Wayfarer Southern Area Championship at Shoreham Sailing Club

Wayfarers at Shoreham © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

Wayfarers at Shoreham © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

The Wayfarer fleet had a chance to warm up for their National Championship in August when they visited Shoreham Sailing Club over the weekend of 16/17 July for their Southern Area Championships and Craftinsure National Circuit event.

A fleet of 13 boats competed over the weekend. The fleet included the first appearance on the circuit this season of Bill Whitney and John Shelton from the host club. Shoreham SC also provided a couple of ringers in borrowed boats because local talents Peter Snowdon and Louise Carr borrowed 11046 and young tyro Calum Tait sailed 10690 with the experienced Philip Ayton as his crew.

This event was also an opportunity for Michael McNamara and Simon Townsend to debut their new boat. We are obviously going to have to look out for a black boat at the front of the fleet in future rather than the famous aqua green coloured hull.

Racing took place over two days of hot sunshine. The wind, in truth, did not reach the forecast strength and racing took place on Saturday in a south easterly peaking at about 10 knots but fading as the afternoon went on. The third and final race of the day was sailed in much lighter conditions which meant the race was a bit of a struggle for all.

Sunday's racing was held in similar conditions. Again, the wind did not rise much above 10 knots and was mostly lighter than that.

There were encouraging performances from several teams over the weekend. Bill and John placed second in the first and third races to finish third overall just in front of Andrew and Martin Wilson. Just behind the Wilsons were Calum and Philip who, after a mediocre Saturday, enjoyed some excellent results on the Sunday. In taking second place overall, John Goudie and Sam Boniface continued their good form from the Inland Championships at Datchet a couple of months ago, winning the second race and being well placed at various times in most of the other races over the weekend.

Wayfarers at Shoreham - photo © Warwick Baker / www.warwickpics.com

The winners were Michael McNamara and Simon Townsend who seemed to get faster as the weekend went on as they adjusted to their new boat. They won five of the six races sailed but did not have it all their own way. They won the first race only in the last few yards of the final beat to the finish line. They were well beaten in the second race by the corner banging John and Sam. In all of the other races, however, Michael and Simon were pretty much in control and seemed to master the difficult conditions with aplomb.

William Warren and his team managed the racing efficiently and even brought out the black flag after just the one general recall (mistaking us for Merlins, no doubt) but that seemed to do the trick. No more misdemeanours. A big thank you to everybody at Shoreham SC for making the Wayfarers so welcome and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Overall Results: