Firefly Open at Bough Beech Sailing Club hosted by Sevenoaks School

Firefly open hosted by Sevenoaks School © Andy Cornah

Sevenoaks School hosted a new one day open meeting on the Firefly circuit at their base at Bough Beech SC. The fleet of 13 boats included pupils from both Sevenoaks and Tonbridge schools, and presented a great opportunity to practice before the forthcoming schools regatta at Itchenor. A number of other schools had expressed interest, but summer exams got in the way!

Five races were sailed around a square course. Sailors had to be on the look out for different bands of pressure and large shifts, both upwind and downwind, so the racing was close with places changing throughout. Those alert enough to see the starting line being moved between races so the bias gradually went from the committee boat to the pin, were also rewarded!

Overall, Alex Davey sailing with his son Thomas won, (Thomas, 6, sailing in his first open meeting). Second and third were only separated after a number of tie breaking techniques were deployed, with Matthew Caiger and Helen jones finishing second and George Haynes and Loris Gliner third.

The National Firefly Association thanks Sevenoaks School for hosting the event and is keen to hear from any other schools and universities around the country keen to run open meetings for their fleets. We also wish the best of luck to all the competitors (including those from Sevenoaks and Tonbridge) sailing at Itchenor. A fleet of 40 Fireflys is anticipated.

Overall Results:

1st Alex & Thomas Davey, 4pts
2nd Matthew Caiger & Helen Jones, 12pts
3rd George Haynes & Loris Gliner, 12pts
4th Ed Haynes & Issy Gordon, 14pts
5th Thomas Smith & Dan Wilson, 15pts