Osprey Open at Poole Yacht Club

by Paddy Lewis 1 Jul 2013 07:46 BST 22-23 June 2013

Basher dealt the ultimate blow with a bit of help from Wendy

Richard "Basher" Marshall crewed by Piers Strong finished the weekend on top of the leader board and he did it without needing to contact his insurance company to request a claim form, which is rare.

At the interview in the changing room afterwards, Basher proudly puffed out his red hairy chest and commented that this weekend's success can be put down to having read "The adventure of Peter Pan in Never Land" to his new crew Piers. "It is one of my favourite books of all times and has inspired me through out my sailing career" said Marshall. He went on to say that Piers was going to be a permanent fixture at the front of the boat and was hoping he would agree to being called Wendy from now on.

On the water Marshall and Strong dominated the event with two 1st places and a 2nd to count, winning the first race on Saturday by at least half a leg. Piers has clearly been a fabulous addition to the boat and his training last year in the GBR Olympic squad coupled with skills picked up that lead to the top spot in the 420 Nationals in 2009, will make these two major contenders for the Nationals this year.

Elsewhere in the fleet there were mixed fortunes. Stevie George and Mikey Greig sadly had limited success on the water. However, the weekend was not a complete disaster thanks to a chance meeting in a lay-by on the way to the event of a Welsh gentleman, needless to say called Dowie, who was selling a sofa and some other flat pack furniture. After a bit of haggling a price of half the starting figure was agreed and the sofa was proudly loaded on to the roof of the van, flat pack inside and of they trotted to Poole.

Stevie excitedly called the lovely Mrs George post the opportune transaction to say he had brought her a new sofa but when he told her where he'd got it it was rejected. Luckily Mikey had a plan B. His brother Pete was moving house on Saturday and was sure to need a sofa, flat pack wardrobe, chest of draws and a bedside table. A call was made to Pete, 20% margin added, deal done collected that evening. Great trade guys, better luck on the water at Weymouth.

Pete Frith and Martin Cooney were in the hunt over the weekend sailing consistently both days. However, Sunday nearly didn't happen for them because Pete managed to drop his car keys down the drain outside his house, which he is hoping to retrieve with a magnet later. Good luck with that!

Other news from the weekend, Russ Wheeler filled us in on his conquests at the 505 world championships in Barbados, none of which were on the water. Well done Russ!

Midge Watkins helmed her dad Alastair Watkins and didn't stop smiling all weekend. Other teams reported hearing lots of "Come on Daddy are you really to tack" and "You'll have to be a bit quicker that that if we are going to get past Paddy and Ollie" which they did a couple of times! One to watch.

There was some impressive sailing from Broomhall and the Young Man. More from them expected at the Nationals.

Terry Curtis and Tim Bowden in 1281 had a great result as runners-up. They may need to brush up on the three boat length rule before Weymouth but other than that had an impressive weekend back at 1281's old home.

All in all another fantastic weekend#s gossip interspersed with some sailing. Thanks to everyone at Poole for laying on such a great couple of days. Heaven knows why 160,000 people chose to go to Glastonbury rather than coming to the Poole Osprey Open meeting. It's actually lucky they stayed away because we would have run out of cake!

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	LUV BITS	1343	RICHARD MARSHALL	PIERS STRONG	POOLE	1	‑7	2	1	4
2nd	WHITE KNUCKLES	1281	TERRY CURTIS	TIM BOWDEN	WEYMOUTH	2	‑5	1	4	7
3rd	OH SPRAY	1311	CHRIS GOULD	NICK BROOMHALL	BLITHFIELD	‑4	2	3	2	7
4th	SWIFT WUN	1290	MARTIN COONEY	PETER FRITH	POOLE	3	1	4	‑5	8
5th	WHITE	1348	MIKE PICKERING	MIKE PRIDDLE	RESTRONGUET	‑10	3	6	3	12
6th	YABBADABBA DO	1272	PHIL ANGRAVE	PETER SMITH	POOLE	5	4	‑11	6	15
7th		1280	STEVE GEORGE	MICHAEL GREIG	MOUNTS BAY	‑9	6	5	9	20
8th	WAIMANU	1291	PETER BANNISTER	NICK WILLIS	HISC	6	9	7	‑11	22
9th	WHITESTAR	1296	MARCUS SCRACE	PHIL MALE	CCSC	7	‑13	10	8	25
10th	BAA BAA	1337	PADDY LEWIS	OLIVER HOBSON	SHOREHAM	8	8	‑15	13	29
11th	SCHIAFFINO	1207	MARTIN LEWIS	STEVE OLDALE	POOLE	‑15	11	8	10	29
12th	JUST POGO	1114	ROS DOWNS	DAVID DOWNS	TATA STEEL	12	10	13	‑17	35
13th	LIGHT N BITTER	1292	PAUL HEATHER	JONATHAN OSGOOD	TEIGNMOUTH	13	‑17	17	7	37
14th	BARKING MAD	1298	MICHAEL ATKINSON	STUART MAUNDER	POOLE	11	14	‑19	12	37
15th	CURVED AIR	1338	KEN BROWN	CHRIS BUTTERS	IOSSC	16	15	9	‑19	40
16th	BIG GIRLS BLOUSE	1295	PHIL GREETHAM	CHRIS GREETHAM	POOLE	(DNF)	12	14	14	40
17th	ANOTHER SWIFT HALF	1267	DAVE BEST	CHARLOTTE FLETCHER	POOLE	14	‑19	12	18	44
18th	PREY ENCORE	1319	MIDGE WATKINS	ALISTAIR WATKINS	POOLE	18	16	16	‑21	50
19th	STYLO	1341	RUSSELL WHEELER	MARK MAWHINNEY	IOSSC	(DNF)	18	18	15	51
20th		1195	PETE BARNSTABLE	RICH CUMBERBATCH	CASTLECOVE	17	20	(DNF)	16	53
21st	BRAVE NEW WORLD	1310	MIKE RICHARDSON	ANDY EDMONDS	POOLE	(DNF)	21	20	20	61