Optimist Open at Blackwater Sailing Club

Optimists at Blackwater © Tricia Parker

At the beginning of the week, the possibility of the second Blackwater Sailing Club Optimist Open meeting actually happening looked in doubt as the weather forecasters were predicting Hurricane force winds to sweep across the country. Fortuitously, they were all wrong and although Saturday dawned a little grey and overcast, there was a light to moderate breeze and the forecast of 16 mph, who could ask for more.

The fleet was split evenly with 7 home boats and 7 very welcome visitors and after bacon butties, they all launched and headed for the starting area. It appeared at this point that the forecast was to be even more incorrect as the wind appeared to be dropping to almost nothing.

Race 1 started with a tight bunch of boats at the pin end in what had become a very light breeze. With the fleet fighting to make it over the start line, as if by magic, suddenly someone appeared to have turned the wind back on again and the fleet began to make good progress up the windward leg. It was the home boat of Tom Johnson that took an early lead, one that he held until the finish taking the first gun of the day ahead of Alistair Grant with Matthew Jaysecara taking third.

The start of Race 2 saw an increase in the breeze accompanied by some stunning boat handling by visiting boat Matthew Wolstenholme who managed to weave his way amongst all the other boats to put himself in the perfect position to lead off the start. None of the fleet had left much distance between the front of their boats and the starting line and as they all headed off upwind in unison, it would have made a spectacular picture with virtually all the fleet crossing the line at the same time. For the majority of the first lap, the top four boats from race one were once again locked into a close battle with the places continually changing however at the first leeward mark, Tom Johnson had managed to sneak through to take the lead which he again held to the finish. It was Alistair Grant who took second spot again with Arthur Brown coming home in third.

By the start of race three, the wind had increased to a steady force 4 and swung slightly to the south. With the tide ebbing, the race officer chose to reset the course before sending the fleet on their way. The overall results were still far from decided with any one of the top three in a position to take the overall win. Tom Johnson however sailed a superb final race and led from start to finish to take the overall victory. Arthur Brown sailed an excellent final race to finish 2nd, however with Alistair picking up 3rd he managed to finish ahead of Arthur in the final calculations.

Whilst the first three positions were a close tussle between three boys, on the water they were not that far ahead of another close tussle between resident Optimist sailors Sophie Johnson and Blackwater Optimist Class Captain Beth Segura. It was however Sophie who ended up finishing a single point ahead of Beth to take a very impressive 4th with Beth in her first ever Open Meeting taking 5th.

Although the Optimist Fleet at Blackwater Sailing Club is only in its second year, it is growing steadily and rapidly and we hope to see many more faces coming to join us for the 2012 Optimist Open.

Overall Results: