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Cyclops Marine 2023 November - LEADERBOARD

Solo Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

by Steve Middleton 27 Apr 09:02 PDT 26 April 2025
Burghfield Solo Open © Dario Marangio

It was all looking a bit ominous during the week leading up to the Burghfield Sailing Club Solo Open Meeting on Saturday 26th April. A poor forecast of very light winds - if any - meant that the entry list was looking very depleted until a flurry late on achieved critical-mass and it was game on.

On the day, 17 competitors arrived to find - as forecast - a very light ENE breeze along the length of the lake, albeit bright and dry. The event was shared with the friendly Comet class and everyone launched enthusiastically to head for the start line whereupon the breeze promptly died to nothing! For the next 45 minutes or so, the race team, led by Deryck Lovegrove, attempted to set a course with the occasional zephyr emerging from any random point of the compass you'd care to choose. It did eventually settle into its forecast direction - but still very patchy and shifty - and racing commenced.

For the home boats, local knowledge proved to be no advantage whatsoever as visitors dominated the top 5 positions. Very much to the credit of the race team, 3 races were completed and coming out on top - also last year's winner - was Tom Gillard (Sheffield Viking/Staunton Harold SC) with 3 straight winds. And whilst he eventually pulled clear in most of the races, Mark Maskell (Blackwater SC) provided the main challenge - never far away - coming in second place in all 3 races. Nick Charles (Papercourt SC), Mark Williams (Llandegfedd SC) and Chris Bolton (Norfolk Broads YC) all mixed it with the leaders to add a bit of spice to proceedings.

Of the home boats, Jon Ibbotson and Andy Jones pressed hard but were just not quite able to turn their presence amongst the leading boats into podium positions at the end of the day.

Running the racing at BSC can often be quite challenging, so a big thank you to Deryck Lovegrove and his race team who managed affairs in exemplary fashion, and also to Kevin Druce for all his efforts in organising the event.

Find out more about Burghfield Sailing Club (near Reading) at www.burghfieldsailing.org or our Facebook page.

Overall Results:

PosHelmBoat NameSail NoClubR1R2R3Pts
1stTom GillardTimes Up6021Sheffield Viking/Staunton Harold SC‑1112
2ndMark MaskellPussy Galore6007Blackwater SC‑2224
3rdNicholas Charles 5158Papercourt SC‑8538
4thMark Williams 5900Llandegfedd SC53‑78
5thChris BoltonRita6064Norfolk Broads YC44‑88
6thJon Ibbotson 660Burghfield SC6‑9410
7thAndy JonesEdith5726Burghfield SC‑76612
8thIan MatthewsBaldrick6112Spinnaker SC310(DNC)13
9thSteve Jones 5730Littleton SC‑128513
10thFraser HaydenSoloism5693Papercourt SC97(DNC)16
11thAdam Krikwood 5550Burghfield SC‑13121022
12thKevin DruceBuddy5589Burghfield SC1111(DNF)22
13thMark CooperBella5838Burghfield SC10DNF(DNC)24
14thWynn Kenrick 5029Burghfield SC(DNC)DNC927
15thPeter AshBlack Beauty4407Burghfield SCDNF(DNC)DNC33
16thSteve MiddletonBig Pebble5870Burghfield SC(DNC)DNCDNC36
16thSteve Townsend 4210Burghfield SC(DNC)DNCDNC36

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