Solo Open at Carsington Sailing Club
by Jonathan Swain 2 Sep 22:52 PDT
1 September 2024
Nigel Davies wins the joint Midlands and Northern open with Steve Dennison in 2nd and Chris Brown in 3rd.
22 boats lined up for Race 1 in a 10 knot breeze, as the gun went the breeze shut off and a pack of boats tacked of to the right to pick up the next band of wind coming down the lake giving them a significant advantage. Its was Nigel Davies, followed by Jamie Cuxson who lead round the top mark and built a commanding lead with Davies taking the win over Cuxson in 2nd and Iain Carpenter in 3rd.
In Race 2 the right hand side of the 1st beat dominated again, it was Jonathan Swain leading round the top mark with Steve Dennison a boat length behind. By the leeward mark Dennison had taken the lead but then Swain came back up the 2nd beat and almost regained the lead. Dennison retained the lead to take the win with Swain in 2nd and Ted Garner in 3rd.
It felt a little fresher in Race 3 with some stronger 15 knot gusts to optimise on. With a mix bag of results across the fleet there were a handful of people with a chance to win the event. It was Russell Short who led the race with Ted Garner in 2nd but with slightly more breeze there were gains to be made downwind.
Chris Brown who rounded the windward mark in 6th capitalised on the offhand and took the lead by the end of lap 2 which he maintained to take the race win. Behind snakes and ladders continued and as the top bunch rounded the mark Swain was in 3rd and Davies in 6th giving Swain the initial advantage of an event win. Davies went low on the final reach tacking 3 boats and crossed the line 3rd to win the event. Russell Short finished race 3 in 2nd.
1st Lady went to Alice Hyde of Carsington in a borrowed boat and considering she had never sailed a solo before she finished an impressive 9th overall but also had the most consistent low results in the top 10 across the 3 races.
Thank you for Carsington Sailing Club and team for running a good day's sailing. Thank you to the sponsors Allen and CB Coverstore.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 6108 | Nigel Davies | Draycote Water | 1 | ‑10 | 3 | 4 |
| 2nd | 6073 | Stephen Denison | RYA | ‑13 | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| 3rd | 0 | Chris Brown | Draycote Water | ‑10 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| 4th | 6107 | Ted Garner | Budworth SC | ‑11 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 5th | 5880 | Martin Honor | Ogston SC | 4 | 4 | (DNC) | 8 |
| 6th | 6055 | Jonathan Swain | Carsington SC | ‑14 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 7th | 5704 | Jamie Cuxson | Shustoke SC | 2 | 8 | ‑11 | 10 |
| 8th | 6014 | Russell Short | Ogston SC | ‑9 | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| 9th | 6855 | Alice Hyde | Carsington SC | 5 | 6 | ‑7 | 11 |
| 10th | 6041 | Chris Gillard | Sheffield Viking | 6 | 5 | (DNC) | 11 |
| 11th | 5736 | Iain Carpenter | Northampton SC | 3 | ‑14 | 9 | 12 |
| 12th | 5723 | Steven Bishop | | 8 | ‑15 | 10 | 18 |
| 13th | 5623 | Adam Savage | Elton SC | ‑17 | 16 | 4 | 20 |
| 14th | 5617 | Stephen Resall | Elton SC | 7 | ‑18 | 15 | 22 |
| 15th | 5210 | Neil Wilkinson | Chase SC | ‑12 | 11 | 12 | 23 |
| 16th | 5312 | Stuart Norris | Shropshire SC | 16 | ‑17 | 13 | 29 |
| 17th | 5401 | Andrew Bownes | Barnt Green | 15 | ‑21 | 14 | 29 |
| 18th | 5979 | John Colgrave | Yorkshire Dale SC | 19 | 12 | (DNC) | 31 |
| 19th | 5856 | Brian Fisher | | ‑22 | 13 | 18 | 31 |
| 20th | 5654 | Graham Ellis | Budworth SC | 18 | ‑22 | 17 | 35 |
| 21st | 5675 | Maria Franco Ferro | Northampton SC | ‑21 | 20 | 16 | 36 |
| 22nd | 5671 | Simon Dipple | Shustoke SC | ‑20 | 19 | 19 | 38 |
| 23rd | 4537 | Ian Shaw | Notts County SC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 50 |
| 23rd | 4642 | Martin Clowes | Otley SC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 50 |