Though a fair number of competitors had arrived the night before, day one of BW started busily for the voluntary measurers with both sails and boats being checked so a big thank you must go to them for their efforts before we even get going on the event reports, they barely had the time to rig their own boats.
Race 1
58 12’s took part in BW overall, with 55 entries for the whole week. With two races planned for the day, the first race was scheduled for 2pm and so with a decent length sail to the start line the fleet was released at 1pm in bright sunshine and around 16knts of wind. Early arrival to the start area, Tom Stewart saw the race team working hard to set a course in some heavy wind shifts as small, but intense fronts passed over the race area. By the time the scheduled start time had arrived a course was set and the fleet got away without delay. rather surprisingly their was no general recall (a rarity for the first race of the 12 champs!) but instead all most all the fleet was well back from the line on the gun, hanging on the tide. 
Tom Stewart and Rachel Williamson got clean away to lead the fleet up the first beat rounding the first mark clear of the rest of the pack. Close behind was a gaggle of DCB’s and John Meadowcroft in his Paradigm 2. The group set of down the reach of the triangle-sauage course, whilst behind the windward mark was enjoying some busy times as the remainder of the fleet rounded. Wind was varying in strength considerably throughout the race as the squalls came through and the fleet spread out as the benefits of strong wind on the reaches came to some. the course was large and a real test for the sailors taking nearly 1.5 hrs to complete. By the end of lap twoTom had lengthened his lead over the trailing group, but there was a big battle going on for second place between John & Katy, Steve & Joanne, Jon & Charl with Graham and Zoe close on their heels, with some very tense mark roundings, and lots of defensive tactics.
In the end Tom was the clear winner, Jon & Charl second, and John and Katy a very close third. As finished boats were waiting for the reminder of the fleet to complete the course, a heavy front swept through the course, bringing thunder and lighting and enough wind to capsize many of unsuspecting fleet. Unfortunately, this spelt the end of the days racing for Richard Williams as when he brought his boat back up his mast had suffered catastrophic failure on contact with the seabed and he was towed back to shore.
Race 2
There was a long postponement before race two as the RO struggled to set a course in the shifting wind. Eventually the conditions settled again and race two got underway cleanly. The wind was still varying in strength from F3-5 testing the competitors to the full. Once again Tom Stewart a Rachel made a break for it but this time under more pressure from the close fleet behind. As the fleet went round the windward mark onto the first reach, Nigel Playford suffered rudder problems as his latest T-foil incarnation was put under too much pressure, leading to his early retirement from the race. After a lap Tom rounded the windward mark again holding first , but still being heavily pressured by Graham, Steve, and John. Jon Ibbotson was in the mix too until 40m from the windward mark his mast gave up the ghost- this was proving to be quite a testing day for the kit as Jon hadn’t capsized, it just gave way mid mast.
Tom Held his lead throughout the race and finished the day with two bullets. Meanwhile another Tom, this time Tom Ballantine was making his presence felt in the fleet recording a 12th and 10th for the day putting him at the top of the non t-foiled boat standings.
Overall it was a long and testing first day for the fleet as the last boat off the water didn’t hit the beach until around 7pm, the games for the evening being put on hold as it was getting dark! The club however, did continue with the planned BBQ which was welcomed by all after a long afternoon on the water, but especially by those who spent a fair bit of the evening, puling their practical and technical skills together to fit and replace the two broken masts of the day and a foredeck which had come adrift from Chris’ Chapter, Ella.
