Wayfarer Westerns at Parkstone Yacht Club

Perfect September racing during the Wayfarer Western Championships at Poole © David Harding / www.sailingscenes.co.uk

Perfect September racing during the Wayfarer Western Championships at Poole © David Harding / www.sailingscenes.co.uk

Twenty five Wayfarers entered the Western Championships hosted by Parkstone Yacht Club. Visiting boats came from as far afield as Suffolk and the Medway to join a strong local fleet. High pressure on Saturday promised light and fickle breezes but after a short delay race officer Barry Rolfe and his team were able to set good Olympic courses in the top triangle of Poole Harbour.

Local hot shot Colin May with super crew Sarah Wallis – suitably lightweight, as befits a crew partnering Colin’s robust constitution - led race 1 from the start. We all had to play “spot the mark” as Parkstone had chosen to add an eyesight test to the usual mix of racing skills by using little yellow things as turning marks. Martin Collen and Terry Palmer headed left and along with Toby Mace and Rachael Rhodes had to swallow some significant headers on an extended port tack to where there seemed to be some support boat activity over to the right. In the end Martin and Terry played catch up to carve through the fleet and finish second, with Mace and Rhodes third. Race 2 followed immediately after race 1 and this time it was the turn of Toby Mace and Rachael Rhodes to take an early lead and win this one.

With much stronger winds forecast for Sunday, the lightweights amongst us made valiant efforts to down as much curry and beer as possible at the well-attended Saturday evening social. The heavyweights did as well, out of habit.

With a good F5 gusting F6 for race 3 Collen/Palmer showed their mastery of the conditions to win both races, with Dave Roberts and Mike Bryant finishing second in each race and showing excellent upwind speed in these conditions. Mace/Rhodes finished third in race 3, being the first to fly the kite in the gusty first reach and nearly paying the penalty, but recovering to speed through to third and second place overall. Sarah obviously hadn’t eaten enough curry as she and Colin finished fifth in race 3 and didn’t complete race 4, resulting in third overall for them. Hacon/Watson finished fourth overall, an excellent result rewarding consistency over both days’ racing. All in all a very successful event and Wayfarers look forward to returning just as soon as PYC have located their great big inflatable buoys.

Overall Results: