By Nigel Davies Photos by Lotte Johnson
Sponsored By Super Spars and part of the North Super Series.
The Eastern Area Championships were held at Brightlingsea on Sunday 27th of April. The weekend was a double-header with Saturday being the Spring Championships (see posts with reports, videos, and photos in my earlier news post).
The weather was very similar to Saturday, with bright sun and a SE wind around 7 to 9 knots blowing off the sea, making for great sailing. A few shifts, tide, and current made being at the front difficult. As the day went on, being left on the beat was proving to be the way to go, with slightly more wind to the left and maybe tide helping those boats. Downwinds were light, and you had to be careful with the tide pushing you above or below the lay lines.
The race team, Sarah Bines and her team set good lines, moved the marks with the wind and ran an excellent day's racing.
Jonny Coats had a near-perfect day, keeping left and not being tempted into covering the fleet as per the previous day, which had cost him places. Winning the pin and going fast gave him two firsts. He retired at the start of the third race after thinking he was over the line, but had already won the day. Ewen Birkin-Walls posted a 2nd and 1st in the last race to be second overall with Alex Butler coming third with 2 seconds and completing a constant weekend. Oliver was 4th, still very near the front but doing turns didn't help his overall placeing. Dave Winder came 5th, good to see him in a Solo and making it go fast.
Things that stood out for me over the weekend were the number of home boats, Brightlingsea had 16 boats out. Seeing Vince Horey finishing the beat by going round the spreader mark as I was just rounding the windward mark - not sure that's in the coaching manuals - and also managing to go down the run when the course was a triangle first. A good turnout of 41 boats
1st Jonny Coats
2nd Ewan Birkin-Wall
3rd Alex Butler
4th Oliver Davenport
5th Dave Winder
Pictures from top to bottom, Graham looking for inspiration, Jonny looking a relaxed leader, Vince looking for the course, Ewan thinking I should do more events!
