Contender Open at Downs Sailing Club

Prize winners from the Contender Open at Downs © Jerry Hone

Eight visitors joined two locals for the Contender open at Downs Sailing Club with a forecast of plenty of breeze to come.

The first race got away with Jerry and Adrian taking a port flyer clearing the fleet who were struggling to cross the line from the committee boat in the ebb tide. At the first mark, Jerry just led from Rob who snuck through on the first reach of the trapezium course. A rock and roll run was followed by a hairy reach where Rob tea-bagged and Jerry nearly wiped out in a gust. Meanwhile, Chris was taking a more conservative approach and closed the gap. Jerry fluffed a tack and Rob really did wipe out while avoiding the stationary starboard boat. Chris came through on lap 2 to take the lead and hold it to the finish with Jerry close behind and Rob following up in 3rd place.

For race 2, the wind was increasing to 20 knots and Jerry's second port start of the day cleared all but Chris fast starting in an already decimated fleet from the starboard end. These 2 had a good lead at the windward mark but Chris sailed away to take an easy win. Jerry was secure in 2nd place until a rudder problem caused him to stop allowing Tom to sail through. Jerry trailed in 3rd with Ginge the only other boat to register a finish.

Jerry's rudder problem put an end to his sailing for the day while others on the shore had fixed their boats and came out to play again. Rob kept Chris honest in race 3 as they had a good tussle all of the way round but Chris took his third bullet of the day.

The wind swung massively for race 4 and with huge black clouds around, the race officer took the decision to call it a day, a decision fully vindicated when driving rain and a 30 knot squall came through just after the fleet made it ashore.

Chris was the deserved winner with the minor places decided on final race results with Rob, Tom and Jerry all on equal points. Rob and Tom got the glassware and Jerry got to write the report!

Photos of the event can be found on the Downs SC website.

Overall Results: