Burgfield report/results
Burgfield report/results
Burghfield Finn Open
On Saturday October 10th Burghfield held it's first Finn Open Meeting for a number of years. Squeezed in between events at Bosham and Warsash it wasn't clear how many boats would turn up but in the end six visitors joined three home boats. Racing was close and very exciting in some glorious autumn sunshine. The wind was very variable, dropping completely at times but it always returned in time to allow the fleet to finish three full races.
For the morning race the wind was very much straight down the lake from the west so the race officer set a pseudo Olympic Upwind Downwind course. The wind was the strongest and most consistent of the day for this race. This course gave some excellent racing and some of the closest racing ever seen at Burghfield. After an hours racing the whole fleet was still only 50 yards from first to last. Howard Sellars got completely confused with the starting sequence and started a minute late which allowed Tim Carver to get the perfect start and lead the fleet up the first beat. Unfortunately he couldn't hold this down wind, too many good little ones going double his speed on the flat water. Rory Barnes, Colin Evans and Keith Fedi all had chances and all led the race at some stage but it was finally Howard who picked the best shift of the day to round the windward mark with a fifty metre lead at the end of the third lap. He held this to the finish, closely followed by Colin, Keith and Rory. Tim slipped slowly back as the full effect of a terrible hangover hit home.
In the afternoon the wind was even more variable and dropped in strength. The Race Officer set a figure of 8 course with shorter beats across the lake. Thirty seconds before the start of the second race the wind shifted 45 degrees left allowing Tim to port tack the fleet and fetch the windward mark without tacking. This time, refreshed by some southern fried chicken, chips and a couple of pints of orange squash, he was able to hold his lead to the win the race. Eventually finishing over 3 minutes ahead of second placed Keith Fedi and Steve Brown in third. Howard was still alone in struggling with the starting sequence and could only finish fifth after another very late start.
Going into the last race any one of Keith, Howard or Tim could win overall. The wind really started to drop so the race officer set another windward leeward course along the length of the lake. Having been late for the first two starts Howard led the fleet over the line early for the only General Recall of the day. When the race subsequently started in a fitful 5 knot breeze Tim led the fleet on a beat up the lake to lead comfortably round the windward mark. The wind then dropped completely on a long run back down the lake allowing Tony Lock to demonstrate magnificent drifting speed to come from fifty metres back to lead at the leeward mark. Starting what was to become the last beat of the day in almost no wind Tony and Tim split tacks. Tony called it right and slipped into a ten boat length lead that looked like it might win him the race. Meanwhile a little further back Howard was on a big charge. Tim was still struggling for speed in the flat conditions and Howard was using his 30Kg weight advantage to close the gap. With 100 metres to go Tim and Howard were neck and neck with Tim trying to cover closely and failing. This was the regatta. Whoever won this battle won the event. Tim finally tacked off and let Howard sail on in Tony's bad air. This turned out to be a fortunate masterstroke as Tim found his own puff of wind to overtake Tony with metres to go to the finish line to win the race and with it the Open Meeting.
1st GBR 8 Tim Carver Burghfield 2
2nd GBR77 Ho ward Sellars Warsash 4
3rd GBR54 Keith Fedi Harlow 5
4th GBR 580 Steve Brown Cotswold SC 7
5th GBR 11 Tony Lock Christchurch 8
6th GBR 605 Colin Evans Chew Valley 8
7th GBR24 Rory Barnes Christchurch 8
8th GBR 50 Nigel Milligan Burghfield 14
9th GBR 346 Winston Lewis Burghfield 19
Thanks to Burghfield for a fantastic and very well run Open. Hopefully everyone will be back next year for another go