P+B Solo National Championship Day 3

P+B Solo National Championship Day 3

After an early start of editing, processing, charging and publishing it was a body blow to receive a competitor WhatsApp from the RO, the brief message suggesting that we would be launching at the prescribed time, I had just ordered my breakfast, the bay looking ideal for fly fishing, not dinghy racing. The Lymington Seagulls were soon circling my table but a few strong words and threats of harm soon dispersed the insatiable pests though Hyland continued to watch from the top of a nearby lamp post.

The sailors were already assembled on the breakwater and I quickly powered up my wireless mic, gimbal and Samsung A14. In order to obtain some last minute interviews. Davenport and Cumbley delivered perfectly executed presentations of the Davenport Sails and North Sails product, it was a shame title sponsor P+B had not sent one of their own but I understand the loft is just too busy which is a nice problem to have.

I wondered down the line of OAP’s, giving the old guard another moment in the spotlight, the younger athletes still in their bunkbeds no doubt. The bright lights of Torquay and all it’s shenanigans are a world away from country folk living, Shustoke and the whole of Shropshire have seen nowt like it.

It was heartening to hear that many of the more mature sailors had picked up or agitated old injuries, after all, why should I be the only one suffering.

Whatsapp notifications dinged on mobile devices across the hard, competitors quickly devouring the info that the launch time had been delayed by 30 minute and above, the large flags fluttered gently while yachts continued to track across the bay at a crawl.

We were finally released at 11.20 am, the RO keen to get the 75 sailors in the vicinity of the race arena in good time, with three races planned and the class Dinner just eight hours and ten minutes away, the pressure was on the hosts to deliver a full programme and most importantly, a kick ass roast beef.

Race 6

The breeze was as gentle as a doctor performing a colonoscopy, and like the procedure, it would be more painful for some than others. Clean start with the fleet spread evenly, both down the generously long line and startlingly, up to four lanes deep, all captured in high resolution by the DJI Mini 3 though I will not shame the worst offenders on a public platform.

Bunn shoots out of the Committee end in the 6 knots of pressure with Nigel Thomas a second slow but in a higher lane and Championship leader Davenport one down. Willcocks has made another cracking start and Cumbley, his graphite grey aramid rag standing out like a freshly sharpened pencil tip mid line, is already bow forward on his nearest competitors and after a minute on starboard, tacks across the fleet. Butler starts towards the pin end but race 2 winner Ian Barnett is hard left and this would prove to be the fastest way to mark one, rounding ahead of race 1 winner Spod Olive, Andy Carter, Butler and Davenport.

With no Jury available I was joined by Barry in the very dodgy media rib, my new driver, fresh out of the PB2 training academy was getting familiar with the Suzuki powered four metre inflatable, it’s handling characteristics as forgiving as a RB19 on slicks in the wet.

Bottom gate and Barnett is in control from Carter, Olive, Butler and Davenport. The fleet head left up the beat, no surprise as it worked on lap one but with limited options, some take the left gate mark to head up the right of the course, tacking early but avoiding the huge wind shadow from the back markers still on the downwind.

The final two reaching legs are pretty tortuous to watch but no doubt the tension and heart rates  were high, even for the seasoned campaigners.

Barnett takes his second win in the Gosling built, North Sails powered, mahogany veneered concourse worthy Solo, I would suggest that the mirror on the wall would indeed concur that it is indeed the most beautiful of them all. Carter is second, the Northern area representative’s smile as wide as the north south divide while Davenport holds out Cumbley to the left before gybing back through the line with the consistent HISC based Butler fifth.

Race 7

Bob Penfold delayed the start of race 7, the wind had softened to below 5 knots but we we’re soon back into sequence with the course re-configuired to around 010 degrees.

Pin end favoured with a considerable lag which was surprising given the number of available transits above Torquay’s shore line. Kev Gibb is early and OCS. I would say his expression perfectly reflected his distain but he has looked like that since birth.

Wilde wins the ‘first to the mark’ prize from Murley-Hughes, Butler, Davenport and Mike Barnes in his thirty seven year old Beckett built, Obeche decked rocket ship.

The run is fraught with danger as the 75 competitors soak down the course, the sea is as flat as any gravel pit and fingers of breeze, like any decent masseuse, tease the sailors backs with light strokes of pressure.

Murley-Hughes and fellow club member Butler are in their own little world, the leader muttering under his breath that this was nothing special, just a standard HISC club race while Davenport, Wilde and Lucas fight it out for the top five and they round the top mark for the final two reaches in an order that would remain the same to the finish.

Cumbley would hopefully record his first discard in twelfth and special mention to Mike Barnes in twenty-first while Elaine Turner consolidated her lead over Maria E. Franco with a fantastic fifteenth.

Race 8

The Race Officer was keen to get the third race in, the forecast for the final day not filling him with hope so we were soon in the race sequence for race 8 with the breeze holding at 6 knots.

Plenty of room at the Committee boat and the main protagonists are close together mid line, just a few points separating them in the race for the Championship. The breeze is as soft as a cat’s under belly and headway is slow and full of tension, the tiniest movement and incremental change, pivotal in the quest for an advantage, however small. Cumbley goes bow forward with Dave Winder and local Teign Corinthian sailor Malcolm Davies in a tough place under him.

Stuart Hydon is out on the left side, his distinctive Edge sail with Dacron luff panel as visually striking as the gold and graphite sails of the event leaders. Unfortunately that start is re-called but we are soon back into sequence. Cumbley is up near the pin with Davenport further up the line with Willie Todd and Steve Roberts thinking they know better up at a deserted Committee end. Nigel Bird tacks off and heads up the right side of the beat with Stuart Hydon at the other end of the bay, probably a thousand yards separation after just one minute.

Top mark and Hydon leads from Murley-Hughes who has a second race win in his sights, Kev Gibb, who was redeeming himself after the R7 OCS, Davenport and Carter.

The competitors soaked down the run, splitting gybes in the search for pressure and clear air which, like Hyland and Buchanan, are always hand in hand.

The RO had already adjusted the course instruction, a windward leeward course of two laps at least removing the monotony of the reaching legs and adding some tactical interest for both competitor and spectator.

Hydon held off the Murley-Hughes attack to take his first Championship bullet for many years with Butler edging past Cumbley in the last few feet to the finish line, a negative twenty kilo weight advantage possibly the difference with Wilde fifth. Special mentions to Murley-Hughes 13-1-2, Andy Carter 2-11-7, Sam Bailey 6-10 and Elaine Turner 15-19, all having some great performances in tricky conditions.

With the final day looming the pressure is on, Davenport leading by just four points, Cumbley holding a low discard which could be cashed in with the Race 9 chip collector to get him level with one race to go while Butler hovers around like a goal hanger, any drop of the ball in his personal space will get him back in there game for the title. Andrew Wilde in fourth has franked my already knowledgable opinion of his talent but Spod Olive and Chris White were totally off my radar and they are ahead of Harry Lucas and Ian Barnett with Chris Brown and Mark Lee completing the top ten. Five different winners of the eight races sailed and with a forecast suggesting 10 knots from the South, anything can happen.

Elaine Turner is safe in the ladies title but if Maria can hit the front row off the start line, she will be a potent force.

The RO is afloat, 0.1 knots just about registering on his outstretched hanky.