Abington Park MYC
Six Metre Open
@
Hollowell Sailing Club
27th August 2016
REPORT BY PETER SHEPHERD
PICTURES BY JOHN WOODLEY
PICTURES BY JOHN WOODLEY
Having just read through the report from the February meeting it is very clear how things have changed *improved" in the Six Metre class locally, Colin Davies has his Rococco measured and is starting to get to grips with it, Paul Risdale is in the same boat with his Renaisance, Keith Bell now has his Tias "Minikins" up and running all measured and correct, Peter Jackson & myself now have two working suits of sails although at the moment it all seems a bit hit and miss when we come to set them up, the words "steep learning curve" come to mind.
and so to this event......... eight skippers from four local clubs attended, with a predicted easterly wind the course was set as follows, a start line which gave the brave port end starter a chance to get away in front although only a few brave souls gave it a go, a beat towards the dam rounding the windward mark, with a spreader. Downwind to the leeward mark right in front of the skippers, beating back to the same upwind mark, reaching to a wing buoy back to the leeward, once more beating to the upwind and then a run to the line. The marks were placed so that eyesight wasn't an issue, although some still found judgement at the rounding a little tricky.
how we faired.......Peter Salt a welcome visitor from the Bournville club won the first race by some margin with his lovely John lewis "Siskin" design, sad to say he didn't feature at the front again although this may have been for a technical difficulty, Peter Jackson had a torrid day with his Romanza, embedded in the fleet for many of the races he struggled to get out with only a trio of races that showed his boats potential. Keith Bell's newly completed Tias "Minikin" had some good results early on when the wind was light, probably for this "lightweight" six, it's forte, once the wind filled it a bit it was slightly less sucessful although Keith is only just starting on his 6M journey and so inexperience could also be a factor. These three were separated by just two points so it was clearly tough at the back.
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From the results, Colin Davies must have done some sail tweaking to his Rococco around race six, as his results improved significantly where he managed to score a couple of wins after the break, Paul Risdale managed to score a number of high places sailing the "salmon" Renaisance without getting that elusive first place, his results being a little too inconsistant, the same could be said for Geoff Raygada's Rococco although he more often than not seemed to be in and around front of the fleet.
As for myself, for a brief moment, and rather foolishly I thought "Monica" my Romanza might come away with an event win, especially at race 11 where Mike Ewart and his Ravenna slipped up, however overcoming the two early races where my sails were badly set was to prove too much and of course Mike never makes it easy, as his results in the final four races showed and so he was the well deserved winner of what proved to be a cracking days racing.
Many thanks must go to club members John Woodley & Tim Leese who came along and acted as scorers, start line judges etc. which is a considerable help and enabled us to have 14 races at a sensible pace alongside a couple of breaks, gentlemen your assistance was much appreciated.