Shearwater Open at Stone Sailing Club

The third Shearwater open meeting of the season saw 13 Shearwaters attend Stone Sailing Club on June 21-22.

The Shearwaters always look forward to the Stone TT, where the hospitality is great and the showers are even better. The majority of competitors arrived on the Friday allowing for some much needed time devoted to the bar . Shawn Allen could not handle his Magners and awoke the following morning with a sore head.

Racing was scheduled for a 12.30 start on Saturday with three races being planned back to back. Race 1 started under a gentle and fairly fluky breeze. The fleet were away cleanly first time and by the windward mark it was Geoff and Amy Tindale sailing 'Think Pink' who had a slight lead. After rounding the mark, however, 'Think Pink' decided they wanted to picnic at Bradwell, forgetting about the wing mark and leading half of the pack down there to join them. I must admit it was a lovely day for it but it caused much confusion for the fleet and the committee boat. It was Nigel and Sarah Stuart sailing 'Sim Sek' who were the first to notice the error and perused the correct course to the wing mark followed by Catherine Howland and Hugo Bull on 'Cajensa' and Richard Hamblin and Jack Tindale on 'China Crisis'. After the first lap, Sim Sek led from Cajensa and Think Pink, having aborted their earlier picnic plans, sailed back to third place. On the final beat Think Pink were hunting Sim Sek down who had lead for the majority of the race and overhauled them just before the finish. Think Pink took the win followed by Sim Sek and then China Crisis.

By the second race the breeze had started to fill in but the challenging sailing conditions remained with the wind swinging about. Alan Howland and Jenny Allen on 'Alley Cat' rounded the windward mark first followed by Think Pink. The next places were hotly contested with China Crisis, Derek and Grace Williams on 'UFO' and Cajensa battling. A major wind shift during the first beat meant that the race committee changed the windward mark and did a good job in doing so as it caused minimal confusing. The top two places stayed the same until the final downwind leg where 'Think Pink managed to sail under Alley Cat and round the leeward mark in pole position. The final results saw Think Pink in first place with Alley Cat in second and China Crisis in third.

The final race of the day was probably sailed in the highest wind of the day. UFO were over the line but sailed a fantastic first beat to arrive at the windward mark in the top three . Think Pink had the lead and the young pairing of Murray Greenhill and Chris Masters on 'Sheargold' were in the mixer. Think Pink always looked in control of the race and managed to keep ahead of the pack. Second to sixth place was very hotly contested by UFO, Sheargold, Cajensa, Alley Cat and Dion and Anna Allen sailing 'Take 5' . There was a lot of place changing in this pack who saw some great racing. Sheargold sailed fantastically well and showed some good boat speed as well as keeping their cool in some tricky and testing conditions to take a well deserved second place. Alley Cat just managed to overhaul Cajensa about a foot from the line and Take Five rounded up the top five.

Saturday night saw a fantastic meal served by the Galley followed by a live band who must have been good because the famous Richie 'twitchy' Hamblin was having a jive. A mention should also go to Roger Crooks who was cutting some interesting, strongbow fuelled, shapes on the dance floor (no you can't have another strongbow Roger).

Sunday morning arrived with at least one sore head (I can't comment for sure about anyone else's) and a lot of breeze. Unfortunately the breeze proved to be too strong and all racing was cancelled. This wasn't good enough for Nigel and Shaun who decided to go out and have a blast. Spectators on the beach were guessing ten minutes before they capsized, but I think they might have actually lasted a little longer and fair play to them, as they came back in one piece.

Overall Results:

1st 2003 Geoff and Amy Tindale 3pts
2nd Alan Howland and Jenny Howland 9pts
3rd Richard Hamblin and Jack Tindale 13pts
4th Catherine Howland and Hugo Bull 14pts
5th Dion and Annal Allen 15pts

I would like to thank my Personal Assistant/mother, Jan Tindale, for her work with organising the event. Without her, I would have been in trouble. I would also like to thank Judy Ross for her constant reminder about the tie downs, they are coming soon Judy! Finally, I would like to thank everyone at Stone Sailing Club including Wendy Robinson (race officer) for a great weekend.