Solution Open at Llandudno Sailing Club

Solutions at Llandudno © Sue Tubb

The Solution fleet were joined by a mix of Hornets, Scorpions and GP14s for the end of April Llandudno Open meeting.

Most of the Solution sailors arrived Friday evening for some food - now was it Dylans at 7:30 or Henrys or Harveys at 7:00, I can't remember, other than I got it wrong. A few drinks at the club bar afterwards gave us all just enough courage to battle against the howling wind along the promenade back to our digs.

Storm Hannah had arrived, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. After a full breakfast we all leisurely arrived for the briefing on Saturday morning, and as everyone anticipated, it was brief - AP over A and we'll see you tomorrow! Caution dictated that masts were best left down, and boats strapped to trailers in the boat park so we looked for alternative entertainment.

Other activites for the Solutions at Llandudno as Storm Hannah hits - photo © Sue Tubb

Deciding that as we couldn't get cold, wet and exhausted out sailing, we'd seek the same results by trekking 400 feet up the Great Orme to Llandudno's ski slope. The toboggan run was closed, possibly because we might aqua plane down the run and end up on the pier. However we managed to have a great time hurtling down the slope getting drenched and giddy in rubber donut rings. The lovely hot chocolates in the alpine lodge afterwards were well deserved.

After more food at a place with another man's name, the giant Jenga set in the club house came into play for the annual contest against the Scorpions. We weren't really keeping score but an over exuberant tug of one block, a bit like trying to whip out a table cloth from under a load of crockery, sent it flying into the bar, nearly taking out a row of optics, so the Scorpions got full marks for artistic flair.

Thankfully Storm Hannah had left overnight and there was a good westerly breeze on Sunday morning. There was still a decent swell though, so I went easy on the breakfast for obvious reasons. To make up for lost days racing, the race officer ran 4 back to back races using a triangle sausage course.

In the first race Martin Tubb went right up the beat to get the best of the tide and was first to the windward mark, before we headed back towards the clubhouse on our first lap. However Josh Hamer was in hot pursuit and took the lead to win. Martin managed to keep ahead of Kevin Clark with Paul Nix and Ian Ramsay taking 4th and 5th respectively. Kathryn Clark decided the conditions were too rough for her, and Llandudno local Peter Fisk was out injured.

Race 2 was a three way battle with Josh again taking the win, Kevin second and Martin third, all reaching to the finish line within 15 seconds of each other, in what was the closest race of the day, and probably the year.

By race 3 the tide was slack and Kevin took the win with Josh and Martin not far behind.

For the final race of the day, the wind had swung more to the north, and the windward mark was moved out towards the end of the pier. By the final lap the windward leg was against a strong tide and we arrived at the mark at the same time as a swarm of GPs which made for an interesting rounding with several GPs1 being pinned against the mark by the tide. Kevin made the best rounding and took the race win, Josh took a couple of attempts to get around to take second. After 3 attempts Martin finally got around with Paul close on his tail.

This proved to be pivotal as with the discard Kevin took the overall win on equal points with Josh who was second. Martin and Paul taking solid 3rd and 4th places.

Thanks again to Llandudno Sailing Club for hosting a great event in testing conditions.

Overall Results: