trophy for the best overall performance, managing to win all his races. Martin started sailing at Gurnard only 2 years ago and did well to deal so successfully with the torrid conditions thrown up through the week.
On a damp but cheerful Friday evening the prizes were distributed by Shirley Robertson, and Commodore Caroline Stevens thanked Will King (of Shaves) for his assistance in sponsoring this popular and steadily growing event – and finally paid tribute to the huge amount of work put in by volunteers to provide the vital race organisation and support services needed to provide some 200 boats with a safe and enjoyable week on the water.
Overall Results:
Fast cats:
1 Paul Bowen / Shaun Kellett
2 Dougie Wright / Ian Lawrie
3 Robin Leather
Sprint Sports:
1 Martin Scott
2 Dave Downer
3 Derek Kingsland
RS400:
1 James Downer / Jon Price
2 Mike Acton / James French
3 Paul Blowers / Lucy Olden
Fast handicap:
1 Tim Wilkins / Heather Martin
2 Barry Byham / John Hayden
3 Andy & Pat Paterson
RS200:
1 Brett Aarons / Lisa Anderson
2 Mark & Sally Harrison
3 Pete Newlands / Leeane Walsh
Pico Race:
1 Mike Peddar
2 Freddie Davies
3 G. Lamont
Laser:
1 R. Talbot
2 A. Talbot
3 E. Simonds
Medium handicap:
1 Henry Bagnall
2 Chris Gillies
3 Roger & Dawn Bee
Slow handicap:
1 Derek & Eleanor Ness
2 Penny & R. Fulford
3 Tom Harrison
Laser radial:
1 K. Grant
2 B. Gibson
3 J. Peckham
Laser 4.7:
1 Carl Whitewood
2 J. Evans
3 J. Davies
Pico handicap:
1 J. Benton
2 J. Hathaway & T. Stevens
3 Shannon Tate
Pico trainer:
1 S. Ghotaslo
2 A. Ferris
3 E. Baker
Optimist:
1 C. Davies
2 H. Kearns
3 B. McLaughlin