Bright sunny and gusty day for the inaugural Broadwater Open Meeting

by David Cherrill on 26 Apr 2016 13 RS Aero sailors (11 with boats!) gathered on a bright sunny and gusty day for the inaugural Broadwater Open Meeting. There was a good mixture of “seven rigs” and “nine rigs”. It was great to see all six Broadwater Aeroson the water including Peter “I’m going for style points with a windward capsize” Joseph; Greg “If I knew my wife was race officer I’d have brought her tea in bed” Hart; Brian “I thought you said a Morgan Aero 8” Deacon; and Llewelyn “if it doesn’t have a barcode how do I know which string to pull?” Watkins.

Before the first race Peter Barton ran a quick training session on the RS Aero for new and future owners, while the galley served up coffee and bacon and sausage rolls. There is absolutely no truth in the rumour Peter uses this session to hypnotise the competition…

The sevens and nines started together with positions decided on handicap. As the boats took to the water the wind strengthened so it was best described as windy with the occasional lull – and not medium wind with the occasional gust that was forecasted! This, together with good reading of the wind shifts helped Paul Robson cling on to the leading pack of nine’s in his seven and he was looking good to take the first race on handicap until a capsize (even with a quick recovery) let the leaders pull away. Peter Barton eventually took the honours, closely followed by Nigel Rolfe and Andrew Snell. Paul only missed out on third place by 12 seconds.

The wind held up for the second race and this time three sevens were vying for places just behind the leading nine’s. Paul Robson was the first to go, capsizing to windward on the run in spectacular fashion, and then Andy Hill pulled a similar trick later on leaving Andy Cooney in control of the race. He kept up with the leading nines to take first place on Handicap by seven seconds, with Paul Robson taking second place by just one second.

After a fabulous lunch of baked potatoes, chilli, and chocolate cake the wind dropped slightly for the third race giving slight advantage to the nine’s. Andrew Hill in his seven (who clearly sails better on a full stomach) had a great first beat giving the nine’s plenty to worry about and chased them to the end – missing out on winning the race by only 37 seconds, and third place by five seconds. At the front of the fleet Peter Barton, Nigel Rolfe and Andrew Snell battled all the way round with Peter taking the final honours.

Next up is the startof the 2016 Northern Circuit at Yorkshire Dales SC on the 8th May followed by Downs SC (Kent) Training day and Open on the 14/15th May. For those looking further afield for their Aerofix, the Czech Open on 13-16 May has 21 entries already signed up from no fewer than nine different counties – that should be a fantastically International experience!

Rank	No	Helm	Club	Class	PY	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Points
1	1175	Peter Barton	Lymington Town	RS Aero 9	1028	1	3	1	2
2	1689	Andrew Snell	Datchet	RS Aero 9	1028	3	4	2	5
3	1551	Nigel Rolfe	Burghfield	RS Aero 9	1028	2	5	3	5
4	1079	Paul Robson	Reading	RS Aero 7	1066	4	2	5	6
5	1747	Andrew Cooney	Broadwater	RS Aero 7	1066	6	1	7	7
6	1792	Andy Hill	Hayling Island	RS Aero 7	1066	7	6	4	10
7	1002	Dave Cherrill	Broadwater	RS Aero 9	1028	5	7	6	11
8	1739	Greg Hart	Broadwater	RS Aero 7	1066	8	10	8	16
9	1742	Brian Deacon	Broadwater	RS Aero 9	1028	9	8	DNS	17
10	1063	Peter Joseph	Broadwater	RS Aero 9	1028	10	9	9	18
11	1750	Llewelyn Watkins	Broadwater	RS Aero 7	1066	DNF	DNF	DNS	24