Solo Open at Felpham Sailing Club

Fleet prepare at Felpham Solo Open © Mark Harper

Not much breeze but happy sailors thinking of cake during the Felpham Solo Open © Mark Harper

Lawrence Creaser wins the Felpham Solo Open © Mark Harper

Following last year's epic Saturday at Felpham, 21 Solos reconvened to do battle on the fabled waters once again, but this time unfortunately Mother Nature wasn't so kind.

With Windguru suggesting a mean wind speed of 1 knot with gusts of 1 knot at the 12:00 scheduled start time things weren't looking pretty for the competitors, who shared the course with our friends from the Contender fleet.

Race 1

After a short postponement, the Solos got away first time(!) in a solid force 1 and used their known light wind pace to chase down the back markers in the Contenders before completing their first triangle. Tight racing, as always, was going to be the order of the day and after a further sausage and triangle the leading three boats had a blanket finish with no one knowing who'd won. As it happened, Vince Horey had ghosted best in the conditions and pinched the win from Lawrence Creaser with Nigel Thomas in third.

Race 2

Whilst the breeze may have been light it didn't stop it playing games with competitors and race officer alike. With marks repositioned race got underway. Line bias made little difference, the order of the day was gaining maximum forward momentum and in terms of this one Mark Lee showed the fleet a clean pair of heals. Straight lining on the reaching legs, whilst those behind played the go-high game (and sang a few football chants), allowed Mark to win by a solid 8-10 boat lengths (at least 30 seconds sailing in this breeze) with Nick Bonner in second and the ever-consistent Creaser taking third with class Vice-President Doug Latta holding fourth place. Great to have Nick back within the Solo fold for a bit whilst also mixing it up with his Fast40 sailing commitments. Did I really type that!;-)

Race 3

At least five boats were in the mix for the overall win so things were hotting up. With the breeze continuing to stay light and rain now gently falling, just to add to the experience, the fleet had their first general recall as the breeze shifted hard right. With the line and marks readjusted we got underway with Lawrence and Felpham's own Guy Mayger trading blows for the lead on the first beat. As things progressed Nick and Mike Wilkie came into the mix with a gybing frenzy ensuing down the first reach as the wind shifted further to the right again. Coming into the finish a slightly worried Creaser looked back to see Mayger and Bonner making (relatively) speedy progress. To Lawrence's relief he managed to slide over the line in first place and guarantee the overall win. The Cheshire cat grin was back on Nick's face as he pinched second place from Guy who took some consolation in his best result of the day having re-found his mojo. Mike took a creditable fourth and again showed he's no slouch in the light and tactical stuff.

Once ashore the fleet enjoyed the post-race sandwiches, tea and cakes supplied by the club's members. Special shout-outs to Lynne Jones, Jo Lester, Sheila Verghese and Dawn Mayger amongst others who provided absolutely top draw lemon, fruit and chocolate delights and Hilary Wilkie who very kindly assisted with the teas.

So, Lawrence was crowned champion of the day with Nick second and Mark Lee in third. Having won the first race, Vince took fourth overall with Nigel Thomas in fifth.

A nice speech by Lawrence thanking all involved, especially RO Ross Fisher and the race team for getting in three races in trying conditions and the excellent WOW beach team, went down well before Rooster goodies were also awarded as spot prizes throughout the fleet.

Solo thoughts turn next to the Southern Area Championship on May 26th hosted by Bough Beech.

Overall Results: