3000 Travellers at Wilsonian Sailing Club

Strong winds characterised the flavour of the event as a good turnout of six visitors from as far away as Ullswater and Preston and four home boats assembled at Wilsonian Sailing Club for the third 3000 Class Travellers Trophy open meeting of 2008, run as part of the Medway Dinghy Regatta over the weekend of 19th/20th July.

Saturday provided weather pretty much in accordance of the Met. Office’s forecast of 16mph with gusts of up to 35mph, except that most people felt they were sailing in the gusts most of the day! The morning added the excitement of large wind-over-tide chop to the mix, while the anticipated relief of the afternoon’s wind-with-tide situation was reduced by the effects of still more wind. As a consequence, the morning’s 9 mile race saw only two official finishers, with Tony Hunt and David Bourne shaken and stirred in first place, and David Fenech and Alison Williams in second spot.

Alison’s ribs having had a fight with the boom during a capsize in which the boom won, she was unable to sail in the afternoon, but she later gamely returned to race hard on the Sunday. Class Chairman Graham Blake crewed by Class Secretary Rob Leigh persevered with unfamiliar territory and conditions to struggle all the way round the course only to be rewarded with a DNF upon arrival home after expiry of the time limit.

Things were still worse in the afternoon, with only Hunt and Bourne recording a finish after a 10.35 mile course. The new pairing of David Fenech and Martin Brown (who had stepped for Alison) were initially jubilant, as they believed they had secured top slot, having lost sight of Hunt and Bourne and assumed them to have been victims of the conditions.

They were therefore dismayed to realise later that the course they had followed omitted a second loop downriver. We’ve all written the course down wrong on occasion, but after such a hard sail this instance was a particularly bitter pill to swallow. Stewart Patience and James Friday were even more unlucky: having elected not to race, they ended up with a broken mast while free-sailing. The day’s tribulations were discussed and the sailing world set to right, however, over an excellent barbecue, before most people sought out an early bed to recover.

The Met. Office forecast for Sunday was little better than for Saturday, but in the event the conditions were a much more manageable, largely-force 4 wind with moderate gusts. Blake and Leigh added to their tale of woes by forgetting to tally, while Hunt and Bourne, still shattered after their Saturday’s experiences decided to call it a day after a win over a 7 mile course in the morning, leaving the field open for a close contest in the afternoon. Racing over a course identical to the morning’s, with a series of fun, planing two-sail reaches at the bottom of the course, competitors were able to focus on their sailing and the fleet was more bunched, with plenty of place changing.

Dan Hollands and Andrew Thompson from Hythe and Saltwood SC in their brand new boat realised the promise of their early challenge for the lead in the morning by taking the afternoon win after early leaders Fenech and Williams had gone for an uncharacteristic kite-trawl. Joe Pester and Lyndi Jones, outstanding in their Laser 3000 at Carsington, filled third slot in the race, still coming to terms with the Vandercraft demo boat.

Builder Jeff Vander Borght arrived after racing on the Sunday to keep his finger on the pulse of the class, while competitors discussed the prospects of the next open in August at Lyme Regis, and September’s National Championships at Rutland Water.

Overall Results: