505s at Burton Open

by Tim Needham on 16 Apr 2011 The weekend of the ninth and tenth of April saw 17 505s attend the Burton Open Meeting. The weather was glorious and the forecast breeze was more than adequate to get in some competitive racing. Scheduled for the Saturday was a two hour Coached training session with Tim Rush, followed by two races in the afternoon; with another three races organised for the Sunday.

The training session began at mid-day in a nice 8-12 knots of breeze. The 505s did windward/leeward courses whilst receiving one-to-one coaching from Tim Rush. This was a good opportunity to improve boat handling skills and sail setting, plus blow off the winter cobwebs. As a fleet we extend great thanks to Tim Rush for his coaching over the weekend, and for his knowledgeable de-briefs following each sailing session.

Race one began in a slightly depleted eight knots. With the usual suspects Charlie/Dougal, the Briddons and the Shorts shooting off up the course having had great starts, Smith/Needham were left buried. Half way through the race it became apparent that two boats had sailed the wrong course, leaving the well-earned bullet going to Harry and Simon Briddon. In second was Tim Bird and Arthur George and a very well earned third place went to Bobby Johnson and Tony Merry.

Race two saw the breeze in a similar direction and wind strength. The first beat was close meaning that the top six were tightly packed around the windward mark, with the exception Of Russ and Andy Short who had a small lead over the pack. By the end of the run Smith Needham had caught the leading boat and a fight began for first place. This tight contest lasted the entire race until team Briddon caught the leaders and began attacking.

At the windward mark for the final time the race was anybody’s, however by the end of the run the Shorts lead by just a boat length over Smith/Needham. With a small beat to the line Smith Needham just clinched the victory over the Short brothers. Team Briddon finished third. A well sailed race by all.

Sunday saw a some-what less enthusiastic 505 fleet possibly as a result of Adam Kenney's 21st Birthday or Carl Gibbon's Wedding. However Race three was held in a constant-ish five knots with a full fleet of 17 taking part. The first beat again was close with the top five all rounding together, the same followed down the run. However Smith/Needham took the lead with a handy shift from the left up the second beat, allowing them to take the lead, where they remained for the rest of the race. Tim Bird and slightly different looking Arthur George finished Second with Russ and Andy Short in third.

Race four was attempted in an ever dying three knots. Most of the fleet started the race. However once the boats began reaching the beat and beating the run it became apparent that racing was out of the question. With the relief of most of the fleet the race officer abandoned the race and the scheduled fifth race.

This left the over-all top five as - First Smith/Needham, Second Team Briddon, Third Bird/George, Fourth Team Short, Fifth Johnson/Merry. Prizes were awarded to the top three, also Smith/Needham got to lift the Ross Kenney Memorial trophy as the winner of the last race sailed.

Huge thanks to everyone involved in organising the event, especially Tim Rush for his time and knowledge over the course of the weekend.

Sailed: 3, Discards: 1, To count: 2, Entries: 17, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	Total	Nett
1st	9012	NCSC	Andy Smith	Tim Needham	(5.0)	1.0	1.0	7.0	2.0
2nd	8906	Ogston SC	Harry Bridden	Simon Bridden	1.0	3.0	(7.0)	11.0	4.0
3rd	9039	Burton SC	Tim Bird	Arthur George	2.0	(8.0)	2.0	12.0	4.0
4th	8935	Carsington	Russ Short	Andre Short	(4.0)	2.0	3.0	9.0	5.0
5th	8860	Burton SC	Bobbie Johnson	Tony Merry	3.0	5.0	(8.0)	16.0	8.0
6th	8835	Datchet	Charlie Walters	Dougal Cram	(18.0 DSQ)	4.0	5.0	27.0	9.0
7th	8685	Carsington	Richard Sims	Simon Wood	6.0	(7.0)	4.0	17.0	10.0
8th	8905	Burton SC	Stuart Turnbull	Jason Lunn	(18.0 DSQ)	6.0	6.0	30.0	12.0
9th	8749	Helensburgh SC	Alastair Milton	Charles Milton	7.0	9.0	(12.0)	28.0	16.0
10th	8583	TaTa SC	Patrick Moore	Paul Bambridge	8.0	10.0	(13.0)	31.0	18.0
11th	8780	Burton SC	M Wright	S Preston	9.0	(11.0)	11.0	31.0	20.0
12th	8526	Tewkesbury	Russ Hopkins	Olly Hopkins	11.0	(13.0)	10.0	34.0	21.0
13th	901	Draycote	Jez White	Matt Isherwood	10.0	12.0	(15.0)	37.0	22.0
14th	8457	GMSC	John Wilson	Adrian Howe	12.0	14.0	(16.0)	42.0	26.0
15th	8974	Burton SC	Ian Merryfield	Dennis Cartwirght	(18.0 DNC)	18.0 DNC	9.0	45.0	27.0
16th	6163	Datchet	Ian Garrard	Remco Van den Heuvel	13.0	15.0	(17.0)	45.0	28.0
17th	8306	Burton SC	Neil Rabbits	Adam Kenney	(18.0 DNC)	18.0 DNC	14.0	50.0	32.0

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