POSH 2019: Paignton Open for Single Handers

2019 POSH - Paignton Open for Single Handers © Steve Cayley

Paignton Sailing Club's (POSH) has enjoyed big entry numbers from its inception in 2012 but this year saw the biggest turnout yet with 99 competitors taking part. This was also the first year that POSH took place over three days as the event incorporated the RS Vareo UK National Championships fleet who sailed three additional races on the Friday.

Friday saw a decent South Easterly breeze and the 7 Vareos completed all of their scheduled windward-leeward races with just one general recall. After the first day, Jon Nuttall led Luke Fisher by a single point.

2019 POSH - Paignton Open for Single Handers - photo © Steve Cayley

Saturday brought shifty, patchy winds from the North West and almost 100 competitors sailing in four fleets. The RS Vareos started first sailing a windward leeward course. After day 2, Jon had slightly increased his lead over Luke. The second and third starts were the Slow and Fast handicap fleets respectively both sailing an outer loop course. It was very close racing throughout both fleets with Phantoms and Blazes vying for the top spot in the Fast fleet, and K1s leading the way in the Slow. The final start was for the Asymmetric handicap class who were sailing a windward-leeward course.

The wind on Sunday was due to track clockwise throughout the day, and sure enough that's what happened. As the breeze was from the East there was also waves across the course and, combined with sunshine and the backdrop of a visiting cruise ship, the bay lived up to it's title of 'English Riviera'. Three more races were completed for all four fleets to ensure the full schedule of 27 were sailed over the three days.

2019 POSH - Paignton Open for Single Handers - photo © Steve Cayley

Jon Nuttall held on to win the RS Vareo UK National Championship by a single point from Luke Fisher. Nick Crickmore completed the podium. In the Asymmetric class, Clive Eplett sailing an RS100 had a fantastic second day to wrap up the title from Andrew Jones and David Smart. Despite a UFD on Saturday, Alister Morley sailed a great series to win the Fast fleet in his Phantom from Mike Lyons in his Blaze. The Phantom of Ian Stone took third. Greg Bartlett was the only person preventing a K1 1-2-3 in the Slow fleet finishing third in his RS Aero. Andrew Snell and Simon Hawkes finished on the same points with Andrew just taking the win on tiebreak. The Slow fleet also scored well in the combined overall results with the top three overall the same as the top three in slow. That left Andrew Snell as the POSH Champion for 2019!

Paignton Sailing Club would like to thank all of the competitors for attending, our friends from Brixham Yacht Club for providing volunteers and resources, and event sponsor Sailing Chandlery. We hope to see you all for POSH 2020 on 9th-10th May next year!

Overall Results:

RS Vareo Naionals