Blithfield Barrel Series

20 December 2012

ROUND ONE

A sunny, slightly chilly day with a pleasant force 2 greeted the 70 boats which arrived to take part in the 2012/13 Barrel series at Blithfield Sailing Club. The standard of the fleet was something to behold with current and former world and national champions from various classes turning up to race on what was forecast to be a calm day - luckily the forecast was wrong!

Race officer for the day Bill Watson set a long line, slightly port biased and aided by a favourable wind direction the beat was a long as it was possible to get. A couple of boats fell victim to the black flag but the race was underway at the first attempt - quite an acheivement! The beat turned out to be quite a tactical affair throughout the race with definite ground to be made if the correct shifts were followed, not an easy task in the fairly steady breeze. A short run also gave opportunities to take places if you went the right way.

The race was taken on handicap by Andy Couch who was back in his Phantom after sailing a D1 last year. Second was the Young Apprentice ably crewed by Nick Broomhall in an Osprey with the Fireball of Tom Gillard and Simon Potts taking third.

The now traditional pies for lunch were provided by the Ladies (and Steve) in the galley headed up by Jayne Tatton - thanks to them for lunch and for serving tea and coffee throughout the day.

The second race looked to be similar to the first in strength with a force two and the odd lump. It had however clocked round to the left enough to warrant a course change. The breeze did drop slightly as the race wore on though it was never a drifter. The two beats were tactical and provided plenty of opportunity to sneak the odd place if people around you were not careful.

This race was taken by the Merlin of Matt Biggs and John Hackett who were premature in the first race. The Fireball of Tom Gillard and Simon Potts came in second and the Osprey national champions (Gareth Caldwell and Jon Gibbons) managed to re-assert themselves over recently crowned inland champions by coming in 3rd.

A raffle for a halyard bag kindly provided by Creation Covers was held after racing and won by Doug Rankin.

All in all it was an excellent day with close racing throughout the fleet. Thanks to all the visitors for coming and to everyone from the club who helped to run the day. See you all on December 9th for round two!

 ROUND TWO

Fifty-five boats gathered to contest the second round of the Barrel series, the forecast promised wind and cold and both were duly delivered. Winter had arrived with a bang!

The WSW wind gave a long beat diagonally across the lake, and now that the fishing season is over we had full water and the windward mark was moved right down the lake - some were more pleased with this than others! The port bias on the start line caught out a few top runners but the excellent course set by PRO Geoff Wright gave ample opportunity for recovery. The Fireball of Tom Gillard and Simon Potts recovered well from a poor start and sailed away to record a win, followed by Andy Davies and Tom Pygall in the Merlin. The ever strengthening wind made for a high attrition rate, many sailors calling it a day early as the force five began to increase with each gust.

Jayne Tatton and her crew again provided an excellent lunch as competitors tried to warm themselves between races.

By race two the wind was now borderline savage with white water everywhere and a steady force 6 on the amemometer. 25 boats braved the conditions, but only 19 made it round to finish with the gybe marks proving at best iffy with national and world champions choosing to wear round rather than gybe. The results of this race are subject to a request for redress over a misunderstanding about the finish, but provisionally the race was won by the team of Tom and Simon in the Fireball with Taxi and Tom again second in the Merlin. Andy Couch in his Phantom came in third.