Event 2
Calshot Activities Centre, Southampton
Saturday 9 July 2005

The challenge heats up on the Spit...
The second inter-club event of the South Zone series was to be held at Calshot, down on the Southampton waterway. The Calshot Flyers are always good hosts and have been the team to beat for the last three years. Recent times, however, have seen changes and big questions have been asked of Calshot's dominance; the Flyers were chased hard last year for the overall title by all three of their fellow South Zone teams, and were comprehensively beaten at the first inter-club event this year at Farmoor by the Queen Mary Skimmers. Was a new dawn about to be witnessed on the South Zone scene?

The Calshot event last year saw strong winds and challenging conditions but was, nevertheless, great fun. Driving down to Calshot Spit this year was slightly less unnerving as the sun was shining and a gentle breeze was rolling off the Solent with very little swell and a calm sea state - perfect conditions for team15 racing. Today was also special as we had a guest from the RYA in the form of Chris Atherton (High Performance Manager for the South/South West Zones) who had heard the rumour about the South Zone team15 being the place to be and where it's at!

Arrivals began rigging up as the morning progressed and registration opened up to a flurry of entrants with a grand total of 24 sailors looking to take home the team15 trophies and the associated pride that comes with being the master of the course! There was a degree of racing tactics evident as early as registration - tactical entry was being attempted to find the classes with the least entrants in! This cunning stroke however was disarmed with a little counter mis-information being employed by the (R)Ace Officer. And so to the briefing and the days plan of action. A simple triangle course was arranged with the course being laid just off the shingle beach and out in front of the hanger. With registration complete and all accounted for, it was to the water and the eagerly anticipated first race. 

Racing went well and under the eye of RYA man Chris Atherton it was interesting to see the level of concentration amongst the sailors who were clearly feeling the pressure to perform! (Perform, in this sense, being the ability to get round the course quickest and not get stuck on the mudflats by the way).

Two races were completed before the tide and a fleet of dinghies sent us ashore for an early lunch. After an hours break we were back on the water for even more exciting racing! The longboards were performing well in the light-wind conditions and a few sailors, who were able to spot various current and wind shifts, really excelled. The 293Ds were finding it slightly trickier but none-the-less were performing well. The 3.5m fleet was, as ever, entertaining - sailing a slightly less demanding course, the sailors all started well and learnt the course quickly to put in some close racing, much to the enjoyment of the amassed crowds!

It was a close battle in the 6.6m fleet with Ryan Tilbury (Queen Mary Skimmers) just pipping Alex Trickle, also from Queen Mary, by way of a better discard result. Billy Brown, from the Poole Piranhas, recovered well from a disastrous event at Farmor and sailed well on the sea to take a surprise third place. Chris Guest flew the flag for Farmoor (Oxford Zoomers) and, following a poor start to the event, pulled his results together at the end to take third. Mo Guy (Piranhas) and Harry Lawlor (Zoomers) exchanged places all day but in the end it was Mo who took fifth place, helped by his first ever race win in race two. George Lavender of Calshot led the rest of the Calshot fleet in 7th place followed by Dan Harding, Joe Shuttleworth and Liam Robinson.

The 5.5m fleet; a fairly simple fleet to sort out, this one, with just three sailors. Rory Young (Poole Piranhas) sailed a blinder and won all five races to take fleet honours, a very respectable achievement in the shifty conditions. Max Harding (Flyers) put up a good fight but couldn’t land anything on Rory and took second. Sam Hotston-Moore (Zoomers) struggled with kit selection to start with, but following lunch made some cunning rigging changes and came out a changed sailor to take third place.

Peter Young (Piranhas) won the 4.5m fleet with a string of bullets (first places) but an accident in race two saw Peter DNF; once recovered though, he was back out on the water to continue his dominance. Tom Brown (Calshot Flyers) also sailed well to take a well-deserved second place. Poole’s Steve Mann picked his ideas up from Farmoor and sailed more like the sailor he can be to take third place. Charlotte Mays (Flyers) just pipped fellow team-mate Mark Stevens to take 4th place with newcomer Elodie Guest (Oxford Zoomers) overcoming initial difficulties with the tide and wind to take 6th place.

It was another hot bed of competition in the ever-entertaining 3.5m fleet with results changing with each passing race. It was however Gemma Skeggs (Calshot Flyers) who finally came out on top, Jared Harding (Flyers) took second place from Anthony Milton (Poole Piranhas) by just a single point, both sailors starting well and achieving some good board speed. Megan Hotston-Moore (Oxford Zoomers) found her feet and battled hard all day to take fourth place ahead of Ryan Stead (Calshot Flyers).

With all the individual trophies having been awarded it was time to reveal the winner of the team trophy for the event. At Farmoor it was an 'on-form' Queen Mary Skimmers who took home the chocolates, a clear warning shot across the bows of the rest of the teams in the South Zone, especially the 03 and 04 champions, the Calshot Flyers who took quite a beating at Farmoor.

At event 2 though, on home waters it was the Calshot Flyers, with strength and depth that took home the team trophy. The Piranhas from Poole put in a great team effort and coupled with some outstanding individual performances took second place. The Oxford Zoomers based at Farmoor, battled as hard as ever and took third place from Queen Mary who, lacking a sizeable team, failed to build on the success of event one. So at the half way stage of the South Zone T15 Inter-Club Series the team event couldn’t be closer with Calshot on 3 points, Poole on 5 points, Queen Mary on 5 points and Farmoor on 7 points.

The next event is at Queen Mary on the 20th August where I hope to see the entry list continue to grow - as it has so far this season; bring along some more team mates and spread the word as this is where its at! Will Queen Mary bite back with a vengeance? Will the Poole Piranhas continue to improve and sneak the win? Will Farmoor's hard work and effort finally pay off with an elusive event win? Or will Calshot hold onto pole position......for now....

team winners
Calshot Flyers

For further details contact
Chris Lewis
clewisgbr366@rya-online.net
 
It's probably best to call Chris since, as a rep for Sola Wetsuits, he is out on the road a lot and not necessarily picking up email: 07976 782685
 

We are the Champions!
West Kirby Warriors
T15 Champions 2008

Congratulations!

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Mount Batten Centre - Plymouth
Course type: Racing Instructor
Weekend course: 27/28 September 2008
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Midweek course: 3/4 July 2008
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Midweek Course: 4/5 June 2008
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Carsington Watersports - Derbyshire
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Midweek Course: 1/2 May 2008
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Mountbatten Centre - Plymouth
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