Write-Up

Felpham SC - Bognor Regis, West Sussex, UK, 9/10 Sept

Thanks to Richard Bentley for his report;
Sailors arriving on Saturday were met with glorious sunshine but light winds.

Racing was due to start at midday on the Saturday but was delayed by the RO for an hour as wind increased. Racing got underway at 1pm in light SE wind on a simple trapezoid course, Peter Mathews from Lancing SC made a great start at the pin end and managed to find his own wind keeping his lead to take the win.

Race 2 saw a few lead changes, again Peter having a good first beat to get to the windward mark first. But this time he was closely followed by Chris Rust from Portsmouth SC and local Richard Bentley. Chris took the lead downwind, but the next upwind saw a wind shift where Richard took the lead only for Chris to get back in front on the downwind to take the win.

Sunday welcomed a few more sailors with 6-7knts shifting from the NE to E for the first start. In Race 3 again Chris Rust took an early lead in the 7 rig with Tom Twist and Tim Blackmore battling out in front in the 9 rig. Chris took the win with Tim just getting the better of Tom on the last beat to the finish line.

Race 4 saw the wind shift SE with the wind quickly dying to nothing, 1 lap was enough with Tom taking the win. The RO then had to wait for the wind to return this time from the North with 10knts. Race 5 saw many battles and lead changes with shifty wind coming off the land. Iona Willows from Lymington Town SC battling with Andy Palmer Felgate from Chichester with Andy taking the win from Iona in 2^nd and Chris 3^rd.

For the final race of the day the wind had shifted NE and after another course change we all set off in 10knts great until we reached the run and the wind decided to drop off and we rafted up for a few minutes. The wind then came up from the South. We altered our sails and carried on with some big gusts causing a couple of near capsizes. We carried on for one final lap of wind from different directions and again Chris took the win from Richard Bentley and then Richard Bullock in 3^rd.

Many thanks to Ross Fisher for being Race Officer in very tricky conditions and the rest of the Felpham SC volunteers for a great weekend's racing!

Prizes went to;
1^st Female - Iona Willows (Lymington)
1^st Master - Richard Bentley (Felpham)
1^st RS Aero 9 - Tom Twist (Felpham)
1^st RS Aero 7 - Chris Rust (Portsmouth)
1^st RS Aero 6 - Paula Bentley (Felpham)

Summer 2023 Gallery for more and larger photos thanks to Bill Brookes at Felpham SC

Results