HERON OPEN AT CHIPSTEAD SAILING CLUB, CHIPSTEAD, KENT. SUNDAY 13TH MAY 2018

With good forecasted winds and generally good weather, the Chipstead open looked to be a good day’s sailing.

In the end, there was a moderate westerly/north westerly breeze, but enough to work with to get around the lake.

There was a good turn-out with 11 competitors, 7 from Chipstead and 4 visitors: 1 from Up River Yacht Club, 1 from Bewl Valley, 1 from Welton SC and lastly 1 from Priory SC. The event was joined up with a Graduate Open featuring 19 boats so 30 boats all in all.

The experienced race officer from Chipstead set a figure of eight course, utilising the entirety of the lake providing plenty of good competition.

Race 1:

Most competitors started together with a strong start, but quickly Dave Butler H10340 moved out front with Matt Pickett H9812 (SH) in close pursuit. The fleet quickly spread out with the front two boats pulling away, followed by newcomers to Heron sailing Jo Mayes and Amanda Conrad H10343 closely following in third. This left the Chipstead boats following behind with James Russ H10089 and Peter Moulton H10019 (SH) interchanging between 4th & 5th position. After reaching the windward mark, and heading down to the second mark, Dave Butler launched his spinnaker and started to move further in front. The second boat to the fly a spinnaker was Jo Mayes and similarly pulled away. Spinnakers were certainly providing a good advantage with the wind direction. Positions held steady until mark G at the bottom of the lake, where Peter Moulton and James Russ had to give water to 5 graduates allowing Lesley Dutton H9338 to get around on the inside of the mark and overtake Peter and James.

Race 1:

D Butler H10340 (1st) Welton

M Pickett H9812 (2nd)(SH) Up River

J Mayes H10343 (3rd) Bewl

L Dutton H9338 (4th) Chipstead

J Russ H10089 (5th) Chipstead

P Moulton H10019 (6th)(SH) Chipstead

S Chapman 10339 (7th) Chipstead

M Smith (8th) H9341 Chipstead

M Hawksworth (9th) H9851 Chipstead

S D-H (10th) H10049 Chipstead

P Webb (11th) H9097 Priory.

Following lunch the wind increased moderately in the afternoon and the race officer ran two short back to back races. The sun in the third race even came out. The wind changed and fluctuated direction during the afternoon, which meant that spinnakers became more of a challenge for those who had them. The visitors continued to maintain strong leads over the home fleet and sailing on different water did not appear to be a disadvantage to them at all maintain the top three positions for the last two races. Peter Moulton then took on an experienced Chipstead crew Gill Goldsmith.

Race 2:

D Butler H10340 (1st) Welton

M Pickett H9812 (2nd)(SH) Up River

J Mayes H10343 (3rd) Bewl

L Dutton H9338 (4th) Chipstead

P Moulton H10019 (5th) Chipstead

M Hawksworth (6th) H9851 Chipstead

P Webb (7th) H9097 Priory.

J Russ H10089 (8th) Chipstead

M Smith (9th) H9341 Chipstead

S Chapman 10339 (10th) Chipstead

S D-H (12th) H10049 Chipstead (DNS)

Race 3:

The sun came out and the wind came back for the start, then left again and then came back for the last lap resulting in a positive sail for the last race of the day, with Matt Pickett moving out front to take the lead from Dave Butler.

M Pickett H9812 (1st) (SH) Up River

D Butler H10340 (2nd) Welton

J Mayes H10343 (3rd) Bewl

P Moulton H10019 (4th) Chipstead

J Russ H10089 (5th) Chipstead

L Dutton H9338 (6th) Chipstead

M Hawksworth (7th) H9851 Chipstead

S Chapman 10339 (8th) Chipstead

M Smith (9th) H9341 Chipstead

P Webb H9097 Priory. (DNS)

S D-H H10049 Chipstead (DNS)

A time handicap was used by the race officer for the Single Handicap and the crewed herons.