Craftinsure Supernova Open at Girton Sailing Club
by Sam Mason 29 Jul 22:22 PDT
26-27 July 2025
Craftinsure Supernova Open at Girton © Steve Johnson
A remarkable 28 Supernovas arrived at Girton Sailing Club over the weekend of 26/27 July. The Saturday was given over to training and the correct application of coloured tape all excellently delivered by Matt Thursfield and many of the participants walked away wiser. Sunday saw the Craftinsure open meeting take place.
Race officer Sam Mason and his very experienced team laid the course for the first race using most of the marks on the lake and most of the lake. The wind remained fairly constant in strength and direction, unusual for this year, and the fleet got away cleanly in a steady force 2 blowing across the lake. It didn't take long for Matt Thursfield (Chelmarsh) to appear from the early congestion and sail into the lead closely followed by Jonti Mason (Girton). These two pulled away from the rest of the fleet with the lead changing hands several times.
Leading the charge from behind was Alex Reeve (Cotswold) who took advantage of the leaders infighting to catch up and, sailing beautifully and bravely by splitting tacks over took Mason to take 2nd place on the last beat. Behind, the rest of the fleet enjoyed some very close racing with boats crossing the line as fast or faster than you could write the numbers.
After lunch the wind dropped to zero and the race team postponed the second race for an hour until the breeze filled in again. Amazingly it came back from exactly the same direction as the morning but if anything slightly stronger. Again everyone got away cleanly and again Thursfield led the way. Reeve didn't get the best start but was soon up to second place and closing Thursfield down but not quite enough to take the win. Richard Brameld (Beaver) sailed a sound tactical race to take 3rd place
Race 3 was sailed back to back and yet again Thursfield showed the way this time harried by Gary Kirton (Girton) and Richard Brameld. Brameld again held his nerve and nailed the shifts to take second on the last beat Reeve had an even worse start but still pulled through to 4th. As with races 1 and 2 the remainder of the fleet constantly changed places and all finished in a pack in both races making the scorers job a nightmare.
Overall Results: (top four)
1st Matt Thursfield (Chelmarsh Sailing Club)
2nd Alex Reeve (Cotswold Sailing Club)
3rd Richard Brameld (Beaver Sailing Club)
4th Tony Bleasdale (Girton Sailing Club)