Hansa TT at Frensham Pond Sailability
by Peter Etherton 29 Sep 2017 11:16 BST
20 September 2017
The 7th event in the Hansa National Traveller Trophy series was hosted by Frensham Pond Sailability on Wednesday 20th September 2017. It was mild and dry with light cloud and sunny spells but there was little evidence of the forecast F3/F4 wind on arrival.
With a bumper entry of local sailors and visitors from Whitefriars, Tideway, New Forest and Chesil Sailability clubs, the 21 helms were ready to contest the 4 Hansa classes. Following Race Officer Graham Howlett's briefing, Frensham's notoriously shifty SW wind had strengthened enough to get some very competitive racing underway and the wind filled in nicely as the day progressed.
The 4 strong 2.3 class were all Frensham helms and the racing was closely contested with three of the helms taking a win apiece. Greg Parker took the honours in Race 1 and 16 year old Harry Kennington went on to win race 2. Lara Sturgis took the honours in Race 3 and the final race was won by Harry to claim his first TT victory by 1 point from Greg in 2nd, Lara 3rd and Maureen Aldridge 4th. Harry was also awarded the club's Waverley Cup for the leading Frensham 2.3 sailor.
The Liberty entry was missing the Rutland regulars but the competition was no less fierce between local helms Paul Phillips and Tessa Watkiss and Whitefriars helm David Durston, with all three winning races. Race 1 went to Paul from David and Tessa, who then took the win in Race 2 from Paul and David. Another win in Race 3 and 2nd in Race 4 was enough to for Paul to claim the overall win while David and Tessa finished on equal points, David taking 2nd place on countback.
In the 303 1 Person class 5 local helms were joined by Tideway's Leslie Philip and once again the fleet was closely matched with three different helms taking race wins. Kate Hedley had a perfect start with wins in Races 1 and 2. Leslie took the win in Race 3 while James Woosnam was pleased to win Race 4 after a disappointing start. Kate's 2 wins and a 3rd place were enough to give her the overall victory by 1 point from the consistent Peter Fitzpatrick with 3 2nd places and Leslie 3rd.
The largest fleet was the 8 strong 303 2 Person class with 4 local crews and 2 crews each from the New Forest and Chesil clubs. Race 1 saw Chesil's Tim Scarisbrick/Janet Whyte take the win from 14 year old Jenna Snedker sailing with father Matt in their first TT, who recovered well from an OCS to take 2nd with Peter & Peta Etherton in 3rd. Jenna and Matt went on to win the next 3 races to claim the overall victory from the consistent Tim and Janet in 2nd and the Ethertons in 3rd place, holding off a late challenge from Andy Sheath/Kate Lintott.
Following the traditional Frensham free tea provided by the local sailors, prizes for the first three in each class were presented by Frensham's Acting Chairman, Ivor Barrett, who also gave thanks to the hard-working Galley team and the volunteer helpers who made the day a success.
Overall Results:
Hansa 2.3 class
1st Harry Kennington (Frensham)
2nd Greg Parker (Frensham)
3rd Lara Sturgis (Frensham)
4th Maureen Aldridge (Frensham)
Hansa 303 One Person Class
1st Kate Hedley (Frensham)
2nd Peter Fitzpatrick (Frensham)
3rd Leslie Philip (Tideway)
4th James Woosnam (Frensham)
5th Margaret Foreman (Frensham)
6th Mike Everitt (Frensham)
Hansa 303 Two Person Class
1st Jenna & Matt Snedker (Frensham)
2nd Tim Scarisbrick & Janet Whyte (Chesil)
3rd Peter & Peta Etherton (Frensham)
4th Andy Sheath & Kate Lintott (Frensham)
5th Steve Kitson & Janet Knight (NFDS)
6th Philip Hall & Dave Ankers (Chesil)
7th Colin Freeman & Paul Kingston (Frensham)
8th Martin Hadley & Angela Cosford (New Forest)
Liberty Class
1st Paul Phillips (Frensham)
2nd David Durston (Whitefriars)
3rd Tessa Watkiss (Frensham)