After another successful season for skippers competing at GBR IOM ranking events there was much to play for at our final event of the year. Skippers looking to improve on their ranking position in hesitation for qualifying for next years worlds in Porto Alegre Brazil or just finishing the season on a high with an improved result.
Day one
Racing got underway on time from the south side with a NE breeze light to mid A rig.
Seeding heat C was sailed with the breeze then shifting to the ESE with PRO Jeremy Collier moving the course and all competitors to the North side of Princes Park.
The breeze settled in and increased, however plenty of shifts and deciding on when to get to the right hand side of the course upwind was key to a good result. Peter Stollery made the most of the conditions sailing a very consistent set of races in the morning to take a firm grip on the days event which would never be overhauled.
Another skipper having a good run was South West skipper Nick Martin, unfortunately Nick fell whilst recovering his boat, a little sore and his pride bruised Nick’s Britpop fin had taken the full brunt of his weight!
If anyone was wondering how much point loading a Britpop fin will take, we can confirm failure is around 100 KG’s and remarkably without damaging the fin box or structural integrity of the hull! Anyway, once Nick was OK several A fleet skippers, sourced a spare fin, re-tuned the rig and Nick was back on the water for his next heat, a testament to the camaraderie between competing skippers.
Josh King sailed a well executed final two races to take out second place with Chris Harris taking the final podium position. It was good to see many skippers make A fleet and in particular Rob Wilson and Mick Chamberlain having a good run and taking out 6th & 7th overall.
A video by Terry Connell of a A & C Fleet race can be found here
Full scores can be found here
Day Two
Competitors arrived at Princes Park to light airs from the NNW, to be brief, the worst direction, with the briefing concluded there was a brief delay whilst the race team waited for the breeze to settle in.
Cue Terry (the missile) Connell, the local skipper had experienced a disappointing day one, however had obviously given himself a talking to overnight winning the A fleet seeding race in convincing fashion with his Lintel MMX and leaving to past World champions in his wake.
The top three from Saturday once again took to the top of the leaderboard but being chased hard by the Wiley foxes of Graham Bantock, Tony Edwards and Dave Allinson all using experience to be on the correct part of the course when the big shifts rolled in.
Conditions throughout the day proved a headache for the race team with many starts abandoned or recalled.
With time running out Chris Harris finished on seven points after five races taking the win by a point from Peter Stollery and Josh King taking the final podium position.
Full Scores can be found here
Our thanks to PRO Jes Collier and the Eastbourne race team for providing great racing over two days, despite the difficult conditions, the ladies in the galley and all volunteers at Eastbourne and District MYC for a great weekend.
(Peter Stollery, first day one, second day two, with PRO Jes Collier)
(Chris Harris, third day one, first day two, with PRO Jes Collier)
(Josh King, second day one, third day two, with PRO Jes Collier)
