Broads Area Champion of Champions Sailing Event at Beccles Amateur Sailing Club

With first-places in different heats both Sam Woodcock (Norwich Frostbites Sailing Club) and Chris Bunn (Lady Yacht Club) opened their challenges for the Ramuz "Champion-of-Champions" inter-club sailing event of The Broads area.

This competition attracted 14-teams ranging across The Broads from Hickling in the north to Lowestoft in the south, it was hosted on the River Waveney, Norfolk/Suffolk border, by Beccles Amateur Sailing Club (BASC), and was organised by the Norfolk & Suffolk Boating Association (NSBA).

Broads Area 2022 Champion-of-Champions Sailing Event - photo © Holly Hancock

Sunday had started with nil wind, dense fog and tele-messages to the NSBA organiser asking whether the event was going to take place at all. BASC home club members had been hard at it from 8 o'clock preparing boats (Norfolk dinghies, lent by nine private owners), rigging and launching to tie alongside; then news came through that the main Norwich/Lowestoft road was blocked with major emergency diversions, all-in-all leading to a very non-urgent commencement while we waited for late arrivals and for any wind, or at least sunshine to clear the fog.

Following some full hour of delay which included a leisurely briefing, the flat-looking river-waters evinced little hope, however the first flight was beckoned afloat and indeed managed some progress so racing was on.

First two races 25-minute single lap events; then with some ripple-patches on the water-surface, third and fourth races extending to a lap-and-half, and so conditions improved until by mid-afternoon extended 30-minute races of fully three laps became possible; remarkably a programme had held together and to reasonable timescale. Sunshine and blue sky then made for a splendid day for bank-side spectators, this venue being most amenable for being able to view the whole proceedings as boats raced up-and-down stream close-at-hand past the clubhouse. Everyone agreed that the event had showcased the host club to very best effect, not just for the conditions, but for the spectating and indeed for the collective effort put in by the Beccles club-members.

The fleet round the leeward mark during the Broads Area 2022 Champion-of-Champions Sailing Event - photo © Ben Falat

The basis of competition was a cumulative league with no discards, sailed in four rounds of two flights with promotions and demotions after each round effectively offering repêchage opportunity should a team suffer a bad race; all teams raced four times.

The last race of the day would become the show-down between thus-far equal-scoring Bunn and Woodcock. When these two first met it was 1-2 in favour of Chris; upon second meeting in round-3 the result reversed, so all to play for in the final round.

Broads Area 2022 Champion-of-Champions Sailing Event - photo © Holly Hancock

Sure enough these two popped out of the start-line with clear advantage over the rest of the fleet, but Woodcock placed an effective lee-bow onto Bunn who was forced to tack off early; that turned out to be the single most decisive move between these two top-notch competitors and Bunn found himself on the back-foot, otherwise equally matched. Woodcock went on to win with Bunn forced into successively trying-something-different for any way past.

Mid-fleet saw tightest imaginable competition with too many place-changes to report on and an eventual tie-break for 3rd place between four teams, and yet another 3-way tie-break for the next position.

Overall Results: