Windsport Sprint 15 Open at Halifax Sailing Club
by Charles Watson 14 May 2007 08:06 BST
12-13 May 2007
On both days switchback courses were well laid. The wind was lively and kept the competitors on their toes, watching shifts & gusts was the key to success.
Steve Davison had a tough race taking 5 (we think) swims in the first race before retiring with a broken rudder bearing; a good effort for only his 5th sail in a cat. Watson was first up the beat, with Dutch constantly challenging. This set the tone for the event, with Tunnacliffe, Walker & Gall regularly swapping places. Watson & Dutch tried port fliers in races 2 & 3 with a 50% success rate.
On Sunday, Gall tried a cheeky port tack start, Dutch was just about to call starboard when the postponement rather than start gun was sounded, the Race Officer’s watch had gone on the blink. At the second attempt Dutch pushed through at Coffin Corner, with Gall making the sensible decision to avoid Dutch & the committee boat from becoming one. Dutch got up the first beat with a small lead, but Watson covered him down the run & took water at the leeward mark taking the gun from Dutch & Walker. Dutch took the gun in race 5 from Tunnacliffe & Walker.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | C Watson | 1237 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | DNS | 4 |
| 2 | K Dutch | 1938 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | S Tunnacliffe | 1343 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| 5 | R Gall | 1914 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | RTD | 17 |
| 4 | D Walker | 1795 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
| 6 | S Davison | 1567 | RTD | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 22 |
Windsport Gift Voucher Draw
1st, S Tunnacliffe (£15)
2nd, R Gall (£10)
3rd, C Watson (£5)
Thanks go to Halifax Club Members for their efforts on & off the water and to the competitors for a good weekend of racing.