Please select your home edition
Edition
Sailingfast 2018 728x90

Solo Open at Burghfield Sailing Club

by Steve Middleton 23 Apr 2024 09:49 BST 20 April 2024
Burghfield Solo pen © BSC

The good, the bad, and the Adonises of the Solo class rocked up to Burghfield Sailing Club for an open meeting on Saturday 20th April to do battle on a much expanded lake due to flooding in recent months. The northerly and extremely shifty breeze blowing across the lake meant that Race Officer Deryck Lovegrove and his team had their work cut out.

Thirty-three (that's 33) Solos lined up on a start line where a certain amount of assertiveness was required to get yourself off in reasonable order. But the breeze was pretty feisty - with moments of "shut down", and with islands coming into play, a complex puzzle was left for competitors to get their heads around!

The challenge did not, however, phase Tom Gillard too much. Bullets in all four races, whilst plain greedy, doesn't paint the whole picture. He was headed at times, principally Chris Jennings made him work for his money, but ultimately... well, he won. By a bit.

A little bit further down the fleet, at the halfway point after 2 races, Ian Matthews (6,5) and Marc Sollars (4,8) were showing up well.

After lunch, the breeze dropped a notch and more competitors came into play. At this point your reporter was ashore, and whilst sorting out sponge cakes and biscuits, things started to change a bit bringing Dave Mason and Simon Maskell into the picture in a trickier breeze.

In very tricky conditions, massive thanks to Deryck Lovegrove and his race team..not an easy day. Our open was shared with the Comet class who were perfect partners. A special mention from the Solo fleet to Meg Warren (Comet) 82 years old, who sailed all the races and takes no prisoners! And also the bloke who cooked the sausage flan!

Overall Results:

PosHelmSail NoR1R2R3R4Pts
1stTom Gillard602111113
2ndChris Jennings544422256
3rdDavid Mason55823107212
4thSimon Maskell6037943714
5thIan Matthews59776515415
6thRichard Cornes54928186317
7thMark Maskell60077135618
8thAdam Meekings56765911923
9thDave Bull547317391325
10thTim Lewis601024641525
11thMarc Sollars558448163428
12thNigel Bird5903101281129
13thJohn Reed50451411133438
14thJonathan Hirsch5189227141839
15thStephen Dickinson58351514101739
16thAndrew Jones57261122121639
17thPatrick Ward5770191634843
18thRob Starling58381215173444
19thSteve Jones57301619191045
20thTim Wade60661817211247
21stKevin Druce55892024341458
22ndJames Cutler44832126181958
23rdDarren Ballard38402620202060
24thRichard Goss56601323343470
25thWynn Kenrick50292825342174
26thIan Bartlett59022321343478
27thNick Jackson53612534343493
28thPaul Bristow47222734343495
29thSte Litherland37292934343497
30thTim Medcalf508934343434102
30thAdam Kirkwood380434343434102
30thPeter Ash399634343434102
30thSausage Flan587034343434102

Related Articles

Salcombe YC Sailing Club Series Race 1
A good afternoon of beat and running for the fleets With a Force 3 to 4 East North Easterly breeze in the main harbour the thirteen Solos that arrived at the Salcombe Yacht Club start line looked forward to a good afternoon of beat and running racing. Posted on 22 Apr
Solos at Broadwater
Thames Valley & Eastern Series opener The 2025 Eastern and Thames Valley Solo Series kicked off on a sunny Saturday at the end of March with fifteen boats from ten clubs taking part. Posted on 21 Apr
The Solo Welsh Championship and a Bit of History
Tata Steel Sailing Club, Port Talbot, hosted the event, first run in 1996 Tata Steel Sailing Club, Port Talbot, hosted the event which was first contested back in 1996 and was won by the pubescent Harvey Hillary sailing 4004 Kevin's Widget (Gosling). Posted on 20 Apr
Ron Beasley obituary
A seven-year joinery apprenticeship lead to being a world champion dinghy builder Ronald William Beasley was born on the 31st January 1931 and grew up in Bradley, Bilston in the Black Country. He left school at age fourteen. He then completed a seven-year joinery apprenticeship at 'Wilcocks' in Wolverhampton. Posted on 16 Apr
Ogston Solo Open
22 entries of which 14 were visitors for first northern event of the season Sunday the 13th April saw the first Northern Solo Open Meeting of 2025 take place at Ogston Sailing Club in Derbyshire. There were 22 entries of which 14 were visitors. Posted on 16 Apr
Solo class Southern Area Series at Spinnaker
The mark-laying boats were busy throughout the day Spinnaker Sailing Club hosted the first open meeting of this year's Solo Southern Area Series this Saturday, 12 Apr. Seventeen sailors arrived to blue skies and a forecast F2/3 Easterly veering SE. Posted on 15 Apr
HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers at Bardowie
Plenty of time for a chat in the sun before racing As we usually do the Scottish Solo fleet headed to Bardowie for the first event of the 2025 HD Sails Scottish travellers series on April 12th. Posted on 15 Apr
Salcombe YC Spring Series race 5
A great turnout including 20 Yawls and 11 Solo sailors Saturday's race saw a mass turnout, with 20 Yawls taking to the water for the final race of the Spring Series. Having lost the previous weeks race due to gale force winds, eleven Solo sailors congregated at the SYC starting line. Posted on 14 Apr
The oldest footage of Solo dinghy sailing
A look back into our video archive, from the Sixties and Seventies Type "Solo" into the search box on our video archive and you could see any sort of singlehanded sailing. This keyword causes the same problem on Youtube! So we have done our best to find footage of the specific dinghy Jack Holt designed in 1956. Posted on 13 Apr
Blithfield Solo Open
Allen and CB Coverstore sponsored Midland Area Solo Series Round 2 Blithfield held the second event of the Allen and CB Coverstore sponsored Midland area Solo series and second event of the Midlands Big Lakes Series. 18 sailors were welcomed to sunny clear skies and a fresh 15-18 mph wind. Posted on 10 Apr