Lighter winds shuffle the pack at Solo Nationals

by Claire Clark / Sail-world on 23 Jul 2008
Day three of the Solo National Championship being hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club and the first small chink in the performance of the two leading competitors, Charlie Cumbley and Andy Davis. In the first race of day, for the first time they were outside the top five finishers - Defending champion Davis in seventh and Cumberly in eighth, but the next race saw the duo back into familiar waters with a third and fourth and they remain one and two, 22 points ahead of the next boat.

Race 5 for the Mountifield Cup started in bright sunshine and less wind than previous days at about 5 knots. James Stevenson 3965 got a clean start at the committee boat end and tacked immediately onto port which he took until he was almost of the layline for the windward mark. With a southerly shift he tacked onto starboard and cleared the fleet to lead.

Stevenson led the first reach but by the gybe mark the wind had eased which allowed Steve Ede 4774 to power through to windward. The next lap of the Olympic style course saw very little place changing but Stuart Bush 4848 had closed the gap on the leaders.

Steve Ede, who had left his lucky tow-rope behind in Essex, proved that a replacement could be just as fruitful and won the race ahead of Bush and Stevenson.

Finishing - 1 Steve Ede, 2 Stuart Bush, 3 James Stevenson, 4 Steve Broom, 5 Chris Goldhawk.

Race 6 for Severn Sailboats Trophy and the wind had increased slightly by the start of the second race of the day. With the black flag in use, six boats were caught out on the first start and sent back to Harbour. With the wind shifting the start was recalled.

At the re-start Stuart Bush 4848 started at the pin end of the line and went hard left and almost reached into the windward mark ahead of the fleet. Chris Goldhawk 4501 came in from the right side of the course to take second slot.

These two were clear ahead for most of the race with infighting behind amongst Simon Potts, Dave McGregor and Charlie Cumbley. Andy Davis went right up the last beat to overhaul Potts, but Cumbley defended his well fought third place.

At the finish Goldhawk had done just enough to pip Bush on the line by less then half a boat length.

Finishing - 1 Chris Goldhawk, 2 Stuart Bush, 3 Charlie Cumbley, 4 Andy Davis
5 Simon Potts.

Solo Nationals - Positions after 6 races of 12 (1 discard)

1 4858 Charles Cumbley Teign Corinthian 2 1 5 2 8 3 13 pts
2 4857 Andy Davis Chase 4 5 3 1 7 4 17 pts
3 4830 Paul Ellis Salcombe 3 4 13 8 11 20 39 pts
4 4731 Geoff Henstridge Pentland Firth 1 8 6 9 23 18 42 pts
5 4861 Chris Brown RYA 8 3 11 6 33 15 43 pts
6 4501 Chris Goldhawk Chew Valley 15 18 10 14 5 1 45 pts
7 4747 Alister Morley Salcombe 14 10 2 3 31 17 46 pts
8 4774 Steve Ede Ardleigh 9 25 35 12 1 9 56 pts
9 4921 Steve broom Spinnaker 48 12 18 15 4 10 59 pts
10 4884 Stephen Denison Hollingworth 45 14 12 5 14 16 61 pts
11 4832 David McGregor Hayling Island 5 84 14 31 10 6 66 pts
12 4743 Simon Potts Shustoke 84 11 20 4 27 5 67 pts
13 4848 Stuart Bush Shustoke 11 30 24 40 2 2 69 pts
14 4865 Steve Cockerill Stokes Bay 38 6 17 7 84 8 76 pts
15 4935 David Mitchell Winsford Flash 18 13 21 13 13 27 78 pts
16 568 Ian Houston Littleton 32 7 19 10 29 21 86 pts
17 4714 Mike Ball Papercourt 10 20 15 20 22 84 87 pts
18 4844 Stuart Hydon Shustoke 30 37 7 21 16 14 88 pts
19 4761 Cliff Crawshaw Corus 7 33 9 18 24 31 89 pts
20 4680 Chris Cleaves Salcombe 16 15 23 16 35 22 92 pts
21 4712 Jon Clarke Draycote 35 17 30 11 9 26 93 pts
22 4835 Will Loy Reading 33 28 8 22 6 32 96 pts
23 4922 Simon Corper Reading 44 21 16 38 15 11 101 pts
24 4940 Peter Hammond Salcombe 6 16 1 33 50 84 106 pts
25 4730 Vince Horey King George 47 2 4 24 32 84 109 pts
26 4422 Lee Sydenham Chichester 84 9 44 19 12 35 119 pts
27 4907 Bob Taylor Corus 27 27 39 43 18 12 123 pts
28 4735 Daniel Goodman Kingsmead 13 31 38 30 48 13 125 pts
29 4789 David Greening Salcombe 21 23 29 32 39 30 135 pts
30 4866 Simon Jones Teign Corinthian 31 36 84 29 21 19 136 pts
31 4873 John Ball Ardleigh 34 29 26 35 17 84 141 pts
32 4442 Barry Green Draycote 26 84 48 27 34 7 142 pts
33 4536 Simon Yates Salcombe 22 35 27 34 42 28 146 pts
34 3847 Mike Barnes Littleton 17 32 47 23 43 43 158 pts
35 4920 Robert Gardner Notts County 23 47 45 84 20 23 158 pts
36 4929 Pete Mitchell Winsford Flash 63 48 32 28 28 25 161 pts
37 4606 Mark Lee Spinnaker 43 41 31 26 40 29 167 pts
38 4748 Andrew Fox Crosby 41 38 33 37 26 44 175 pts
39 3965 James Stevenson Teign Corinthian 64 50 41 42 3 52 188 pts
40 4862 Stephen Waite Highcliffe 19 26 58 57 51 36 189 pts
41 4120 Godfrey Clark Fishers Green 62 46 46 50 19 33 194 pts
42 4837 Nigel Pybus Dracote 59 84 28 25 36 46 194 pts
43 4803 Ian Barnett Chichester 12 84 22 39 38 84 195 pts
44 4772 Mike Wilkie Littleton 54 19 73 54 30 38 195 pts
45 4461 Richard White Clevedon 28 45 36 45 45 48 199 pts
46 4741 Steve Jones Littleton 24 43 60 17 66 84 210 pts
47 4867 Chris Goswell Burghfield 25 24 61 56 47 58 210 pts
48 4589 Ian Ayres Rollesby Broad 29 84 50 58 25 50 212 pts
49 4581 Derek Jackman Chichester 42 44 40 44 57 42 212 pts
50 4738 Alastair Raynard Carsington 36 34 34 55 59 63 218 pts
51 4524 Nick Whyte Teign Corinthian 39 22 51 51 65 62 225 pts
52 4822 Andy Colyer Teign Corinthian 46 40 66 48 60 34 228 pts
53 4781 John Poulson Carsington 53 84 25 41 70 45 234 pts
54 4740 John Davey Teign Corinthian 49 84 54 52 44 41 240 pts
55 4833 Ian Harridge Chelmarsh 37 42 42 59 76 61 241 pts
56 4843 Hannah Showell Shustoke 61 52 53 70 53 39 258 pts
57 4760 Paul Hiles Royal Bermuda 57 84 37 60 49 56 259 pts
58 4936 Gordon Barclay Dell Quay 56 84 43 53 68 40 260 pts
59 4215 Claire Clark Fishers Green 68 84 57 49 41 49 264 pts
60 4804 Tevor Williams Salcombe 51 84 55 47 61 51 265 pts
61 4943 Alan Johnson SCYC 20 84 84 84 46 37 271 pts
62 4767 Peter Hearne Teign Corinthian 52 51 74 73 58 47 281 pts
63 4641 Robert Hawkins Rollesby 65 84 52 64 37 65 283 pts
64 4918 Peter Withrington Rickmansworth 67 56 49 68 56 55 283 pts
65 4679 David Sanders Papercourt 40 84 84 84 52 24 284 pts
66 4601 Roger Smith Marconi 55 53 56 61 64 59 284 pts
67 4645 Ron Cockwell Highcliffe 70 57 65 66 55 53 296 pts
68 4287 Julian Goddard Hollingworth 69 84 63 46 54 66 298 pts
69 3893 Barrie McLean Loch Ard 58 54 69 62 62 68 304 pts
70 3286 Derek Wyatt Teign Corinthian 72 59 76 71 72 54 328 pts
71 4904 Peter Edwards Salcombe 74 55 67 72 74 60 328 pts
72 4239 Graham Tapper Teign Corinthian 66 84 71 36 73 84 330 pts
73 4853 Martin Allen Bewl Valley 60 84 72 69 71 64 336 pts
74 4703 Clive Evans Reading 50 39 84 84 84 84 341 pts
75 4786 John Hale Middle Nene 73 49 84 84 63 73 342 pts
76 1872 Paul Bristow Burghfield 71 58 70 74 80 69 342 pts
77 4040 John Daniels Llandegfedd 84 84 59 67 67 67 344 pts
78 4699 John Salmon Marconi 84 84 68 63 75 57 347 pts
79 3920 Daniel Evans Teign Corinthian 84 84 64 65 69 70 352 pts
80 4443 John Woods Bowmoor 75 84 62 84 78 72 371 pts
81 3871 Garnett Showell Teign Corinthian 76 84 75 75 79 71 376 pts
82 3174 Michael Lee Spinnaker 84 84 84 84 77 74 403 pts
83 3267 Matthew White Clevedon 84 84 84 84 84 84 420 pts