Chichester Harbour Gin Solo Southern Area Open at Dell Quay Sailing Club

Chichester Harbour Gin Solo Southern Area Open at Dell Quay © Beckie Dicker

Chichester Harbour Gin Solo Southern Area Open at Dell Quay © Beckie Dicker

Saturday 20th July saw the Chichester Harbour Gin sponsored Solo Open at Dell Quay. As competitors rigged their boats a final rain cloud pushed through, drenching some, before the skies cleared and the weather produced a perfect afternoon's racing on the Copperas Reach.

With the breeze filling in nicely from 240 degrees at 14-18 knots a windward/leeward course was set, under the expert eye of PRO Steve Sampson and team, with a short spreader leg at the top and a leeward gate.

Race 1: With the incoming tide the edges of the race course were the places to be on the upwind, and whilst the breeze was forecast to veer to the right the slacker tide and (sometimes fruity) lefty bullets favoured the Eastern side of the course.

Hot out of the blocks, Guy Mayger, led the fleet off the line into the shallow waters before working the left to have a small lead at the windward mark. In close attendance thereafter came Fraser Hayden, Steve Ede, Simon Derham and Dell Quay members Martin Jones and Mark Harper. Whilst Mayger opted to keep things simple and do a single gybe before rounding the further left hand gate mark, Ede threw in an early gybe and picked up more breeze/tide to make a significant gain on the pack and lead round the gate.

Back upwind again and this time Mayger held the right before crossing the channel at its narrowest point to come back in contact with the sensible left pack. Fortunately, his speed edge upwind allowed him to hold the lead which he extended over the remaining three laps to post a comfortable win ahead of the ever-present Hayden, charging Jones with Ede fourth.

Race 2: This one was almost a mirror image of the first with Mayger leading into the left on the first beat having started closest to the pin. Down the run, again Ede worked the wind and tide to good effect and some (not me) noticing the gains followed suit. Mayger's upwind speed paid out once more, despite his suspect strategy, and he pulled out a good lead whilst Ede and Hayden swapped positions for second and third. Mark Harper, fresh from racing at the Nations Cup in Carnac (sporting his French tan) sailed a solid race to take fourth ahead of Mark Fuller, having his best race of the series. Behind the leading group the racing was very close as you would expect from the Solo fleet, although one or two (Jones notably) took a swim as the sea breeze strengthened into the afternoon.

Race 3: A real pain for the race team as the wind had shifted a full 5 degrees to 245 degrees, so the course was given a little tweak to ensure it was perfectly true.

Whilst the Open win had already been sown-up, all of the remaining places were up for grabs with Tim Lewis, Fuller, Harper, Jones, Ede and Hayden all in with a chance of finishing in the top three if the last race went their way. Proving his racing credentials (for those who remember their International 14 results from the 1980-90's), Jones nailed the pin and was quickly able to tack and cross the fleet in fine style. By the windward mark, Hayden had taken control and led down the run with Jones, Mayger, Lewis and Ede rattling around the spreader mark in short order as the wind piped up... CamberMet suggesting into the low 20 knots. Great fun!

Hayden pulled out a nice lead as those behind fought each other, but at the end of the third lap Fraser was kind enough to take a small excursion to the Committee boat to check whether it was the finish. Somewhat annoyingly, for him at least, there was another lap to be sailed so the leaders compressed and a great battle ensued up the final beat. Again, Mayger's upwind speed took him into the lead, despite a dubious dropped mainsheet tack, but on the run, Hayden masterfully worked the inside track to be in pole position come the finish line. Fast working penmanship onboard the Committee boat saw Hayden, Mayger, Lewis, Jones and Ede all come through the line in short order with Martin Kemp getting his best result in seventh.

Special mention should also be made to Mike Wilkie and Derek Jackman, both gentlemen of a certain age, who battled each other (and the fleet) tooth and nail for all three races in fairly breezy conditions. A late swim in the third race did for Derek, so Mike took the match on countback. Whilst most will look to those right at the front of the fleet, these guys are the real heroes and an inspiration to us all! Derek certainly enjoyed his recovery beer once he'd sailed back to his home club at Chichester YC.

So, three excellent races completed in glorious conditions and rounded off by the superb Dell Quay tea and cakes. With the kind sponsorship of Chichester Harbour Gin three bottles of their finest were drawn in the raffle to the lucky winners before the podium finishers collected their spoils.

Now the Solo fleet start to think ahead to their Nationals at Weymouth and Portland, only two weeks away!

Overall Results: