Trent Valley open meeting

10th May 2015

Sunday morning I was sound asleep when the mobile rang at 06:00! The joys of being race officer and club rep! “What was the weather like up there? Got a seriously windy looking forecast”. No names but, bless him, he did sportingly turn up and got an special TVSC mug for being the furthest travelled competitor!
 
With a brisk southerly breeze (and the sun in the sky) I set a course downstream from the club start line to the bottom mark and then up to the top of the course then heading downstream to the “Goddard Chicane” just upstream of the club to provide entertainment for sailors and spectators alike.

 
Race One: Six boats set off planing on a close reach to the bottom mark with Smuggler on the water but moored, suffering a broken kicking strap. The order was quickly sorted out soon after the rounding of the first buoy with John Sears at the front. The fleet disappeared upstream past the Scout Hut but as they returned we were bemused to see Philip David well down the fleet; he had apparently taken a swim when the jib sheets caught around his compass – not certain why you need a compass on the Trent? Helen Geary, his crew from TVSC, had only sailed in an N12 once before; not certain of our chances now of persuading her away from the Merlin fleet! Sears finished first with Peacock not far behind: Philip pursued Chris Troth hard and very nearly caught him in the last few yards of the race. Brian Kitching stayed ahead of John Richardson to finish fifth.

 
Race Two: I was planning to run a shortened course up to the Scout Hut with seven plus laps but a near mutiny from the leading boats demanding the beat at the top of the course be retained meant the same course was rerun. The buoys for the Goddard Chicane hadn’t quite worked out as the wind had shifted so the repositioning of both meant we got two gybes by the clubhouse and several tacks from the last mark to get to the finish line. We were down to six boats as the Commodore sailing 3157 had to retire injured – him not the boat. James Dalby now helming Smuggler with Jono crewing and Brian Kitching with Christine Preston nearly made perfect starts but misjudged the current and were both over the line; James’ spectacular capsize in the middle of the fleet as he tried to turn back got a 7/10 for artistic impression. Brian managed to re-start safely and caught up with Chris Troth but Sears, David and Peacock were already breaking clear. James and Jono entertained the spectators with their capsize practice and submarine impressions until they were totally worn out. Sears and Peacock were again 1st and 2nd with Philip 3rd and Chris 4th – these two were now on the same points as each other.
 
The usual excellent TVSC lunch was served by the Stewards giving the sailors a brief chance to recover; third race 5 minute gun went at 13:55.
 
Race Three: Although first place was now guaranteed for Sears & Sears, there was all to play for for the next three places – Peacock, Troth and David could all, mathematically, get second place. With the wind increasing the two old vintage yots wisely decided to watch! It was Sears, Troth, David and Peacock to the bottom mark in that order but Sears soon broke away leaving the other three to do battle. By the end of the first lap the order had resolved to Sears, David (crewed by James Dalby) Peacock and Troth. Philip pushed Sears very hard especially towards the end of the race but JLS hung on, with the finishing order being Sears, David, Peacock and Troth.
 

Taking a cue from the North West Norfolk prizes, our sailing secretary had re-labelled the bottles of wine “Sailingon Blanc” and “Merlot Rocket” – you can guess which class he sails!
 
Hopefully everyone had a fun day’s sailing. My thanks to Guy Browne and (recently power boat qualified) Jos Richardson for rescue facilities, Ken Goddard for the flags, Ann Britton for “meet and greet”, James Dalby from the Laser fleet for being such a good sport, and to Kevan & Janet for photography facilities. I apparently only got one thing wrong for my first ever race officer duty for an open meeting – and only one person (the Commodore) noticed!
 
We hope to see a good turnout for the next TVSC open meeting that being on Sunday 19th July for the HD Four Plank mini-series meeting.
 
“Scores on the doors”.................

Overall results

Helm & Crew	Club	#	Boat name	Position
John Sears & Catherine Sears	Notts County (but actually he means TVSC!)	2957 AC	Punkawallah	1st
Dave Peacock & Ann Britton	Trent Valley	2620 V	Fair Lady	2nd (1st vintage)
Philip David & Helen Geary/ James Dalby	Yorkshire Ouse & Trent Valley	3499 DB	Out of the Blue	3rd
Chris Troth & Pru Dixey	Olton Mere	2993 AC	Bouncer	4th
Brian Kitching & Christine Preston	Somewhere near Bristol & Trent Valley	1657 V	Just Lucky	5th
John Richardson & Emily Terry	Trent Valley	3157 AC	Perfect Kiss	=6th
Jono Clipsham/James Dalby & Ben Clipsham	Trent Valley	1650 V	(The) Smuggler	=6th