Videlo Globe Footy Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club
by Roger Stollery 28 Apr 2015 08:39 BST
26 April 2015
Frensham Pond Sailing Club hosted the third of the 2015 Footy Travellers' Series and gave competitors 18 races in extremely cold northerly winds.
The grey conditions did not put off the enthusiasm of the Footy boys, who enjoyed some very close and exciting racing over a short windward leeward course. The racing close to the control area was set against a background of the sailing club's Laser and Enterprise dinghy fleets sailing at the far end of the Pond. Middle size rigs were set to cope with the 8 mph winds and steep waves that built up against the lee shore of the racing area.
At the start of racing it looked as if the results would be dominated by Peter Shepherd sailing his narrow FAT BOY, as he won the first 4 races, against the chasing group of Peter Jackson, Charles Smith and David Wilkinson. However David, sailing his Swiss design, BREITHORN, got his boat going really well with a narrow balanced una rig and won the next 4 races, with the chasing pack now including a newcomer to radio open racing, Frank Wood, sailing an ICE with a couple of third places. Peter Jackson sailing a new FAT BOY SLIM 2 came to the front to win Race 9 before letting Peter Shepherd win again to close the morning's racing 4 points ahead of David.
After lunch, the two Peters shared the wins in Races 11 and 12, before Peter Shepherd stamped his authority on the racing to win the next 4 races, being chased by Frank Wood and Peter Jackson, with 4 second places between them. The final 2 races were a battle between the 2 leading boats, with David reinforcing his challenge with a couple of first places. However this was not enough to stop Peter Shepherd retaining the Videlo Globe.
The 3 leading boats all fitted into the Footy measuring box diagonally, so are a little longer than the axial measured boats, but the main reason for their success was the sailing experience of their skippers. David continues to experiment with his various Footy designs and on his BREITHORN has a very straightforward thin flat sheet fin made from 2 mm thick carbon sheet with a simply rounded front edge and the minimum of faring at the back edge, which he informed us is theoretically the best shape to minimise drag at this small scale.
At the prizegiving the PRO, Roger Stollery and his Frensham team of John, Derek and Charles were thanked for putting on another good Footy open event, in spite of the freezing conditions. Frank Wood was delighted to win the novice prize presented by www.sailfootyuk.com for the best skipper not to have achieved a top 3 place in any of the Footy Traveller's Series. Previously, he had only taken part in a few IOM club events and really loved the fact that racing was so close to the control area and that "as the boats are so small and manoeuvrable there was plenty of space to sail in and avoid collisions".
Overall Results:
1st Peter Shepherd, Abington Park, FAT BOY, 20pts
2nd David Wilkinson, Cotswold, BREITHORN, 31pts
3RD Peter Jackson, Abington Park, FAT BOY SLIM, 37pts
4th Frank Wood, Frensham Pond, ICE, 59pts
5th Keith Parrott, Frensham Pond, ICE, 75pts
6th Charles Smith, Frensham Pond, ICE, 88pts
7th Bryan Stichbury, Frensham Pond, SUPABUG, 112pts
8th Graham Whitehead, Frensham Pond, ICE, 124pts
9th Peter Dunne Guildford, SUPABUG, 150pts