3000 Open at Weir Wood Sailing Club

Saturday saw a very light south-easterly (unusual for Weir Wood), F1-2, so that the clubhouse end of the lake was sheltered from any wind. Once on the lake there was enough breeze to sail, made all the more testing by the windshifts, and made for some very close racing after a morning training session.

The first race – a windward-leeward course saw Tony Hunt back in 3603 for the first time in a year take the lead with his temporary crew Peter Heyes, but Martin Brown and Max (3608) pulled ahead from the second lap after Tony had rounded the wrong the leeward buoy, only for David Fenech and Alison Williams (3605) to take the lead and 1st place on the final leg of the race. Chris and Kathy Williams moved into 4th just ahead of Rory David and Bethan Longley from Weir Wood.

A triangular course was set for the second race, which following a wind shift proved an interesting variation on the windward leeward course. Dave and Alison managed to take the lead in this race, but couldn’t hold on to this as Martin and Max passed them on the downwind leg. Tony and Peter, never recovering from the fleet's only capsize of the day, took 3rd place. Chris and Kathy maintained a strong 4th place with Rory and Bethan a good 5th.

The fleet then sat down to an excellent meal prepared by Carolyn Chandler, who also set a fiendish quiz, the result of which was finally secondary to the sheer achievement of finishing it!

Sunday morning and hopes of seeing the stronger winds that were forecast looked like being realised, but not quite to the strength expected. A much better F2-3 made for some more exciting sailing with some planing on the downwind legs. By contrast with the Saturday, the RO set a series of tight spinnaker reaches in place of the run, which remained only in vestigial form for just the last leg of the first race of the day, yet still proved critical. Dave and Alison took the lead of Race 3, but only just ahead of Martin and Max. Just before the final leeward buoy at the end of the short run, Tony with his Sunday crew Fenella Williams, enjoying her first race in a 3000, gybed into the lead and took line honours, pushing Dave and Alison off the buoy leaving them to make-do with a 3rd place. Chris and Kathy again took a strong 4th place. A lot of close racing in the rest of the fleet resulted in Chris and Ginny Marshall, joining only for the Sunday races, taking 5th.

The fourth race of the event saw Dave and Alison successfully spot the 1st buoy and take the lead, while the rest of the fleet headed for where it had been in the previous race! The team with the fluorescent yellow kite then disappeared over the horizon to hold the position to the finish. Next to arrive at the first mark were Chris and Kathy, who had got off to an excellent start. Tony and Fenella moved into 2nd place on the downwind leg, but Chris and Kathy maintained the 3rd as Martin and Max, OCS, could not make up the ground they had lost.

The final race with an improving wind saw Chris and Kathy Williams arrive first at the first mark only to have Tony and Fenella pass them with more momentum on rounding. Dave and Alison struggled on the first downwind leg; however, they pulled ahead on the downwind leg of the 2nd lap as Tony and Fenella had a kite-snarl on the port-gybe hoist then later struggled to hold their kite on one of the zigzag downwind legs, leaving Dave and Alison to take 1st place. Martin and Max this time were unable to claim a place on the short, starboard-biased start line and had to tack off to avoid the committee boat. They nonetheless recovered to 3rd place, ahead of Chris and Kathy in 4th, while Rory and Bethan finally got the better of Chris and Ginny to claim 5th.

Overall, an excellent weekend of enjoyable racing and excellent hosting by Weir Wood SC. David Fenech and Alison Williams showed consistent speed and excellent team-work, and were clear winners, while 2nd place went to Tony Hunt and Fenella Williams/Peter Heyes over 3rd placed Martin Brown and Max Caston based on the result of the final race, after tying on count-back. The Silver Fleet trophy was awarded to 4th-placed Chris and Kathy for their solid performance in a Laser 3000. It was observed that with the exception of husband and wife team Chris and Kathy, their Williams name-sakes in the other boats were unrelated, leading to the conclusion that the surname must at least be helpful to 3000 sailing! While the visitors thus mopped up all the trophies, the home boats made visible strides forward over the course of the weekend's intense class racing, which will hopefully assist them in their future club racing.

Overall Results: