Coo! it was cold, the
wind was in the East, which in Bournville terms means from the bottom
end. It felt like it was straight from Siberia, anyway enough of this
twittering on about being cold lets get down to the racing. Mick
Barnett as PRO for his first major event, had a fleet of 9 boats,
most from the host club with three from Two Islands and one from
Birmingham.
A good mix of experienced six metre
sailors with a couple of newcomers meant that it would be tight
racing. Mick set a course using the full length of Bournville with
marks at the windward end and a gate at the lee end. The wind was blowing at about
10mph, so pretty stiff and swinging which made which part of the gate
to use variable dependent on the wind pattern. What was clear from
the off was that Mick Shillington was in pretty good form, as were
Mike Ewart and Dave Green from Two Islands and it was those three who
fought it out for most of the day.
There were some classic duels that
got upset occasionally by the likes of Bill Green and Jon Harris. The
results tell the tale, Mick Shillington sailed his Rococco
consistently, Mike and Dave both with Ravenna’s faired very well
but Mick just had that edge. It was a cracking days sailing, just a
trifle chilly and hopefully that will bode well for the season with
these much misunderstood boats.
Mick
Shillington (left) receives his congratulations on becoming the first
Midlands District Champion of 2015 from the PRO Mick Barnett.
The next Six Metre Sailing event is 5th April, Shearwater Trophy at Borads RYC.