Thames A Rater Open at Tamesis Club
by Jim Green 22 Sep 2004 09:19 BST
18-19 September 2004
Nine Thames A Raters from Thames Sailing Club and Upper Thames Sailing Club competed at Tamesis Club on 18/19 September.
'Osprey', sailed by Paul Browning, Justin Dunn & Graham Bartholomew, won both the Yates Cup and the Braganza Bowl in a keenly contested series of four races, with the best three results to count.
Although 'Osprey' made an excellent start, with two firsts and a third, 'Spindrift' (Martin Hunter, Jeremy Keorns & Chris Downham), with a second, third and first, could have taken the trophy by winning the last race. However, 'Osprey' prevented this with some very competitive tactical sailing at the downstream mark as she luffed 'Spindrift' above the buoy to let two other Raters through.
The decisive last race was won by 'Vagabond' (Miles Palmer, Paul Armitage & Ben McVeigh), which, having taken two seconds in the earlier races finished with the same points total as 'Osprey' but lost on the tiebreak.
These three Raters also dominated the Yates Cup race on Saturday afternoon in a strong SW wind, with 'Osprey' first, 'Vagabond' second, and 'Spindrift' third. The wind over the weekend produced some strong gusts in the open stretches of the reach and provided almost perfect conditions for speedy sailing of the magnificent A Raters.
Overall Results:
Braganza Bowl
1st 'Osprey' Paul Browning, Justin Dunn and Graham Bartholomew
2nd 'Vagabond' Miles Palmer, Paul Armitage and Ben McVeigh
3rd 'Spindrift' Martin Hunter, Jeremy Keorns and Chris Downham
Yates Cup
1st 'Osprey' Paul Browning, Justin Dunn and Graham Bartholomew
2nd 'Vagabond' Miles Palmer, Paul Armitage and Ben McVeigh
3rd 'Spindrift' Martin Hunter, Jeremy Keorns and Chris Downham