D-Zero Open at South Cerney Sailing Club

D-Zeros at South Cerney © Dave Whittle

The South Cerney D-Zero Open Meeting took place on the weekend of 11th/12th March 2017. Running over two days and in conjunction with the RS300 Winter Championship, the schedule was for three back to back races on Saturday afternoon followed by a further three races on Sunday morning.

The forecast early in the preceding had promised so much, but as so often seems to happen, by the time the weekend rolled around it appeared that WindGuru had run out of colours and the six competitors were met with light and variable winds on Saturday.

With a light South-westerly breeze Race Office Paul Kimmens had set a course that gave a beat the full length of the lake, ensuring that the ability to find the available breeze was handsomely rewarded both upwind and downwind. All three races followed a similar pattern with a close and compact fleet for the first lap before fragmenting into smaller boat on boat battles after the second beat.

D-Zeros at South Cerney - photo © Dave Whittle

In Race 1 Rob Lennox showed his mastery of the tricky conditions to sail away into a commanding lead followed by Graham Cooper in second. Tom Southwell and Ian Morgan continued their Netley rivalry for 3rd and 4th, Tom staying ahead as Ian was not finding the Lake conditions to his liking. At the back of the fleet Kian Andrews and Chris Jeffries were enjoying their own battle.

The wind picked up a little during Race 2 and this time it was Tom who sailed a flawless race to take the win from Rob in second followed Ian in third, whilst Kian, Chris and Graham were swapping places constantly until the last run where Chris managed to find the dying breeze to pull ahead into fourth.

D-Zeros at South Cerney - photo © Dave Whittle

Following a slight delay whilst the RS300s were a little too enthusiastic at their start, the last race of the day saw Rob reassert his dominance and following an initial battle with Ian, again build an unassailable lead. Kian had a fantastic charge through the fleet over the last lap and a half to overtake Ian at the last mark. Chris found himself in a comfortable gap in fourth whilst Graham just held off a recovering Tom who inexplicably seemed to be having problems making his usual progress!

Racing was completed in time to watch the rugby and Saturday evening allowed those competitors staying over to enjoy a fantastic curry night laid on by the club with a few beers and plenty of conversation before retiring to tents and vans for the night.

Sunday dawned to the gentle patter of rain on canvas and a mirror-like lake with no hint of wind. Despite postponing the start in the hope of the breeze filling in, by 11am it was apparent that there was going to be no imminent improvement and therefore unfortunately further racing was abandoned. Consequently the final results were determined by the combined score from the 3 Saturday races.

Congratulations to Rob Lennox who won with 4 points. Tom Southwell and Ian Morgan were tied for second and third with 10 points with Tom taking second thanks to his first place in race 2.

Rob Lennox wins the South Cerney D-Zero Open - photo © Dave Whittle

Thanks to all the helpers, volunteers and competitors for making a successful event in spite of the weather. It was great to see fierce but friendly competition at all positions throughout the fleet!

Overall Results: