2025 Comet Duo 'Worlds' incorporating the National Championship at Cransley Sailing Club
by Nigel Austin 2 Oct 02:13 PDT
21 September 2025
On Sunday 21st September 2025 the highlight of the year for the Comet Duos happened at Cransley SC, and whilst only a select eight were present we did have 'international' travellers (Andy and Amanda from Eyott and UpRiver) to swell the starting line up to 8 with the home fleet.
The 'Worlds' was set up about 10 years ago to encourage the young to crew (or helm) these wonderful but pretty rare dinghies, this year we had Aiyushi, Harry, Matilda, Reuben (crewing) and Georgie (helming).
The weather forecast looked a bit grim with a northerly wind dropping the temperatures to 13-14 degrees from the previous days 20-22 degrees but with long spells of glorious sunshine the gods were looking down on the fleet.
The Race Officer Sarah set a transect start across the reservoir for the first 2 races as there were a few wind shadows around. It wasn't long before the 3 Duos of Andy/Amanda and Hugh/Harry and Nigel/Matilda pulled away before a mystery gust tipped H+H in the drink. Andy became becalmed after a couple of laps, along with much of the fleet and this allowed Nigel/Matilda to take top spot.
After a sumptuous pasta bake, it was obvious those in the Cransley boats had had too much and Andy/Amanda took advantage after a great race where the lead changed a few times with N+M. Unfortunately the Hugh had to retire after the first race but the baton was passed to Mark/Ruth and Ian/Aiyushi to challenge for podium positions.
The thing about sailing at Cransley there is always a lot of laughter, screams and banter going on with just a few raised voice moments from the daughter and mother team of Georgie and Tracey! We also saw a lot of concentration from David and Tim (usually sail D zero and single Comet respectively) and Edd and Roo keeping their cool the whole time and proving winning isn't everything but launching and getting back onto the slipway in stylish manner is.
Whilst the results are important, the manner in which everyone sailed was more so. It was an incredibly frustrating wind (Force 0-3) and coming from any direction, but everyone managed to get round safely - with only one incident of note when Andy and Nigel both misjudged their speed and boat sizes and failed to squeeze between the stationary George at Bouy no 3, resulting in the pair doing turns like wirling dervishers round each other!.
The last race was a decider as both Andy and Nigel had a 1, 2. The tension was palpable in the build up to the drifting start but Andy just caught a zephyr of wind a fraction to early and had to restart allowing N+M to get clean winds. Whilst they held onto the lead until the end there was a situation on the 3rd and penultimate lap when the whole fleet concertineered 10-20m behind them as the wind disappeared.
Next year it would be great to see a few more visitors (we nearly had Ian Morgan and Ben Flower (Baibiloo de Fleur) but their schedules didn't allow them to in the end..) - you never know you could be No. 1 in the world next September!
Thanks to Sarah, Sue, Nisha, Sophie and Arran for making the event possible - forgot to mention top quality tea and cakes as well.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 103 | Nigel Austin | Matilda Stevenson | Cransley | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2nd | 150 | Andrew Dale | Amanda Harris | Eyott | ‑2 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3rd | 18 | Mark Zealey | Ruth Zealey | Cransley | ‑5 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 4th | 59 | Ian Pidd | Aiyushi Modha | Cransley | ‑4 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 5th | 115 | David Hodgson | Tim Fawkes | Cransley | ‑6 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 6th | 116 | Edd Stevenson | Roo Stevenson | Cransley | ‑8 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| 7th | 158 | Hugh Ambery | Harry Ambery | Cransley | 3 | (DNC) | DNC | 12 |
| 8th | 90 | Georgie Hinde | Tracey Hinde | Cransley | 7 | 7 | (DNC) | 14 |