Blazes at the Paignton Open for Single Handers (POSH)

Paignton Posh Regatta © Steve Ashford

Eleven Blazes shed their covers to bask in the Torbay sun on 12/13th May. The excuse for some of the usual congregation of miscreants was the inaugural POSH (Paignton Open for Single Handers) and, judging by the forecast, mucking about with mast rake was to be the limit of pre-bar excitement: a paltry few knots from the north east, coming almost squarely over the beach and destined to go south, in both senses of the phrase.

These days low expectations are rarely revised upward but for once everybody was pleasantly surprised by a good deal more breeze than expected, eight knots, east north east. That'll do.

So after the usual preamble, "sail around the buoys, they're the big orange things, until we tell you to stop," the 66 competitors doused themselves in sun cream and made their way to the beach for an (in equal measure) unexpected, unwelcome and embarrassing session of 'How Many Sailors Does It Take To Drag A Boat Through Quicksand With The Force Of Their Own Grunting', that ever popular beach sport of the sailing fraternity.

On the water life was simple. Square courses, three starts and a steadily building breeze. Faced with a port biased line and a mark firmly on the left side of the beat, most of the fleet ducked right early in the hope of tacking on the forecast southerly shifts and getting lifted in to the mark. That was the plan, anyway. After leading off the line, Jon Saunders (789), Mike Lyons (781) and Roger Williams (762) did battle for the lead. A few tacks up the centre in uncharacteristically shifty conditions saw Saunders lead around the windward mark, followed by Lyons and Williams.

The order was threatened when Saunders missed the further southerly shift that made the beat in to a fetch and failed to tack on the leeward mark to make the best course. Lyons did and closed the gap, but did not overtake. That shift skewed every leg and removed anything resembling a beat or a run, leaving the fleet with very few overtaking opportunities.

After re-laying the course to meet the southerly shift race two got underway with a whimper. With every southerly twitch the breeze ebbed a little more and by the time the third start came round nobody was doing any hiking/having any fun (except the Phantoms) anymore. The beat was square, though and Lyons led from the off, sailing low and fast to the right side of the beat. Saunders followed him right but was pipped to the mark by Paul Taylor (751), who had struck out to the left. Lyons got away clear and left Taylor, Saunders and Williams to engage in a game of "why gybe once when ten will do" on the downwind.

For all their acrobatics the order remained all the painful way to the finish. Sensing that time might be running out, the race team had the first start of race three away before the last boats were finished. Opinion divided over the bias of the line, (clearly port, in my mind) but Lyons again sailed successfully off from the starboard end and tacked for the right side early. This time he got away completely clean and in the dying breeze Taylor eventually followed, then Williams after sailing over Saunders on the reach to the wing mark.

The sail back in was painful, but the club bar was very reasonably priced and with a curry dinner included in the modest entry fee there really was nothing to complain about. Except the wind, but we always do that.

When the bar's supply of (specially procured) real ale was depleted – what is it about single-handers and real ale? Blazes from near and far retreated to a couple of local watering holes to while away the time before bed. The forecast for Sunday was pitifully light, with only the slender hope of a sea breeze to make it sailable.

As dawn broke, predictions proved accurate and the glassy surface of Torbay prompted a postponement. So we wiggled each other's shrouds for an hour or so, ogled kicker setups and the Contenders' gorgeous varnished hulls.

A mere half hour later though and the rippling surface to the east crept toward shore. Five knots became eight and the first race got away barely an hour behind schedule. Lyons and Saunders raced up the center, with Lyons showing truly contemptuous boat speed (or that's how it felt from behind, anyway). A gap quickly widened between him and Saunders, who very nearly gave away his second place by stacking a simple gybe in ten knots of breeze. Bad form, that.

No sooner had the race finished when the slow, predictable build and shift south became violent. Fifteen knots plus blew in with a 40 degree southerly shift that prompted re-laying. And re-laying again as 40 degrees became 90 degrees.

With the beat finally squared the final race got underway. Lyons had little to fear, neither Saunders nor Taylor could beat him simply by winning. It would take a DSQ to cost him the series. The first two flights had split completely and enough had struck out to the right successfully to tempt Saunders and local sailor Nick Ripley (545) to follow suit. For a time it looked very promising, until Lyons, who had hedged his bets in the centre, came creaming across to cover.

And that, gentlemen, was very much the end of that. Lyons lead widened, as leads often do in this sport, and while Pete Barlow (758) came through in the heavier breeze to challenge Saunders he too had to settle for what he could get, finishing third. The other chasers might have been closer but for a curious incident which left Williams upturned and Ripley rebuilding his rudder on the water. Tut tut. As the Blazes had fielded more than ten boats they were awarded fleet prizes. Lyons won, followed by Saunders and Taylor.

Before I go, a little on POSH. While not blessed with consistent wind on this occasion there was a lot to commend this first POSH event – many clubs and classes could benefit from copying the format. Locally there is of course, the beautiful open water of the bay, the (mostly) easy launching, lots of cheap accommodation, low ‘beverage' prices and the chance to compete in the clearly popular format of a multi-class open that is bound to grow. It really is a winning combination and I'll definitely be going again... next year it will be practice at POSH as the 2013 Blaze Paignton Nationals that will follow a few weeks later.

Overall Results: