In this section, latest first:
- Salcombe Week
- Worlds! Worlds Daily Results, Reports: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6,
- Overy Staithe SC Open Meeting
- Warnemunde 2005
- Kieler Woche Results
- Felixstowe Ferry SC Open Meeting
- Hunstanton SC Open Meeting
- Frensham Pond SC Open Meeting
- Highcliffe SC Open Meeting
- Spring Cup
- Upper Thames SC Open Meeting
- Silver Wing SC Open Meeting
- Waldringfield Easter Egg
- Traveller's Trophy
OKs at Salcombe Week
14 to 19 August 2005Eleven OKs competed in Salcombe YC Regatta Week from 14 to 19 August 2005. As in previous years the majority of the fleet had decamped from Upper Thames Sailing Club at Bourne End and there were some serious 'club affairs' to be sorted out amongst them.
Despite winning 3 of the 6 races Bill Bradburn from South Staffs SC was beaten overall by the consistency of double race winner Terry Curtis (Upper Thames SC) who sailed consistently in the what were generally challenging conditions and managed to discard a 3rd place. Third overall was John Meadowcroft (Henley SC).
Generally Bradburn was quickest in the light stuff, with Curtis and Meadowcroft quicker when the breeze was on. To the amusement of the fleet Curtis managed to get himself into some fantastic holes at times as the sea breeze and land breeze competed for dominance. Meadowcroft's light winds capsizing ability was another highlight for others. However, the all round speed of Curtis enabled him to cope with these vagaries better than anyone else, although Bradburn's results meant that they went into the final race level on points. For the decider the breeze was on and Curtis won by a clear margin.
Tom Pearce from Black Rock SC, Melbourne ? but previously Upper Thames ? took 4th place overall ahead of Garth Thomson (Upper Thames SC) who achieved his personal objective of pushing Deryck Lovegrove (Kingsmead SC) back into 6th overall.
Salcombe always provides a good family holiday and we hope to see even more OKs attending in 2006.
John Meadowcroft
Overy Staithe Open
9-10th July 2005Two contrasting days sailing were experienced by the 12 competitors at Overy Staithe's annual OK meeting on the weekend of July 9th/10th.
Races 1 and 2 took place inside the harbour in a force 3 cold northerly wind. Andy Turner led at the windward mark and held off the challenge of this year's wunderkind Neil Goodhead for the whole of the race except for the last reach when Neil planed through to win. Alex Scoles pulled through to third and Alistair Deaves visiting from Auckland and sailing a thirty three year old borrowed boat finished fourth.
Race 2 followed a similar pattern to race 1 with Andy Turner again round the windward mark first but passed by Neil Goodhead on the reach. Pete Turner threatened and eventually finished third.
Races 3 and 4 were sailed at sea in a light north easterly, brilliant sunshine and a strong tide. In race 3 Alex Scoles used his local knowledge to good effect going very fast down the reaches and held on to win with Neil Goodhead second and Mike Edwards third. Race 4 finished with an interminable run against the tide and Dave Cooper picking up lots of places through his inshore route. Neil Goodhead claimed his third win of the meeting, Mike Edwards second and Alex Scoles third.
Helm Club Sail No Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Points Overall Bill Croome Dumfries 204 109 8 6 23 10 Alistair Deaves Wakatere SC 1586 5 9 dnsdns(13) 22 9 Nina Plumbe OSSC 1999 dns dns(13)12 12 37 13 Alex Scoles OSSC 2021 1 61 3 7 2 Dave Cooper Ouse Amateur SC 2031 8 109 5 22 8 Paul Pike 2034 1212 11 10 32 11 Andy Turner OSSC 2045 2 2 5 99 3 Rodney Thorne Upper Thames SC 2048 11 1110 11 32 12 Pete Turner OSSC 2059 4 3 4 411 4 Simon Shaw Deben YC 2065 98 7 7 22 7 Gavin Waldron South Staffs SC 2085 7 5 6 818 6 Mike Edwards South Staffs SC 2107 6 73 2 11 5 Neil Goodhead South Staffs SC 2108 1 1 21 3 1
Warnemunde Woche (leg 1 of epic European mini-tour)
(Report from Jon Fish. Offical report by Robert Deaves is here.)
8th-10th July 05After picking the boats up at 8am, 3 British OKs eventually arrived in Warnemunde after midnight. This despite an interesting encounter with the Dutch police - who thought we might be drunk or high, but not speeding! After a quick tent assembly, the beer started flowing!
The regatta opened on Friday 8th July in light and variable winds. The course was shared with the Pirates, Finns (who barge you out of the way) and Europes (eye-candy!). Martin von Zimmerman (GER) got away in race 1 to score the first of a consistent series while Wilcox started an excellent day with a 2nd after taking 15 places on the final offwind legs of the inner loop trapezoid course.
Wilcox rounded up the day with two emphatic wins in the very tricky conditions. Nick Craig recovered from a mediocre 5th in race 1 to score two seconds. Occasional race leader Jörgen Lindhardtsen (DEN) suffered from the vagaries of the wind to dramatically drop out of the three in two races to post a 20-4-12 scoreline for the day. The fleet retired for the day with the Brits eventually finding the town centre where a big stage and live band accompanied a few small bevies. Saturday's racing was the traditional and expected conditions that sailors travel to Warnemünde for - big waves and solid winds up to force 5. The Brits faired far better in the more stable conditions with both Jon Fish and Rob Deaves getting in the top 10 in both races.
The left side was consistently the way to go in the race 4 and Oliver Gronholtz found the right track to lead throughout chased hard by Lindhardtsen 2nd. Fish held 3rd with Deaves not far behind until the last beat when Craig and von Zimmerman sneaked past. Lindhardtsen, who turns 60 this year, then revelled in the fantastic sailing conditions in race 5 to hold off Craig to win the second race. Wilcox's overnight lead had diminished to two points after placing 7th and 3rd.
The Brits decided that they were far fitter than the race officer thought, and stayed out for a very useful extra practice session after racing in the perfect conditions. Following this, the town and nightclub were a definite success.
With all to play for on the last day, Nick Craig somehow set the pace in the moderate breeze although Thomas Glas (GER) overtook briefly on the run. Wilcox was back in 8th. Craig led until the final offwind legs when Johansen Mogens (DEN) showed exceptional offwind pace to take the lead and extend it to win comfortably. Craig held onto second with Glas 3rd and Fish just holding onto 4th from Wilcox and Lindhardtsen. Craig's 2nd was just enough to recoup the 3 points needed on Wilcox to take the event victory, to add to Medemblik and Kiel titles…
After having a last day to forget, Deaves took the easy flying route home. Craig and Fish delivered the boats to Bisserup for the Danish nationals, before catching a rather early flight home Monday morning - the weekend's racing was well worth it though…
Position Sail No Name Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Points 1 GBR 2116 Nick Craig (5) 2 2 3 2 2 11 2 NZL 522 Greg Wilcox 2 1 1 (7) 3 5 12 3 GER 693 Martin v.Zimmermann 1 (12) 3 4 4 7 19 4 DEN 1335 Johansen Mogens 4 7 5 6 (11) 1 23 5 DEN 1280 Jorgen Lindhardtsen Hv.S (20) 4 12 2 1 6 25 6 GER 690 Sönke Behrens 8 5 4 (16) 7 13 37 7 GER 717 Oliver Gronholz 9 (22) 7 1 5 16 38 8 DEN 1 Frank Hansen (15) 8 6 10 6 9 39 9 GER 624 Thomas Glas 7 (17) 9 9 14 3 42 10 GER 424 Rainer Rehbehn 11 3 8 (14) 10 11 43 11 GBR 2110 Jonathan Fish (19) 16 17 5 8 4 50 12 GER 656 Andreas Pich 6 6 18 13 18 (22) 61 13 GER 645 Arne Lindemann (OCS) 15 10 12 22 8 67 14 GER 725 Christian Hartmann 18 11 (19) 11 13 14 67 15 GBR 2081 Robert Deaves 12 (24) 15 8 9 24 68 16 GER 659 Falk Hagemann 3 9 16 (25) 23 18 69 17 GER 665 Peter Stephan 14 (26) 13 20 16 12 75 18 GER 699 Juliane Hofmann 17 20 11 18 (27) 15 81 19 GER 666 Jan Hartmann (21) 10 20 21 21 10 82 20 GER 688 Dirk Dame 10 19 (21) 17 19 20 85 21 GER 599 Uwe Böhm 13 21 26 19 12 (DNC) 91 22 GER 710 Christian Senst 22 14 (23) 22 17 17 92 23 GER 694 Gunnar Specht (OCS) 18 14 15 25 26 98 24 GER 695 Dirk Gericke (30) 25 22 24 15 19 105 25 GER 576 Ralf Tietje 25 13 25 (26) 20 25 108 26 GER 606 Katharina Huß 24 (30) 24 23 26 23 120 27 GER 640 Sven Marchot 16 29 32 32 (DNF) 21 130 28 GER 630 Norbert Petrausch 23 27 27 28 28 (30) 133 29 GER 651 Heinz Ridder 27 23 29 27 (30) 28 134 30 GER 691 Wolfgang Feierabend 28 28 28 34 (DNF) 31 149 31 GER 698 Karsten Kath 29 (DNC) DNC 29 24 27 150 32 GER 714 Christian Huß 31 32 (33) 31 29 29 152 33 GER 71 Jens Bock (DNC) 33 34 33 31 32 163 34 GER 485 Uwe Rademacher 32 31 30 30 (DNC) DNC 164 35 BEL 604 Mark Geboers 26 (DNF) 31 35 DNC DNC 174
Felixstowe Ferry SC Open Meeting
June 18th/19th 2005The weather was hot and sunny with a gentle force 1 breeze when the OKs gathered at Felixstowe for their qualifier for next year's world championships in Australia.
Saturday's first race got under way at the first attempt with a beat into a strong tide to a well laid first mark. Jon Fish emerged with a big lead at the windward mark with Paul Pike second and the fleet already quite strung out.
Alex Scoles, Andy Turner and Anthony Rich pulled up down the reaches. Towards the end of the second beat Andy Turner had overhauled Jon Fish having taken the inshore route, only to infringe port and starboard at the top of the beat to let Jon back into the lead which Jon held down the run to the finish. Andy Turner was second and Alex Scoles third.
Race 2 was sailed in very similar conditions to race 1. Andy Turner was first round the windward mark followed by Jon Fish and Simon Shaw. These three sailed away from the rest of the fleet as the wind died further making it very difficult to stem the tide and get round the windward mark. The first three maintained their places up the second beat and down the run to the finish although Jon Fish narrowly failed to catch Andy Turner on the finishing line.
Day 2 dawned again very sunny, hot and with a gentle force 1. Race 3 finally got underway after a postponement hoping for more breeze, only to be abandoned as it became clear that the reach back against the tide was going to be impossible.
After a further one hour wait for the sea breeze which failed to materialise racing was wisely abandoned for the day. This left Andy Turner and Jon Fish on equal points with Andy winning overall by virtue of his first place in the second race. Alex Scoles finished a good third.
Top of pageName Sail No Points Position Andy Turner GBR 2083 Ardleigh SC 3 1 Jon Fish GBR 2110 Ardleigh SC 3 2 Alex Scoles GBR 2021 overy Staithe SC 8 3 Julian Burnham GBR 2087 Upper Thames SC 9 4 John Ball GBR 2082 Felixstowe Ferry SC 10 5 Simon Shaw GBR 2065 Deben YC 11 6
Hunstanton SC Open Meeting
Report: Jon Fish
28th, 29th May
16 OKs journeyed to Hunstanton in Norfolk over the bank holiday weekend for a Worlds Qualifier. Those lucky people who qualify will get to go to Australia next February whilst everyone else is being rained on!!
The 2 races planned for Saturday were cancelled due to excessively rough conditions, so the fleet initiated early the pub / beach / pub combo…
The breeze had dropped to a comfortable force 2 when the fleet launched for battle Sunday morning.
Race 1 got away off a heavily starboard biased line. Rob Deaves claimed pole position from Jon Fish at the top mark with a small lead over the chasing pack. Their lead was however short lived as up the second beat the wind died and John Meadowcroft, Terry Curtis, Pete Turner and Neil Goodhead came through. John lost out down the run, and after several place changes Pete snuck through to win from Neil and Terry.
In race 2 the fleet fetched off from an even more heavily biased line in rather light and sloppy conditions against a strengthening tide. Alex Scoles and Derek Lovegrove rounded the first mark in front of Neil. As the wind dropped further the fleet barely made headway uphill. Neil overtook Alex and Derek on the reach and finished first, Derek held on to second but Alex dropped to fifth as both Fish and Terry drifted past.
Results:
Top of pageName Sail No Race 1 Race 2 Points Position Neil Goodhead 2108 3 1 4 1 Terry Curtis 2101 2 4 6 2 Jonathan Fish 2110 5 3 8 3 John Meadowcroft 2072 4 7 11 4 Deryck Lovegrove 2104 10 2 12 5 Robert Deaves 2081 6 6 12 6 Alex Scoles 2021 8 5 13 7 Andy Turner 2083 7 8 15 8 Pete Turner 2059 1 DNF 18 9 Julian Burnham 2087 9 11 20 10 Anthony Rich 2007 13 9 22 11 Dave Cooper 2031 12 10 22 12 Gavin Waldron 2085 11 DNF 28 13 Rodney Thorne 2048 14 DNF 31 14 Paul Pike 2034 15 DNF 32 15 Pete Follen 2043 16 DNF 33 16
Frensham Pond SC
Report: James Morley
8th May 2005Frensham Pond was the venue for two open events sailing the same course on the same day. The decision caused by dwindling numbers in previous seasons was rewarded instead with twenty five competing dinghies filling the lake.
A cold, shifting, westerly wind provided typical Frensham racing with which most competitors coped well. The Frensham Porringer, first competed for in 1960, and once an international event, has declined in recent years but still attracted a competitve field of ten boats.
The day belonged to local Frensham helm, Nick Craig with straight wins in the first two races although an unexpected capsize dropped him to third in the last race of the day. For Nick it was by no means a walkover as he was pressed hard by visiting helms, Terry Curtis, Neil Goodhead, and Jon Fish, with Curtis in second place followed by Goodhead and Fish.
Overall Results:
1st Nick Craig
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2nd Terry Curtis
3rd Neil Goodhead
4th Jon Fish
Highcliffe SC
7th May 2005Blasting conditions- report by Jon Fish
The OKs enjoyed a superb day's racing from Highcliffe S.C. on May 7th. 3 races were held in the fresh blasting conditions.
At the end of a long first leg in race 1, Nick Craig took a small lead from Terry Curtis and Jon Fish. Turning downhill, the course was set just right for some real blast reaching, which the fleet enjoyed to the full. Nick held on to win, with Terry pressing all the way to the finish.
Race 2 got underway after a short wait to allow for the RS 600 and Contender carnage to clear. Nick changed his mast rake between races (as he obviously wasn’t going fast enough), and although Andy Rushworth and Terry split right and were looking good halfway up the beat, Nick powered past to lead at the top mark. Nick and Terry extended their lead from the chasing pack all the way to the finish. Fish overtook Rushworth up the penultimate beat to take third.
The final race for the event ensued in a similar fashion with Nick and Terry leaving the rest for dead, working the favoured right hand side of the course well.
All came ashore sun-tanned and smiling from a great day's sailing, looking forward to returning to Highcliffe next year.
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Spring Cup, Medemblik
April 29th- May 1st '0510 UK sailors travelled to Medemblik for the 2005 Spring Cup regatta to make a total fleet of 23 boats from 4 countries with many of the leading contenders for this summers Worlds Championships in Denmark there to see if their winter training had paid dividends. Despite the distance, this event is highly popular with the Brits because of the incredibly efficient race management, friendly club and decent local nightlife!
The OKs were racing with J24s, J22s and Max Fun 25s guaranteed to spice up the proceedings!
Day one saw light and shifty conditions with force 0-1 winds: Neil Goodhead and Nick Craig had a good day – Neil won race 3 and Nick race 2, while the first race was won by Oliver Grönholz (GER). At the end of the day Nick led from Neil with Alex Scoles 3rd Brit (5th overall).
Day 2 was also light. Ulf Brandt (DEN) took race 4 and Nick Craig took races 5 and 6. Anthony Rich came 3rd in race 4, having led round the first mark and tussled for the lead throughout the race. Julian Burnham enjoyed a day in bed after a heavy session at the end of day 1.
Day 3 was bright, sunny and force 2-3. Nick Craig got a pair of firsts and Terry Curtis had a much bigger smile as the wind picked up.
Overall Results:
Top of pageName Sail No Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 Points Position Nick Craig GBR 2116 51 2 4 1 1 1 1 11 1 Ulf Brandt DEN 1302 3 64 1 3 5 2 3 21 2 Andreas Pich GER 656 4 3 3 52 4 5 5 26 3 Neil Goodhead GBR 2106 7 2 1 8 7 3 8 936 4 Oliver Grönholz GER 717 1 11 1411 5 6 3 4 41 5 Jesper Petersen DEN 1340 10 146 6 9 10 4 2 47 6 Christian Heinze GER 607 11 12 132 6 2 10 12 55 7 Thomas Glas GER 624 6 13 197 8 12 7 6 59 8 Terry Curtis GBR 2101 13 7 7 12 14 dns6 7 66 9 Alex Scoles GBR 2021 8 8 5 10 179 11 16 67 10 Fabian Grönholz GER 632 2 199 9 12 14 13 10 69 11 Peter Stephan GER 599 14 4 18 14 4 11 218 73 12 Thorsten Schmidt GER 707 16 10 8 2116 7 9 11 77 13 Paul Verrijd BEL 214 9 9 11 2011 8 18 17 83 14 Anthony Rich GBR 2007 17 2121 3 10 13 17 13 94 15 Mike Edwards GBR 2107 12 5 12 17 13 15 2020 94 16 Andy Turner GBR 2083 15 16 2019 19 16 14 14 113 17 Thierry Demblon BEL 44 2120 10 16 15 18 15 21 115 18 Deryck Lovegrove GBR 2104 18 17 16 13 18 17 16 19115 19 Julian Burnham GBR 2087 20 15 15 dnsdns dns 12 15 125 20 Dave Cooper GBR 2031 19 2217 15 20 19 22 22 134 21 Karsten Kath GER 698 dns18 dns 22 21 dns 19 18 146 22 Mark Geboes BEL 604 dnfdns dns 18 22 20 23 23 154 23
Upper Thames SC
23rd & 24th April 05The start of the 2005 Open Meeting season for the Upper Thames Sailing Club saw 23 OK’s compete for the Yeatman Bowl.
With visiting OK’s from South Staffs, Burghfield, Waldringfield, Herne Bay and Oxford sailing clubs, there was a good deal of competition for the home boats.
The wind predominately from the East was light and fluky and remained so throughout the event. Three races each day provided stiff competition amongst the fleet and especially for the leading boats.
Saturdays races left Terry Curtis UTSC in OK 2101 leading on points with John Thompson in OK 1962 UTSC and Neil Goodhead OK 2108 from South Staffs equal second.
Sunday saw similar conditions but fortunately without the light rain showers of the previous day. Goodhead put down his marker on the first two races finishing first and Curtis scoring two third places. John Fish OK 2110 from Walderingfield and Mike Edwards OK 2107 from South Staffs getting a second place each.
It was all down to the final race to find the winner as Goodhead and Curtis were equal on 5 points, Thompson on 8 points, Edwards on 16 and Julian Burnham OK 2087 UTSC on 19 points. At the end of lap one Fish was in the lead from Curtis closely followed by Goodhead. Lap two Curtis took the lead, Goodhead second AND Edwards third. In the final lap the breeze became lighter and as is usual on the Thames, flukier. This caused the lead to change and Goodhead managed to get past Curtis, as did Edwards.
The Yeatman Bowl was awarded to Neil Goodhead, second Terry Curtis, third John Thompson, fourth Mike Edwards and Julian Burnham fifth.
The next open at Upper Thames is The Splashaway Trophy for Wayfarers on the 7th. 8th. May and of course the legendary Bourne End Week commences on the 28th. May.
Top of pagePos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Pts 1st 2108 Neil Goodhead South Staffs SC 1.0 3.03.0 1.0 1.0 6.0 2nd 2101 Terry Curtis UTSC 3.01.0 1.0 3.0 3.0 8.0 3rd 1962 John Thompson UTSC 4.02.0 2.0 4.0 4.0 12.0 4th 2107 Mike Edwards South Staffs SC 5.0 DNF5.0 6.0 2.0 18.0 5th 2087 Julian Burnham UTSC DNC7.0 7.0 5.0 8.0 27.0 6th 2090 Garth Thompson UTSC 8.0 4.0 11.010.0 6.0 28.0 7th 2115 Terry Palmer UTSC 7.0 5.0 8.0 11.09.0 29.0 8th 2053 Alan Atkin Burghfield SC 2.0 6.0 DNF13.0 12.0 33.0 9th 2110 Jon Fish Waldringfield DNCDNC 6.0 2.0 5.0 37.0 10th 2072 John Medadowcroft UTSC DNCDNC 4.0 7.0 7.0 42.0 11th 2088 Jim Howden UTSC RAF9.0 13.0 12.0 10.0 44.0 12th 2064 Martin P Collen UTSC 6.0 8.0 10.0 DNCDNC 48.0 13th 1286 Roger Cooper Herne Bay SC 10.0 12.0 17.015.0 16.0 53.0 14th 2097 Derek Berry UTSC 11.0 13.0 16.0 14.0 17.054.0 15th 2089 Graham Curtis UTSC 9.0 10.0 15.0 DNCDNC 58.0 16th 2007 Anthony Rich Oxford SC DNCDNC 12.0 9.0 13.0 58.0 17th 2091 Russell Connor UTSC DSQDNC 14.0 8.0 14.0 60.0 18th 2086 Mick Haigh UTSC DNCDNC 9.0 DNC 11.0 68.0 19th 2048 Rod Thorne UTSC RAF14.0 DNC 17.0 15.0 70.0 20th 1939 David Finlayson UTSC 12.0 DNF19.0 16.0 DNC 71.0 21st 2062 Jochen Broecker UTSC RAF11.0 DNC DNC 18.0 77.0 22nd 2013 Chris Ridley UTSC DNCDNC 18.0 18.0 DNC 84.0 23rd 1695 Chris Rathbone UTSC DNFDNC DNC DNC DNC 96.0
Silver Wing SC Open Meeting
10th April 05
OK sailors were greeted by the ever hospitable British Airways SC on Sunday 10th April.
The wind was mainly light with some decent gusts at times.
The first race saw a battle between Neil Goodhead, Julian Burnham and Jon Meadowcroft. Goodhead eventually pulled away to win from Burnham, with Mike Edwards taking third after Meadowcroft capsized up the final beat.
Goodhead led from start to finish in the second race, chased by Edwards in second. Meadowcroft and Burnham tussled for third and finished in that order.
Goodhead had already won the meeting with a race to spare, but he still ventured out for the final race. Again he led from the start from Burnham and Meadowcroft, with Edwards always playing catch-up after a poor start. Goodhead pulled away to win comfortably from Burnham, Meadowcroft and Edwards.
Thanks must go to British Airways for a great days sailing and the fabulous tea laid on at the end of the day.
Overall Results:
1st 2108 Neil Goodhead (South Staffs SC) 2pts 2nd 2087 Julian Burnham (Upper Thames SC) 4pts 3rd 2107 Mike Edwards (South Staffs SC) 5pts 4th 2072 Jon Meadowcroft (Henley) 6pts 5th 2104 Deryck Lovegrove (Kingsmead) 9pts 6th 2083 Andy Turner (Ardleigh) 10pts 7th 2031 Dave Cooper (Ouse Amateur) 13pts 8th 2042 Malcolm Wenman (Silver Wing) 15pts 9th 1211 Alan Price (Hayling Ferry) 16pts 10th 2058 Mary Redyhoff (Parkstone YC) 20pts
Waldringfield Easter Egg
26-28th March 05Name Sail No Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Points Position Robert Deaves GBR 2081 1 1 3 1 2 5 1 John Meadowcroft GBR 2072 6 3 1 4 3 11 2 Terry Curtis GBR 2101 2 4 4 2 dnc 12 3 Jonathan Fish GBR 2110 3 2 7 3 1 14 4 Ian Harris GBR 2105 3 2 7 3 6 14 5 Dan Ager GBR 2100 4 5 5 5 4 18 6 Simon Shaw GBR 2065 7 7 6 6 5 24 7 The 2005 Easter Egg regatta - for real easter Eggs - at Waldringfield was plagued by light and patchy winds and strong spring tides that made for interesting, if taxing racing conditions.
Race one on Saturday afternoon was started in 5 knots against a flood tide. Robert Deaves used his local knowledge to sail up the right hand shore while most of the fleet went left. Opening up a considerable lead he led all the way to the shortened finish on the next lap. Terry Curtis finished second followed by Ian Harris. The second race of the day was cancelled when the wind completely gave up.
Sunday saw slightly more wind in the morning with two short races back to back. John Meadowcroft made the best of the wierd first beat to lead all the way round. Harris was clear second for a while but Jonathan Fish and Deaves made the best of the run to move up to second and third. The day's second race was similar with Meadowcroft leading early on before Harris took the lead. However everything changed on the final beat in a dying wind. Deaves found more wind to the right and took the lead into the finish followed by Harris and Meadowcroft.
For the third race of the day, the start line was in perhaps the strongest part of the now ebbing tide and less than 5 knots of wind, with many boats struggling to actually cross the start line. Again Deaves split from the fleet and banged right, leading round the first mark from Curtis and Harris. Deaves led all the way with Curtis closing up on the beats but losing offwind. Harris recovered from a little expedition up a creek to find no way out to finally finish third.
Monday's conditions were little better with a long beat followed by an excruciating run against the flood tide. Fish led most of the way, only to be caught by Deaves at the end of the run. Fish recovered to win from Deaves and Meadowcroft.
Traveller's Trophy
Download results as .xls file.
2004