Lark fleet at the Waldringfield Cartoon Trophy 2019
by Harry Pynn 19 Sep 2019 23:19 PDT
14-15 September 2019
Larks at the Waldringfield Cartoon Trophy © Alexis Smith
The Lark circus descended on Waldringfield on the 14th and 15th September for the annual Cartoon Open Meeting.
After a postponement waiting for the wind to fill in, a force 2 duly arrived providing glorious conditions for the light-weight pairings in front of a large and rowdy spectator fleet. The windward-leeward course provided many tactical options when running against the tide.
Harry Pynn and Gemma Cook found the conditions to their liking, winning the first race having lead from start to finish. Several teams were caught out by the slick race management who turned the races around quickly. A shifty first beat in race 2 made for several place changes. Geoff Sinton and Helen Chatten, Alan Krailing and Charlotte Leigh, Matt White and Libby Bush, and Harry Pynn and Gemma Cook all had the lead at one point.
By the windward mark Pynn and Cook had the lead which they defended from Krailing and Leigh until the finish. Dan Watson and Julia Batchelor recovered from their poor start to pull through to third.
A family-friendly barbecue went on late into the night so there were a few sore heads for the final day of sailing.
All three of the Sunday races were held on the same course. A huge tide with unusually early eddies mean that the key to the racing was choosing how far off the rhumb line to sail to get into favourable current.
In race 3 Alan Krailing and Sara Cox-Olliff and Matt White and Libby Bush were at the front for the first two laps, but were overhauled to leeward by Harry Pynn and Gemma Cook.
Krailing and Cox-Olliff made amends by winning race 4.
By race 5 the tide had turned. Pynn and Cook got the best start and tacked over to the right hand bank out of the tide. Krailing and Cox-Olliff judged the lay line correctly and lead at the windward mark from Watson and Batchelor. Krailing and Cox-Olliff extended their lead to win their second race in a row convincingly.
Overall Pynn and Cook had done enough to win the event, with Krailing and Cox-Olliff second and White and Bush third.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 2520 | Harry Pynn | Gemma Cook | 1 | 1 | 1 | ‑3 | 2 | 5 |
| 2nd | 2521 | Alan Krailing | C Leigh | ‑2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 3rd | 2471 | Matt White | Libby Bush | 3 | ‑4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 4th | 2477 | Glen Enkel | Mariion Enkel | 5 | ‑6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 18 |
| 5th | 2531 | Dan Watson | Julia Batcholar | ‑6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 20 |
| 6th | 2502 | Steve Chatten | Adam Owens | ‑8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 23 |
| 7th | 2410 | Geoff Sinton | Helen Krailing | 4 | 5 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 27 |
| 8th | 2504 | John Crooks | W Ellis | 7 | 7 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 32 |