1DL Spring Cup at Brooklands Airfield, London
by Mark Jardine 21 Mar 1999 08:23 PST
1DL Spring Cup - Brooklands Airfield, London
As we drove up the M3 toward Brooklands for the inaugural 1DL Spring Cup the complete lack of wind was becoming distinctly worrying. It was a beautiful sunny morning but there was no sign of the promised 10 knot westerly. Then at 10:30 on the dot the wind filled in at about 5 knots which doesn't sound much but is just enough to get the 1DL's lifting an occasional wheel.
There were eight boats competing for the coveted Ming Vase including regulars such as Mark Jardine, Ben "Pie" Cooke, Ian Moore and Justin
"Nipper" Heap. Ben Vines was there racing for the first time this year and we were also joined by three new comers to the sport, Ozzie Stewart of Olympic fame, Dr Mark Tomson known the world over as Tommo, and Ron Pinner a long time model yachter but new to land yachting.
Before the main event two practice races were held so that the sailors could get to grips with the Brooklands surface and do any last minute rig adjustments. Then it was down to racing. Fast out of the blocks was Ben Cooke who has just changed his famous Mk.1 'Pi Sled' for a 1DL. Ben just pipped Justin Heap and Ben Vines to take the win. Ben Vines then showed the rest of the fleet a clean pair of heels for two races back-to-back and in race 4 Justin Heap took line honours. Race 5 saw Ben Cooke back at the front after two disappointing races, and a battle was developing further down the fleet between Ozzie and Tomo who stayed inseparable for the entire event. Race 6 saw Mark Jardine in his new 1DL finally find form after steady improvement throughout the series to take his only win.
Justin and the two Ben's were all looking in a good position to take the title at this point until a measurement call was made by Ben Vines on Justin's 1DL rig. After inspection it was found to be 0.5cm too tall and a decision was made to add 8 points to his overall score as means of a punishment for this blatant ( but claimed unintentional ) rule bending. This put the title race between the Ben's, with Ben Vines in the better position. This was all to change as Ben Cooke, using an old rig sold to him by Mark Jardine, put in a blinding 2,2,1,1 scoreline in the last four races to give him the Ming Vase for the Spring Cup with Ben Vines second and Mark Jardine third.
All the newcomers to 1DL racing enjoyed the event and learned alot about this exciting type of sailing. There is no doubt that they will come back and hope to topple Ben Cooke from his no.1 ranking in the 1999 season.
Overall Results: (2 discards)
| Position | Sail No. | Helm | Race | Points |
|---|
| | | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
|---|
| 1st | GBR-314 | Ben Cooke | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15 | | 2nd | GBR-999 | Ben Vines | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 20 | | 3rd | GBR-1111 | Mark Jardine | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 23 |
| 4th | GBR-8 | Justin Heap | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 24 (8 point penalty) |
| 5th | ITA-1 | Ian Moore | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 30 | | 6th | GBR-911 | Mark Thompson | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 51 | | 7th | GBR-2 | Ozzie Stewart | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 52 | | 8th | GBR-35 | Ron Pinner | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 68 | |