Team 15 at Queen Mary Reservoir, Staines, London.

Queen Mary skimmers were to be our generous hosts for the third event in the south zone’s eagerly contested championship. An early morning alarm call and a quick drive down to the capital city on a glorious day set welcome precedent for the rest of the day’s proceedings. Last year a navigational malfunction meant my path to great pond was a little tricky and much delayed, this however was to see no repeat of the previous difficulties and I arrived in plenty of time. And unlike last year the reservoir was blessed with a gentle breeze and promise of some good racing!

Big T was (Therese) was soon on hand to marshal proceedings and as the teams began to arrive one by one the air of competition was growing, this was the third of 4 events and a strong performance today would hand a vital lead and much needed momentum to any team looking to take the series championships for 2005. Drama was to begin early as last years champions Calshot appeared to be either very late, or not coming at all!!

Where were the south coast kings of team 15? Going into today’s event they were joint series leaders and dropping points here would cost them dearly. Though plenty of time was allowed for their late arrival a decision was made to begin the briefing and start racing as planned.

A standard triangle course was set just under the wall in front of the gathered spectators! With the level of water in the reservoir being fairly low it gave the impression of gladiatorial sailing in an amphitheatre setting! However it also meant the wind was a little changeable the closer you got to the wall which provided some pretty tricky conditions when rounding the windward mark, all of which added to the spectacle of chaos!

The fleets all sailed well and competed fiercely in the first two races before lunch, there we’re sailors suffering from kit failure, direction failure, sense of humour failure, and even mark rounding failure! But all in all, everything went well. Lunch was called and we headed in for a deserved break and hearty BBQ dinner arranged by big T and our hosts at Queen Mary Reservoir.

A second quick briefing was held and it was off onto the water for the afternoon’s competition. Two more hotly contested course races were run and we finished with dash across the lake in a final fun race, (though the definition of fun may have been tested by some of the sailors!). So all we done and ashore we went to de rig, get changed and prepare for prize giving. I headed ashore with results in hand to crunch some numbers and write out numerous certificates, and along the way mis-spell various names in the process!

The results from the day can be found on the results link for this event elsewhere on the web site.

An event win for Queen Mary put them in the driving seat going into the final event at Poole Windfest. Phil’s Poole Piranha’s put in a brave effort to take second place just ahead of Farmoor who despite being at home in the shifty reservoir conditions failed to capitalise and followed in a close third. As with most of the events so far this season, the similar team sizes fielded by all the teams at each event has meant that all team results have been very close, this has meant re checking the maths on numerous times to ensure all has been calculated correctly! It’s not so much the numbers game anymore and it really is down to performance on the water…

So off to Poole and the grand finale, sailing with the pro’s down in sandbanks! Or is it the pro’s sailing with us? As rumour has it team 15 is the main event at the windfest!! It’s what everybody comes to see! The scene is set for a thrilling climax, as despite Queen Mary’s win here, a fourth place at Calshot has pegged them back, can Poole take the series on home water? Can calshot redeem themselves from today’s no show? Can farmoor overcome unassailable odds and be the only ones to turn up at Poole? Thus ensuring they win? Who knows? Let’s wait and find out!... ...

We are the Champions!
West Kirby Warriors
T15 Champions 2008

Congratulations!

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Team15
Coach Courses


T15 Coach-Red courses
will now be known as
Racing Instructor Courses
 T15 Coach-Freestyle courses
will change to T15 Freestyle Coach!  

For information
(previous courses in 2008)

Mount Batten Centre - Plymouth
Course type: Racing Instructor
Weekend course: 27/28 September 2008
Closing date: 5 September
Cancelled: lack of candidates

Lakes Leisure - Windermere
Course type: Racing Instructor
Weekend course: 30/31 August 2008
Closing date: 15 August
Fully booked

James Hamilton Heritage Park - Glasgow
Course type: Racing Instructor
Weekend course: 30/31 August 2008
Closing date: 15 August
Cancelled: lack of candidates

Gwent Adventures - Wales
Course type: Racing Instructor
Weekend course: 9/10 August 2008
Closing date: 25 July
5 candidates on course


Grafham Water Centre - Cambridgeshire
Course type: Racing Instructor
Weekend course: 5/6 July 2008
Closing date: 30 June
Spaces available
6 candidates on course

Wimbleball Lake - Somerset
Course type: Racing Instructor
Midweek course: 3/4 July 2008
Closing date: 30 June
4 candidates on course


Roadford Lake - Okehampton
Course type: Racing Instructor
Midweek Course: 4/5 June 2008
Organised by South West Lakes Trust
Fully booked


Carsington Watersports - Derbyshire
Course type: Freestyle
Weekend Course: 3/4 May 2008
Fully booked


Carsington Watersports - Derbyshire
Course type: Racing Instructor
Midweek Course: 1/2 May 2008
6 candidates on course


Mountbatten Centre - Plymouth
Course type: Racing Instructor
Weekend Course: 12/13 April 2008
Cancelled: lack of candidates

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