News
Tues 6 March
RS200 Open & Training, Frensham Pond SC by Richard Neall
Holy Moly. What a weekend!! Exhausting training on Saturday and Ronnie playing submarines on Sunday...So just when we thought we were getting the hang of this racing thing one week, we end up getting spanked the following! Hey ho.Roger Gilbert, crewed by Jane Willan, won the open, with James Stewart and Toby Lewis (Roddy Bridge's old 14 crew) second, in the most challenging of conditions possible. Huge gusts, huge fast shifts, and then for fun...both together, followed by complete drop in the wind. Frensham at its most glorious beastly best. Word over tea was that no wonder it produces so many champions!!!...and quite a few sailors crying into their grog too.
Roger's training on Saturday was spot on in ideal conditions. "Starting" was the main theme, something I really struggle with in consistency at the opens and when you hear the 49ers sit on the start line, head to wind, motionless for 6 minutes to guard their position, one realises how much there is to learn in this vital part of the race. So we did loads of starts, followed by short 1 lap courses and heaps of gybing practice.
Ian Senior and Anna Starkey made it up for both days and came away having had their eyes opened wide with the learning curve of this type of event. And I'm pleased to say were still both grinning at tea time. They coped fantastically well in the morning, capsising less than Ronnie and hitting fewer obstructions too! Yes we're back to the good old days. And rather wisely I think, decided to opt out of the afternoons races. It was a very tiring and in an odd way a great adventure.
So, this time we were at the back of the fleet, 11th out of 14 or a soggy last out of the boats which compteted all the races. Mmmm....so...
Back to Frensham next Sunday for the Frensham Frenzy, an Open event, if anybody's interested, then it's Bristol Corinthian the following week. The first RS200 Fat Face regatta of the season...then back to Itchenor. Yeehaar!
See the full event write up in Yachts and Yachting.com