Asymmetric Open at Great Yarmouth & Gorleston Sailing Club

The fleet start during the Assymmetric Open event held at Great Yarmouth & Gorleston S.C © Dick Roe

The Asymmetric Open Meeting at the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Sailing Club (GYGSC) is a two day racing event held for this group of high performance sailing dinghies. The open meeting is an annual event and it attracts asymmetric sailors from both local sailing clubs and also from more distant clubs in the south eastern region of the country.

Over the weekend a series of six races were held, two on Saturday and four on Sunday. The contrasting weather conditions on the two days, with light winds and a calm sea on Saturday and force four to six winds and rough sea on Sunday meant that competitors were tested over a wide range of different wind and sea conditions.

On Saturday the weather conditions in the morning appeared very poor with little wind and poor visibility due to the sea mist. However, by the time the boats were afloat for the afternoon the mist had cleared and a light southerly breeze with sunshine resulted in excellent conditions to start the meeting off with. Steve Knight was OOD for both days and a constantly changing wind direction on both days meant that the committee boat needed the help of the two rescue boats to repeatedly alter buoy positions.

The course was laid initially for a meagre easterly wind but just before the race was due to get underway the wind shifted to due south and all the buoys needed to be repositioned. Fortunately the wind quickly strengthened to a light force 1-2 breeze and the sausage course with a leeward gate proved to be excellent. There were several general recalls at the start of both races and when the boats finally got racing it was Jon Heissig (Lymington Town SC) in an RS700 who took first place in each of the races in the all comers class. Further down the fleet was Ian Nolan (Hunstanton SC), also in an RS700, with a fourth and a third place. The RS400 of Martin Browne and Dinah Holmes (GYGSC) achieved a second and a fourth place.

On Sunday the wind was still from the south but had strengthened overnight to a force 3-4; it increased in strength throughout the day and by the early afternoon it was a force 6. With a strong tide ebbing north and large waves there was a long beat against the tide to the windward mark, these conditions were back breaking for the competitors. There were four back to back races during the day and as the wind strengthened there were increasing numbers of capsizes and retirements.

By the fourth race there were only two RS400s still sailing. In the all comers class the high performance RS800 and RS700 boats found the conditions tough as the wind strengthened and it was the RS400s who were able to cope better. Both Martin Browne and Richard Fyrer were the only two boats from the all comers class who were able to finish all four races. With the big waves and strong gusts the gybes were good entertainment for the committee boat!

Overall Results: