Wayfarer Open at West Oxfordshire Sailing Club

Wayfarer Open at West Oxfordshire Sailing Club © Stewart Eaton

This event was not part of the Craftinsure National Series, so was not expected to get many visitors. However three visiting teams made the trip and were met with the customary warm welcome.

They were joined by a slightly disappointing home fleet of only two boats for a great, if challenging, weekend's racing. The five Wayfarers were joined on the water by five Wanderers for the second of this year's three joint events between the two classes.

The predominantly Easterly wind over the weekend meant the windward legs were short, and especially shifty as you approached windward marks. Effective use of moveable marks by the race teams each day made the best of the conditions across the lake and gave us five good races.

Wayfarer Open at West Oxfordshire Sailing Club - photo © Stewart Eaton

Despite the small size of fleet, there was some very close racing. The short first beats were always hectic, and the big shifts and lulls in the wind gave plenty of opportunity for big gains (or losses!) to be made through the race.

It was great to see a younger helm in a Wayfarer, with son/father team Ben and Rob Haigh visiting from Blackwater. They clearly had speed, but found that racing on a small lake is very different from the conditions at the coast. Matt and Felicity from the home club were only able to race on the Saturday, which hurt their results. Scott and Matt, visiting from Silver Wing, had a mast-foot breakage which prevented them making the first race. Some over-night tuning tweaks seemed to help them to better speed and improved results, with two second places in the Sunday races.

Wayfarer Open at West Oxfordshire Sailing Club - photo © Stewart Eaton

Last year's winner, Rob Hoare, crewed by Mark Jennings, was the leading home club team. They managed to claim three second places on the first day, but were narrowly beaten into third place by Scott and Matt on Sunday.

Andrew Wilson and Howard Shawyer, from Datchet Water, were sailing together for the first time but managed to pull clear in each race to record five straight wins and overall victory.

Special mention needs to be made for the lunches provided between races 1 &2 - and the tea with lemon drizzle cake between races 2 &3. While it may have been competitive afloat, it was all very sociable ashore. Thanks to all at West Oxfordshire who helped make it a very memorable weekend.

Overall Results: