Comet Duo National Championships and World Series Event at Cransley Sailing Club

This was the fourth year that Cransley Sailing Club has held the event and we had a great turnout on a tranquil wind day (Force 2 occasionally 3, and sometimes 0-1 in the wind shadows!).

We welcomed a total of fourteen boats with half being "Billy no mates" and the others having secured crews. It was truly a National event as we had 2 visitors, Mark Devaney from Hampton Pier SC (Kent) and Nigel and Anne Ford (Olton Mere SC, Solihull).

Faced with a tricky south easterly wind, the race officer chose a boat start for each race something that was alien to the majority of those sailing. It was apparent that if you could dodge the wind shadows then you might be able to break away Myself and Peter Stein, closely followed by Mark - totally un-phased by no tides or dolphins! - managed to do this in Race 1.

The course was around as many buoys as the duty officer could get on the board and consequently one lap was between 13 and 16 minutes long, which for the wind and size of our water was using every inch of the reservoir.

Comet Duo National Championships and World Series Event 2019 - photo © Helen Britton

Lunch was designed by our caterers to slow folk down even more and sure enough our visitors fell for this local trick in Race 2, with Nigel and Anne not recovering in Race 3 and calling it a day, whilst Mark did gain a creditable sixth to place fifth overall (which I think he was happy with being his first racing against Duos only).

There was close competitive racing throughout the fleet in all 3 races but it was carried out amicably and with lots of banter - just how it should be!. It was great to see a lot of youngsters either crewing or helming and whilst these wonderful boats are no longer being built and most are more than 20 years old they do sail lovely and to handicap on smaller waters like Cransley.

The results show the ups and downs of each, however everyone gets a prize - I mean, this is the Worlds!

We are hoping to get to the magical 18 boats next year so we can claim that over 10% of the built fleet attended the event - I wonder if any other class could or has claimed that!

Thanks to all for making it another cracking event and look forward to seeing you next year.

Overall Results:

Comet Duo National Championships and World Series Event 2019 - photo © Helen Britton