Mr Jones just beats Cheshire Cat at Trent Valley Four Plank Open Meeting

Sunday 19th July 2015
 
The morning of Sunday 19th July did not start well for the third meeting in the HD Sails 4P Series; gusty winds and heavy rain (although exactly as forecast) did not encourage the leaving of a warm bed at 06:00, but as the day progressed towards lunchtime the clouds and rain moved on and we had the prospect of a fine afternoon’s sailing.

 
I arrived at TVSC with Mr Jones on a trailer two hours before the first race to find that Gerald & Frances Copsey had already arrived to be joined soon afterwards by Anthony and Tanya! Jonathan Garfitt and Kerry also appeared very soon afterwards from darkest Milton Keynes and Roger & Ann Britton arrived with Ann’s Crusader “Alley Cat” only to find the mast had disappeared from the racking under the steward’s flat. There was suddenly much rearranging of boats and crews. JG was originally going to sail N3157 but Jevan and Charlotte decided that the breeze was rather too frisky for them as novices, so JG and Kez, took over N2835 Tabitha Twitchit and James (Merlin sailor and Sailing Sec) with Ann decamped to N3157 “Perfect Kiss”. Gerald was back to his yoof; the first boat he ever sailed was a Mr Jones! And as all this was going on Fraser Goldsworth was quietly rigging his Squid N2042.
 

 

Race One 14:00: We were again this year joined by a lonely Merlin. There was much tacking and shouting for the first beat up to the top mark; some very close racing except for Gerald who just jetted off into the distance to win by a mile! James in an N12 beat his regular Merlin rival into third place.
 
Race Two 15:00: Speedy Pete decided that for better enjoyment for the spectators he would bring the top mark down to just upstream of the Scout Hut and insert the infamous “Goddard Chicane” in front of the club with two gybes. We were over the line at the start but despite having to go back, the club side of the river proved better than the windward end. Guy in his Merlin pulled away and disappeared into the distance whilst Gerald and I did battle. At the end of the first lap we managed to pull away from Gerald who was then pounced on by James. James started to close in on us but an unfortunate (for him) port/starboard incident with Fraser meant that his turns allowed us to get away. We did have a major panic at the windward mark when the wind totally disappeared and looking down the river everyone else was hanging out for dear life. Mercifully the wind filled in and we got away again to take the gun.
 

Race Three at 16:30 (after tea): The result was all on this one. JG decided that they would retire gracefully as it was still rather windy, and Guy (he of the Merlin) had had far too much fun sailing with us small boats so we were down to four boats. We got a good start and Gerald and I did frantic battle up to the first mark; Gerald got there first but we pushed him hard all the way to the finish line. After two quiet races Fraser got into gear and he and James had a battle royal, with Fraser only losing out by feet at the end. We were all very relieved that Speedy Pete had only set a one lap race; everyone was exhausted!
 
Bottles of special TVSC wine (Merlot Rocket and Sailingon Blanc) were presented to Gerald & Tanya overall winners and to JG & Kerry second visitors.
 

 

Our thanks to The Copsey Family and to JG & Kerry for travelling to join in the fun, and to James and Guy from the Merlin fleet for sportingly joining in.
 
Speedy Pete, too, deserves an honourable mention for doing such a good job as race officer.
 
And a fun day was had by all!

 

Overall results

 

Helm/crew	Club	Boat	R1	R2	R3	Result
Gerald Copsey & Tanya Copsey	Hunts	N2399 (V) Mr Jones	1	4/3	1	1st
Paul Turner & Christine Preston	Trent Valley	N2750 (4P) Cheshire Cat	4/3	2/1	2	2nd (1st 4P)
James Clark & Ann Britton	Trent Valley	N3157 (AC) Perfect Kiss (MicroClipper)	2	3/4	3	3rd
Jonathan Garfitt & Kerry Whitford	Milton Keynes	N2835 (4P) Tabitha Twitchit	5/4	5/4	Dns	4th (2nd 4P)
Fraser Goldsmith	Trent Valley	N2042 (V) Quill (Squid)	6/5	6/5	4	5th
Guy Browne	Trent Valley	Merlin 3619	3	1	Dns	1st Merlin

 

Four plank boats score for HD Sails Series; club boats score for TVSC Summer Handicap Series.