Day 2 started earlier for the fleet with the start of race 3 scheduled for 11am. The fleet was released at 10am again into a force 4 wind from the west and intermittent bright sunshine.
On arriving in the start area the weather had greyed off a bit but the fleet were keen to get up to their normal competitive antics.
After two general recalls on a heavily starboard bias line the Black flag was raised. With the line reset, the fleet set off up the first beat, with Tom Stewart finding himself in a position he was rather enjoying- first to the mark. unfortunately,in his eagerness to maintain this accustomed position he had crept over the line early and sailed off the course at the windward mark to wait until race 4 He was not alone as Kevin Iles and Jane Wade joined him as spectators for the race, suffering a similar fate on the startline.. This left William Warren to lead the fleet in his newly acquired DCB, a position he held for the remainder of the race. As ever, not far behind, an intense battle was underway between the usual suspects, John & Katy Meadowcroft, Jon & Charl, Graham & Zoe and Steve & Joanne. Whilst the group at the top stretched away there was plenty going on behind with First time entrant Peter Grey and experienced crew, Sophie Mackley in a T-folied Foolish taking 8th, Dave Peacock getting to grips with his developed Paradigm 2 and moving into a top 10 finish.and by the end of the race Andy Mckee(11th) had stretched past a still very fast Tom Ballantine (12th). the real mover of the day, however, was Nick Copsey who having had a 35th in race one the day before was holding a very steady 6th place, keeping the likes of Richard Williams behind him. On the final gybe mark he opted to place a good finish in the bag and tacked round in the swell, which though it cost him four places, enabled him to get a 10th and set a marker up for those who thought they were safe above him on the leader board!
At the end of the race it was a clear win for William and Toby, John & Katy fighting hard to take 2nd from Jon & Charl. Meanwhile, further down the fleet Geoff Camm and Amelia Hall were making their presence felt in the AC fleet recording a 25, enough to keep them on top of that particular leader board.
Race 4
With the fun of the Startline being clearly tested in race three, the fleet were quicjkly put into sequence for race 4 and managed, this time to get a completely clean start, with nobody experiencing the frustrations of an OCS. this time it was Steve & Joanne Sallis who showed the fleet how to do it and having got a clean route up the first beat the were heavily in contention at the top mark.
John & Katy were settling into a routine and were again fiercely competitive with the DCB’s recording their second 2nd place of the event proving the speed differential between the designs in marginal if not insignificant.
Behind the leading group was some very intense racing as the fleet headed toward the first windward mark rounding. Those coming in on port were suffering the rule book and though a few calls were made, none were quite as brave/determined or mad as Nigel Playford who twice tacked into the fleet on port to get round. Unfortunately on the second attempt he didn’t make it a could be seen doing his turns meagerly soon after having bounced between both matk and Tom Balantine. He was not alone as Mike and Alex Storey also became victims to the congestion and ended with a similar fate.
By the end of the race Steve Sallis had kept his pursuers at bay to gain his first bullet of the event, John Brown, who had been quietly shadowing the lead pack over all the races to date took first non foiler place (11th), Geoff Camm & Amelia Hall continued to lead the AC fleet with 24th and Brian Kitching & Thea Armstrong taking first Vintage boat with a 39th.
Post racing antics
With the fleet returning to the shore mid afternoon there was plenty of time for some for a fairly large scale assault on a local Indian Restaurant early in the evening- (credit goes to the restaurant for coping with the unexpected influx of very hungry, jovial sailors!) before the onset of the evenings entertaining in the form of a local band and of course, the fancy dress party. With such a challenging topic the entrants for this were fewer than normally expected but the quality and effort that went into the outfits was trully exceptional- not to mention the diverse and eclectic interpretations of the theme ’75’ Did you know, for instance that this year is the 75th anniversary of penguin books? I didn’t but I felt further educated once Kevin Iles and Jane Wade appeared on stage as a pair of Penguins! The year 1975 was a popular entry with various glam rock interpretations appearing on stage in some, to be frank, quite scary attire. Did people really dress like that (I must be too young!). With five boats at the event, and various additional support crew, Team Burghfield put together a ‘Club’ entry for the occasion with ‘seven swans a swimming… and.. Five gold rings’ (swear it’s no where near Christmas) and though their entry caused many a laugh and a great deal of embarrassment for some of the group, it was to no avail for Tanya Copsey spent hours of her time before the event, very effectively dressing herself as a ‘Now that’s what I call music CD’ and took first prize! In the meantime the band put on a fantastic evening of assorted tracks which really got the participants going and for some kept them at venue and particularly the bar, until they were finally turfed out in the small hours.
