Contender Travellers' Series Round 2 at Oxford Sailing Club

Contenders at Oxford © Wilfred Howe

Contenders at Oxford © Wilfred Howe

Twenty-one Contenders visited Oxford Sailing Club on the weekend of 6/7 April for the second of the 2019 Travellers series.

Race 1 got away in a steady 15 mph breeze with the pumping flag on display, the pin end of the line was favoured though it paid to tack onto port almost immediately as the wind bend favoured that side. First to the windward mark was Carl Tagoe, closely followed by Tom Hooton and Chris Howe, by the fourth lap Carl had dropped into third place behind Tom and Chris who went on to complete the race by a comfortable margin.

With the wind holding at a steady force, though quite shifty as it had moved round towards the north, Nick Nobel got a good start, picked the correct shifts and led at the windward mark, followed by James Spikesly, Tom Hooton and Richard Franks. As was becoming obvious, right paid on the beat for the next 3 laps and Richard popped into first place followed Nick and Tom. Tom got the last beat right and held on to take the gun with Nick second and Richard third.

The wind had dropped a little for race 3 and this was to be Iain Horlock's first of two wins banging the left hand corner and reaching into the windward mark on a nice bend in the wind he gained a good lead that was never really challenged followed at the end of lap one by Tom Hooton and Tony Brooks, with a changeable wind, place changes a plenty were the way of things on the following legs, leaving Iain with a healthy lead, Richard Franks in second and Tom holding onto third. With racing over for the day, we all returned to the clubhouse for warm showers and a welcome rest for those aching knees. Tom Hooton was the overnight leader with Carl Tagoe second and Iain Horlock third.

The story of the evening was, what had happened to Ed Presley, retiring from race 1 and not seen on the water for races 2 and 3, talks of a visit to the local hospital via ambulance with pains, and his boat sat on the slipway. The Contender spirit soon kicked in and his boat was packed away for the night in his absence.

Sunday dawned a little foggy across the water but surprisingly more wind than expected or forecast, and with Ed back in the pack with a story of Kidney stones and an evening sat at the hospital in his wet trunks we were all good to go.

Race 4 started with a bit of a push on the line, with 2 hoots someone was over. Ed was off like a scalded rabbit making up for his lack of sailing on day 1 leading the pack at the end of lap 1, by the second lap Ed had dropped back into the pack with Tom taking up the front position to the end with Fiona Collins moving up to second on lap 2 in one of the many new Hartley Contenders and holding off the challenges from a chasing Richard who took a valuable 3rd, with Ed and Carl Tagoe both getting an OCS for their eagerness at the start.

The line for race 5 again favoured the pin end and there was a bunch of boats at that end with three over the line at the start (Ed, Graham Cooper and Tom), Iain Horlock led at the first mark followed by Richard Franks and Fiona. Over the next 3 laps Iain held onto the lead with Richard in hot pursuit, Chris Boshier finally worked out the shifts to finish in third place.

Race 6 was sailed in much less wind and the right side of the beat tended to pay, Richard Franks led from the start followed by Iain Horlock and Chris Boshier. By the end of the race Iain had dropped back allowing James Spikesly into third place behind Richard and Chris.

The winner of the BDS Trophy was Richard Franks with a consistent top 3 position across the five races to count, second was Iain Horlock with Chris Howe in third, all 3 taking home the wonderful prizes sponsored by BDS.

Overall Results: