Ely four plank open meeting

Sunshine n’ Scruffy Yachts

On July 5th Ely Sailing Club played host to the inaugural four Plank event. With the weather forecast looking iffy (maybe that’s what you get for planning an event on Wimbledon Finals weekend) and this being the first event of its kind it was up in the air as to whether anyone else was going to join us. So when we arrived to find two Cheshire Cat’s basking in the July sunshine and the two locals rigged and ready, Paul and myself had grins like the famous Lewis Carol character the Mike Jackson design shares its name with.

The full list Skippers and their yachts was Paul Turner with Cheshire Cat fresh from the barn sporting a new deck and repaint, Gerald Copsey with Beggars Maid (Cheshire Cat) still looking pretty good given she hadn’t been on the water for a while, Suzie Salis with Dynamena (Warlock) looking very shiny with some new decks and Jack with Subversion looking far from sorted but not feeling foolish.

With the Pimms on ice and all fours boats lined up along the jetty all that remained was for Aleyne Salis RO for the day to run everyone through how we intended to fit in four short fast races (each 40 minutes long).  Just in case you wondering the day went as follows: two races before lunch followed by two races after lunch. As a Brucey Bonus because the Roswell pits are about 40 acres all in and there’s plenty of jetty mooring it meant there was no hanging around on the water between races and everyone was able to head back the club, tie up, grab a breather and swap some banter.

This is pretty much how the racing went down.
 
First Half, Race 1.  Youth verse Experience

Jack Knight and Chandler Stamford despite their combined age being lower than each of all the other helms, they were keen make their presence felt, by pretty much leading from the start and leaving Gerald and Paul to fight it out amongst themselves.  All was going well for the Ely Boys till the fourth lap when the wind filled in from behind down leg 4 bringing the `Cats creeping up on Subversion like she was an unsuspecting mouse.  Things then went from tricky to very bad just when it looked like Jack and Chandler might stop Gerald (who by this time had found the boost button or had finally got his main to set properly) from grabbing the top spot. Gerald was handed the lead when Subversion’s jib halyard gave way.

No more places changed so by the time finish gun sounded Gerald and Tanya Copsey in first, Paul Turner and Andrea Murphy in second followed by Suzie Salis and Kerry Whitford in third.
 
Race 2; Two Wet Locals to Two Dry Visitors

By now the sun had come out the clouds disappeared and the wind had settled into a nice solid force 2. Race 2 also saw another Ely boat showing the local 12s weren’t going to just simply hand over the wine, I mean trophy, over with Suzy taking on all comers to win the start and by half way round first lap she was second just behind Gerald. When a luffing match ensured between Suzy and PT the result saw Paul doing turns allowing Gerald to escape.  Life then got a whole lot damper for Suzie and Kerry when just after being overtaken by Paul and Murph, they executed a magnificent back ward capsize thanks to a 90 degree wind shift plus gust = 8/10 for artistic interpretation with extra points going to Kerry for bombing her helm from the upper deck. While all this was going on Jack and Chandler had filled up after very deep roll tack had coincided with massive change in wind speed. It was also then they discovered they had forgotten a bailer. After all that drama Gerald cruised home to take another victory, with Paul in Second and Jack in third.

Lunch time saw a sit down meal for ten with plenty of chilli cooked by Andy Knight and the gallery crew with lashing of Pimms for those not driving. All rounded off with small mountain of fresh fruit for people to work their way through for desert. Thanks must go out everyone involved in putting on such a fine spread.   

Second Half, Race 3; Ringing the Changes 

Paul T retired gracefully having completed two races, this being first sail in six months after recovering from spinal surgery so handed over the reins of Cheshire Cat to Andrea his crew with Jonathan ‘Smilie’ Garfitt first time back crewing in a National 12 open meeting in a very long time.
Once again Suzy showed her Salis genes by leading the race off the line. While Murph last off the start, mainly due to Murph was still finding out what tacking facing backwards malarkey was all about. With Gerald now fully into his stride it wasn’t long before he was leading the pack. But Jack was pushing all the time waiting pounce keeping Gerald and Tanya on their toes.
By end of race three Gerald had bagged his third victory and the open meeting, with Jack in second and Andrea in third and Suzie forth.
 
Race 4; Bank Snerculing and iffy wind

Once a again there was a big swap round of crews, this time Kerry crewed for Gerald, Tanya crewed for Suzie and Smilie steered a 12 competitively for the first time in 10 plus years. After a bit jostling at the start all got away cleanly only for Jack to get confused about which way to round buoy 5 and sail back to re-round. He wasn’t alone when the race rusty Smilie followed him thinking he might have got wrong as well (they had both been right the first time). This was pretty much it for major happenings for race 4, there was some more close racing for the first couple of legs till Jack got a lucky/jammy lift and escaped the peloton to join Gerald at the front. 
As the race went on the wind become lighter and more patchy but all the time Jack was snapping at Gerald’s transom flaps, ever hoping for another lucky lift to give him the jump and then the break away on Gerald but it wasn’t to be. When the finishing quack sounded Gerald was confidently holding first with Jack a close second with Suzie coming in third. Smile and Murph had already called it a day by then and paddled for home when wind disappeared completely round buoy 7.

So to summarise for everyone who didn’t make it along they missed a day of fun close racing. The race organisation was spot the lunch perfect (and and the breakfast bacon butties) and prizes where generous. Thanks has to go Alayne Seymour for getting all four races in without any dramas, Dave for looking after the rescue boat and putting up with me waffling away to him and Andy Knight and rest of Jack’s family for looking after the galley. It’s not every open you get massive hunks of pineapple for dessert.

One last thing to say was it also really good to see a fleet of 12’s back racing at Ely Sailing Club. There also looks to be the green shoots of the fleet growing again at Ely, fingers crossed.
One event down two more to go, With such a good start the next meet at Trent Valley on the 20th July can only be better.

Later all

Smilie
 
 
 
 
 

Overall results