day 4 dawned bright but with very light breeze coming from the Northwest. With Tom Stewart standing six points clear of his nearest rival, Steve Sallis there was still all to play for in the final two races of the event. The Tally board was unveiled early to allow the fleet extra time to get to the start line so from 9.30am boats were heading out to ensure that they got to the start area in some for the 10.55 gun. With three hard days of full hiking having already completed there were a few happy grins from the lighter weight teams as the time for their advantage kicked in.
Race 6
On reaching the start area the race team had set a much smaller trapezoid course in expectation of the lighter winds and so it turned out to be in race 6. Sitting in was the order of the day as the fleet got off for the first time though there were a fair number of late starters due to being both OCS and shut out at the committee boat end of the line. Meanwhile, those that got over cleanly were being led to the windward mark by Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne whose fortunes had definitely changed in the lighter fickle conditions. From the windward mark, they led the race from start to finish with Steve Sallis at times, not far behind, but by the end they had a clear margin. with Tom & Rachel coming in third, Tom’s lead over Steve had been very marginally reduced for the final race of the event. As these boats had raced ahead Dave Peacock showed excellent form and mastery of the conditions to take his third top ten place of the champs securing 6th. Another mover through the fleet was Mike & Alex Storey, though they were OCS and had to come back round an end of the start line, they still managed to fly through the fleet to secure a very commendable 18th. One wanders where they might have got to if they had been slightly less eager on the line! First time BW entrant Chris Rowland and more familiar George Rowland didn’t do quite so well after their OCS and posted their worst result of the championship almost doubling their average score from before. there were a fair few others struggling with the lighter conditions and so another sigh of relief came for some as by the end of the race 6 the wind was starting to increase.
race 7
Race seven saw the black flag out again for an over eager fleet and an RO keen to get the racing off in quick time. With the freshening wind still not as strong as previous days Graham and Zoe made another strong start on the short course to lead the fleet round the mark. Four laps were made of the course in brief time but with a short beat, tactical advantages were limited. Graham and Zoe came homne with a second bullet giving them a late charge up the leader board on the final results, Steve & Joanne Sallis secrued another second place, but with Tom Stewart and Rachel Williamson managing to hold onto third it was all in vain for Steve. Congratulations to Tom and Rachel who took the Silver National Trophy by a small margin of 2 points from Steve and Joanne with Grahma and Zoe’s drive up the board securing them third place a further 4 points behind.
OVERALL SILVER NATIONAL RESULTS
Overall it has been a fantastic championships this year, superb weather (if occasionally a little damp on day one), excellent organisation and support from Brightlingsea Sailing Club who ran the event professionalism and passion. A very big thank you on behalf of all the competitors and Committee and we hope we can come back a visit again in the future.
