Buzz National Championship at Port of Plymouth Sailing Association
by Julian Miles 5 Jul 2016 17:05 BST
2-3 July 2016
Buzz Nationals at Plymouth © Mary-Ann Paddison
Six races in 3 to 30 knots, rain squalls to baking sun, 6 different boats with finishes in the top 2 and only 2 points separating the first 3 boats - what an outstanding weekend racing!
Saturday was characterised by widely changing wind and weather provided by the numerous rain squalls. Capsizes were frequent, with few escaping a dunking, and place changes were plentiful.
Sunday was gentler, but with dramatic changes in wind direction, and careful tactics were required in the spring tides. The weather was tropical at times, with one of the helms taking a swim between races; deliberately of course! Stuart Bailey and Neil Oxton were the eventual national champions but, at the beginning of the final race, three different crews were still in contention.
Hosted by the Port of Plymouth Sailing Association with support from many of the local clubs, the regatta was well organised and the race officer did a fine job of laying true starts and courses in changing conditions. Roger and Penny kindly provided garden camping for many visiting crews and Walter and Julian organised tea and cake after each days sailing. The BBQ on the Saturday evening gave us chance to exchange tales and ideas after the first exhausting day.
As well as many of the usual Buzz fleet, we were delighted to welcome Rob and Tom Deverell to their first nationals and they did well to survive the challenging conditions!
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 2000 | Stuart Baily | Neil Oxton | Medway SC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | ‑5 | 4 | 11 |
| 2nd | 1027 | Jane Noble | Mark Wilson | Langstone SC | 4 | 3 | ‑5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 3rd | 748 | Matt Butler | Frankie Cook | . | 3 | (DNC) | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| 4th | 966 | Julian Miles | Iain Christie | MBC | 2 | 2 | ‑6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 16 |
| 5th | 987 | Roger Eyre | Penny Eyre | MBC | ‑7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
| 6th | 949 | Mark Turner | Rob Turner | Warsash SC | 6 | 4 | 2 | ‑8 | 6 | 8 | 26 |
| 7th | 860 | Walter Douie | Jason Holtom | | 5 | ‑7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 32 |
| 8th | 1055 | Tris Turner | Mike Wren | MBC | 8 | 6 | 8 | 7 | ‑9 | 6 | 35 |
| 9th | 469 | Rob Deverell | Tom Deverell | Warsash SC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 9 | 8 | DNC | 47 |