Boats from Frensham, Papercourt & Wembley came to Hampton last Sunday to compete in the GP Open in a day of sporadic wind from the North West, and a tumult of clouds and long periods of warm sunshine. In the first race we allowed for most of the wind being down river so a J mark was set, with the windward mark at E.
As it turned out the E mark section was slow and drifting, so we put the E mark to F in the second race to speed things up, which it didn’t. Meanwhile there was plenty of wind between the club house and J, so Richard Page D/O took the radical step in the third race of placing the windward mark at F for the first lap and G to J for each subsequent lap, G being just 5 yards up river of the start line. This meant that that drifting was minimised if not eliminated altogether. This was thinking outside the box, and a very good precedent was set.
The three visitors particularly dominated the event on a day when flying spinnakers down to J were bound to pay off. A good start in clear air would separate the leaders from the raft of boats sharing what wind there was, and once two or three boats, usually visitors but sometimes Hampton, sailed ahead there was little anyone could do to catch up. HSC boats kept the event alive in the chase however, coming 4th, (Derek) 5th (George) and 6th (John) overall.
Most of Derek May slid off his GP having come into contact with his boom and he lost his tiller extension to Father Thames, a fate that befell Ian Peerless’s sunglasses as he came to the finishing line. Special mention ought to go to Maurice Cleal of Wembley in 14253 who came first in the first two races and sportingly contested the third race as well, coming first, (again). James Ward in 13316 from Papercourt came 2nd and David Innes of Frensham in 14234 came 3rd
Thanks go to the timekeepers, caterers, bar staff and the Duty Team..
The Sailing
The Awards
Special mention ought to go to Maurice Cleal of Wembley in 14253 who came first in the first two races and sportingly contested the third race as well, coming first, (again). James Ward in 13316 from Papercourt came 2nd and David Innes of Frensham in 14234 came 3rd.
