Family Regatta Day at Manor Park Sailing Club
by Lee Bratley 17 Aug 2010 01:11 PDT
15 August 2010
Fun for all as the sun shone!
Manor Park Sailing Club, Staffordshire, held its annual family regatta day on Sunday and, under a beautful sky and warm sunshine, much fun was had by all taking part in the event.
Basically a club socialising event, a large turnout of members and visitors alike soaked up some rays on the patio and beach, as the slightly more active took to the water for some
good-natured racing.
The main event was the 'Commodore Cup', which this year - under the auspices of Dave Higgins - took the form of a 3-Round Pursuit series with all races to count.
Running the first two rounds back-to-back in a reasonable, but quite shifty moderate breeze saw a long time out on the water for those crews that didn't pack suncream!
A huge range of boats took the start - everything from a Mirror to a 505 made progress around the lake, amidst much banter and blatant gamesmanship - particularly from withing the Enterprise fleet!
The third race was held after lunch, together with the MPSC Topper Cup finalists for Juniors.
The clubs 'Junior Team' had been holding their cup qualifiers during the morning, under the watchful eye of S.I Ed Sharkey and Gary Robertson and it has to be said that there was a
vast variety of 'skills' on display amidst the very enthusiastic youngsters!
Ultimately, the top six qualifiers went on to their final out in 'the big lake', with a 5-minute head start on the Commodore Cup racers.
It was a great start for all of the Toppers, with Aaron Bodger leading Kieron Shaw into the top mark, but after looking like he touched the mark, Aaron performed his penalty turn right in front of the closing field - a daunting sight to behold!
The chaos untangled itself and the race continued all the way to the end of the long two laps. The lead swapped several times but settled down to a battle between Kieron Shaw and Harry Hughes and it was the final mark, as the duo headed upwind to the finish, that proved decisive as Harry picked up a great breeze to launch himself clear of the hard racing Kieron.
Crossing the line it was Harry that claimed the title from Kieron - who was competing in his first solo racing event.
Harry claimed the title and paid tribute to his opponent, acknowledging the close battle the pair had sailed.
In the final round of the Commodore Cup event, the pressure was on. The Topper kids had just shown how it should be done, and the classes took off in chase of the beautifully turned out Mirror of Andy Chapman.
Going with the shifts proved to be vital as Alex Shaw/Stuart Robertson (Merlin Rocket) carved their way through the field in magnificent style to pass Chapman with just over a minute to go. After the first two rounds Andy was leading, but if Colin Reisner (GP14) could squeeze out Chapman before the clock ran down, Alex could claim the title... the clock counted down and, although almost alongside Chapman at the death, Reisner didn't pass as the hooter signalled time, so the title went to Andy in 'Lemon Drop'. Alex and Stuart took the runner-up spot by mere seconds!
Overall, though, the day had been about fun and the easy breeze, glorious sunshine and blue sky was a fantastic advert for the club, it's whole 'family' ethos and sailing in general.
Well done to Andy and Harry for their victories, and a huge thankyou to all who visited MPSC for this fantastic day.