Sunday 20th May 2018

After the disappointment of no wind and therefore no dinghy racing Saturday morning, it was promising to see a gentle breeze on Sunday morning for the RS200 Open event. 11 boats including 4 visitors and a couple of rusty squib sailors set out to compete in 4 races set by Edwin Buckley and the Phoebe race team.

With the wind coming straight down the river, the question on everyone’s lips was what side of the river to go. Short tacking was the order of the day with many a roll tack attempted (and some even achieved!). With no depth meters, it was a tricky call as to how far the boats went in and for those of us more used to keels it was great to be able to raise the centreboard to get off the bottom!

The first race of the day saw Simon Cory and Denise Judd from Downs Sailing Club take the win followed closely by Ellen Morley (crewed by Dylan Collingbourne) and Charlie Pitcher (crewed by Izzie Corbett). Race two saw Ellen go one better taking the win and piping Jo Tribe and Emily Davies. Andrew and Daisy Nunn from Waldringfield Sailing Club took third spot. It was in this race that some of us realised the importance of remembering to put the centreboard down after rounding the leeward mark in a very strong tide (not going to forget that one in a hurry!)

There was a short break between Race 2 & 3 as sandwiches & snacks were eaten (special mention to Kate Rands in the safety boat who had a plethora of chocolate goodies!) and the boats regrouped.

Race 3 saw Jo Tribe leading this time from start to finish closely pursued by Ellen and the Nunns. Special mention goes to Scott and Sophie who had a cracking race and were just pipped at the line for 5th place.

Going into Race 4, Ellen and Dylan had the event in the bag however for the remaining positions it was all to play for.  An individual recall was called however no boats went back and it was on the finish line that Charlie Pitcher and Izzie Corbett unfortunately discovered that their 1st place was not to count. Positions shifted up one and once more we saw Ellen at the front, with the Nunns moving to second and Jo Tribe taking third spot.

The final results saw Ellen and Dylan from BSC take first place overall, Jo and Emily (also from BSC) second and Andrew and Daisy Nunn (Waldringfield SC) third place.

Many thanks, as always, to Team Phoebe for a fantastic day’s racing and to Carl Anderson for organising!

Look here for the results

Alex Porteous