HCC Burnham Optimist Open Meeting 2009 6 Jul 2009

We had 50 entrants for the HCC Optimist Open which was sailed over the weekend under blue skies and a gentle breeze. The numbers were evenly split between Regatta and Race fleets. The Race Officer, John Hardy, set interesting courses for the children as the wind direction and tide made it challenging but we managed to complete six good races before the wind died and the tide took over after lunch on Sunday.

Both fleets were hotly contested. Arthur Brown sailed consistently well to win Regatta fleet, getting four firsts, Alistair Grant came second with four seconds, and Robert Green third, with one first and two seconds. It was fantastic to see so many younger sailors racing for the first time, the conditions made this possible and I hope they all learned a lot.

Race fleet was also very competitive. Joshua Aldridge ended up the clear winner, having sailed very well all weekend, second was Thomas Johnson, who was also consistently in the top five in each race, and third was Jack Rushton. Both Thomas and Jack had travelled from Norfolk proving that local knowledge is not everything!

“Thank you”, to our sponsor HCC for taking the financial concerns away and enabling us to offer lunches, dinners and goody bags. “Thank you”, to all the helpers and parents for making the event go so smoothly and a huge thank you to Lynne Bikhazi and Lizzie Brown for all the organisation, to John, our Race Officer, Richard Taylor, our Safety Officer, and Laura Rawinsky for producing 150 lunches over the weekend!

Everyone had a great time and we look forward to another good event next year.

Thanks to Flynn Davies for his local knowledge.

Race Fleet results are available here…
Regatta Fleet results are available here…