Optimists at Frampton-on-Severn Sailing Club

Frampton-on-Severn Sailing Club hosted its annual Optimist open meeting on Sunday 8th July. 14 visitors, including a massive 10 from local club Bowmoor and 2 each from Bristol Corinthian and Durleigh, joined 6 home boats to make a nicely balanced fleet of 10 boats in both Main and Regatta fleets.

The visitors were welcomed with little wind and a forecast of 7-9mph from the North that would supposedly veer through NNW to settle in from the west by mid-afternoon – if the weather forecast was to be believed.

In a change from the usual format, Race Officer Andy Smith set one larger course for the 2 fleets, but kept the fleets separate – in order to help those more novice sailors in the Regatta fleet from the cut and thrust of the keener sailors in the Main fleet. The breeze came in right on cue, literally 2 minutes before the Main fleet start and the first of the 2 morning, back-to-back races was held in a gentle F1 breeze.

Last year’s winner Jamie Harris (BCYC) led from the off but was quickly passed by Ben Gray (Bowmoor) who then built a sizeable lead during the race. Jamie retained 2nd and Matthew Brown (also Bowmoor) took 3rd. This set the pattern for the other 3 Main fleet races where no-one else could break into the top 3. In the end, Jamie won each of the other 3 races and was a worthy winner overall and Ben counted two 2nd places together with his 1st from Race 1 to take 2nd place overall ahead of Matthew.

In the Regatta fleet, Christian Conlan from Bowmoor ran away with both the morning races, despite close opposition early on from Issy Spurway (also Bowmoor) and Joseph Cohen (last year’s winner) and Olly Burton (both from the host club). In the 2nd race, the wind almost died to nothing and then filled-in either from the North, but also occasionally from the North East which led to both fleets becoming quite spread out. In both fleets though, it was the same few suspects who kept in the wind and their noses in front.

As the 2nd race finished in a flat calm, the course was reconfigured to take account of where the wind had consistently filled-in from during Race 2 (the NE) and everyone was towed out to the start line for the 2nd set of 2 back-to-back races. During the start sequence however, a more robust F2-3 filled in from the SW which led to a dead downwind start and an inevitable general recall for the Main fleet. The restart was better behaved and only one boat had to return, but the sight of 10 Oppies side-by-side at the leeward mark looked as though there could be an interesting race on, but the leeward mark was rounded without incident.

However, given the course that had been set prior to the wind change, 3 of the 4 legs became very one-sided which resulted in few place changes, except that the first 4 boats in the Regatta fleet caught up the 5 minutes later start time overtook the back-markers of the Main fleet! In the Main fleet Jamie and Ben did a horizon job, as did Joseph Cohen in the Regatta fleet.

Given that the wind had now settled down in both direction and strength, the course was hastily changed again for the final race – basically the course for race 3 but in reverse with verbal communications only to the competitors to explain the course change, but at least we did have a lead boat – and the line was re-set in a little over 10 minutes.

In hindsight, this must have looked a bit confusing for the many parents on the shore. In the Main fleet, Jamie and Ben again sailed away confidently from the rest of the fleet to secure 1st and 2nd overall respectively, with Jamie retaining his title from last year. There was some confusion in the Regatta fleet as to which way to round a couple of the marks, but as there were no collisions or incidents and given the hasty change of course instructions, the race committee took the pragmatic decision to not penalize anyone – after all, the Regatta fleet is about introducing the newer sailors into racing, with a bit more flexibility on the finer details of the rules.

In the end, the top 4 places in the Regatta Fleet were separated only by 4 points – and the individual race positions also demonstrated remarkable consistency, given the conditions.

The club Commodore David Greenfield presented all the prizes and Jamie thanked the host club for their sterling efforts in organizing the event on behalf of the visitors. The club looks forward to another successful event in 2013.

Main Fleet Results:

Regatta Fleet Results: