Contender Travellers Round 1 at Oxford Sailing Club

Contender Travellers Round 1 at Oxford © Oxford SC

A steady stream of competitors arrived and rigged up, some even keen enough to arrive the Friday afternoon. There was plenty of wind and bright sunshine.

As the start time approached it was with some trepidation that the competitors looked out over the lake with the wind whistling through their rigging and the anemometer reading it was a steady 29 knots with gusts even higher.

Eventually a sail was raised and the gauntlet laid down as 6 contenders left the slipway with help to launch from a few of the more sensible in the fleet. Carl, Graeme, James, Stuart, Simon and Tom managed to make it out to the race area with only three of them making it to the line on time. James was a little late and Tom a little later. The boats fought their way around the course at the fist gybe mark Stuart decided to take a swim further back James was struggling and aloud Tom to catch up and pass.

The front of the fleet remained tightly together at the leeward mark and as they started to go up wind again the leaders were sailing conservatively this allowed Tom to close the gap a bit more. Halfway up the beat Simon Mussel had his first mishap he managed to get catapulted of the side of his boat in a gust breaking the universal joint to his tiller extension and leaving a Simon shaped hole in his sail. So, all his effort ended in a retirement.

Contender Travellers Round 1 at Oxford - photo © Oxford SC

Graeme had now established a good lead followed by Carl and Stuart with Tom continuing to gain ground, he would overtake Stuart to briefly hold third but then Jones got his as he rounded the leeward mark act together and started sailing at full speed. At the end of the race Graeme got blown over as he rounded the leeward mark and allowed Carl to pass for the lead over the line. Graeme recovered holding onto second followed by Stuart, Tom and James. An eventful opening race of the season.

The Race officer started race two and the contenders started to battle their way around. This time Graeme took an early lead and was going round nicely there was even time for few capsizes before anyone got to close take the lead away. Jones and Tom were going round evenly and close together with Stuart having the slight edge then a capsize when gybing for the leeward mark gave Stuart a clear second place. Tom got up in pursuit again having lost some ground to Carl.

Contender Travellers Round 1 at Oxford - photo © Oxford SC

It was James's turn to get catapulted through his beautiful North sail in this race forcing a retirement. As we completed the final a squall brought hail and a peak wind speed of 38knots, the race finished Graeme Stuart Tom Carl. Thankfully the race office decided to call it a day. Two races were quite enough and were very entertaining for the more conservative competitors watching from the shore. Now, the challenge was to land on the lee shore without damage. Thanks for those willing helpers providing trolleys and holding boats.

Day two arrived again plenty of wind and sun. The wind seemed similar to Saturday, but it had eased a touch and forecast to drop off through the day. This enticed a few more people out, so the race officer started a race three with 12 Contenders on the line it was Graeme Willcox who got away from the pack followed by his training partner James Spikesly who was equipped with a new sail. They had Stuart Jones at their heels followed by Gary Langdown who had come out for the second day.

Contender Travellers Round 1 at Oxford - photo © Oxford SC

Race four kicked off with the wind now dying away a bit and getting shiftier it was again Graeme Willcox showing dominance and taking the lead with a lot of place switching with the rest of the fleet Graeme won the race followed by Stuart Jones followed by James Spikesly who is starting to show big improvement with his new boat and set up.

Race five, and the Contenders were pushing the line a recall flag went up with no one electing to go back. There were three culprits over the line Carl, Gary, and Stuart Jones. The race went on and there was a lot of snakes and ladders as the shiftiness increased but again it was Graeme showing the way around followed by James and an unsuspecting Tom who thought he had managed to throw fourth place so wouldn't need to write a report.

Contender Travellers Round 1 at Oxford - photo © Oxford SC

Thanks to Oxford for putting on five challenging races over blustery weekend. Next events are the Northern Championship at the wonderful Yorkshire Dales and then onto round three of the National Travellers Series at Poole.

Overall Results: