Challenger open meeting at Ogston Sailing Club

Challenger open meeting at Ogston © Marion Edwards

The Challenger Open at Ogston SC took place on the weekend 4-5 October. They were joined by the D-Zeros who were holding their Inland Championship. Storm Amy meant that both fleets were somewhat depleted in numbers with only six Challengers taking part.

On Saturday morning there was a substantial postponement in the hopes that the worst of the storm would blow over. Five Challengers and seven D-Zeros were launched in the early afternoon with the race officer intending to run three back to back races, the D-Zeros starting first.

Newcomer to the Challenger fleet, Ray Andrews (226), a former British Moth sailor, was rather surprised by the decision to race as he had expected there to be little or no racing over the weekend but he gamely rigged his boat and went out to give it a go.

The wind was predominantly westerly and it was windy (the forecast was for a good F5 bordering on F6, with the gusts rather higher and this proved to be the case) but there were some substantial lulls as well as a number of unwelcome showers.

Challenger open meeting at Ogston - photo © Marion Edwards

Racing at Ogston is "round the cans" and usually the Challenger fleet manage the course without too much difficulty. This year proved to be something of an anomaly with a number of unforced navigational blunders!

Race 1 saw a figure of eight(ish) course as there were five marks! Duncan's event got off to a bad start when he missed one out. This left Val Millward (312) the winner and Steve Laycock (3) second and Graham Turner (6) third.

The course was altered for race 2 becoming a simple figure of eight. Even so, one sailor mistakenly went round an extra mark but found it helped on the beat! During the race the conditions became even wilder. Ray sensibly retired soon after the start. The race officer shortened course and sent the fleets home. Val took another win and Duncan managed to sail the correct course to come second.

As the boats came off the water the reservoir was spanned by a magnificent rainbow.

Challenger open meeting at Ogston - photo © Graham Hall

The forecast for Sunday was for a slight reduction in the wind to F5 with the gusts coming down a notch as well. However, both sailors and shore crew were convinced that the gusts were at least as strong as Saturday and more vicious but at least the sun came out and it didn't rain!

The fleet was joined by Dave Hodson (221) who was kindly loaned an Ogston Challenger.

The Challengers and D-Zeros were launched for three back to back races. In theory there would be no more confusion about the course as the Challengers were given their own lead boat. The race officer felt that the problem on Saturday was that the lead boat for the D-Zeros was often too far ahead to be helpful to the Challengers. If only things were so simple.

In Race 3 there was a long beat to Mark 1 which proved to be very tricky to round. On the first lap, Val led with Duncan in close contention. On the second beat Duncan went right and Val left. Val hooked into a gust which lifted her to the mark. She was away and gone to take the win leaving Duncan second. Dave was third after spending much of the race getting the hang of the boat. He hoped to capitalise on this during the subsequent races.

Some of the fleet (who will remain nameless) decided to omit the second mark "Y" and much encouragement was required from the lead boat to get them to round it.

Race 4 saw a change of course with the beat shortened to 'Y'. There was more course confusion. Val, Duncan and Dave arrived at the windward mark close together. Val touched the mark and went off to do her penalty turn. Unfortunately Duncan and Dave proceeded to head for the wrong mark whereas Val came out of her penalty turn and headed for the right one.

Once Duncan and Dave realised the error of their ways Val had a clear lead.

It looked as if it was going to be another Val-Duncan one-two, however at penultimate leeward mark a D-Zero capsized in front of Val allowing Duncan to take the lead which he held to the finish.

Unfortunately for Dave his outhaul failed at the leeward mark and he needed a long tow upwind to the slip. Graham was also forced to retire with rudder problems. Ray achieved his best result of third.

Challenger open meeting at Ogston - photo © Emily Osborne

Race 5 started with just four Challengers and they quickly split into pairs: Val versus Duncan, and Steve versus Ray. It looked as if Duncan was heading for another win but at the final windward mark he was starboarded by Val and gave her just the required room to make a seaman-like mark rounding. Val took the lead and held it to the finish. Further behind Ray got the better of Steve.

The tired (exhausted) sailors then returned to shore.

The prizes were presented by the rear commodore Natalie Smith. Val was presented with the Harry Fisher Trophy as overall winner. Duncan was second. Steve was delighted to be third overall and first in the silver fleet. It was his best ever performance in the Challenger fleet.

Ray has since observed that although the D-Zero sailors were athletes, the Challenger allowed less mobile sailors to compete on the same course in the extreme conditions and he thoroughly enjoyed himself!

Thank you to Ogston SC for hosting an excellent event and particularly to the race officer Phil Hind and assistants, the safety crews and especially to the galley team. Thanks also to everyone who helped launch and recover the Challengers with a special mention for ten year old James Short who made himself very useful throughout the entire event. Thanks also to Dave Driffill for organising the event.

Challenger open meeting at Ogston - photo © Emily Osborne

Overall Results: