SW Championships at Looe SC 15th-16th May 1999
Looe in South East Cornwall hosted the National Twelve South West Area Championships over the weekend of 15th & 16th May. Despite a week of strong winds, which were forecast to continue over the weekend, they failed to materialise to the dismay of the fleet! With Saturdays racing over a short course no wind and a nasty wave pattern, nobody managed to reach the windward mark before the time limit intervened, time to retire to the bar and contemplate the day!
Sunday morning dawned in a similar vein except that the sea had a very flat glassy look to it; a 4 hour delay was enlivened by a local chippy catching fire. The sight of the prime of Cornish Fire-fighters throwing potatoes at a second floor window was something to behold! They claimed that it was to get the heat out of the building, though we knew better - they were cooking jacket spuds for lunch! What ever the smoke showed that there was no wind to allow us to go and play!
Come 14.00 hrs and the Mirror fleet got bored and decided to force the issue and put their boats on the water - the Race Officer thinking we all wanted to play pulled down the Postponement flag and off we went. With a very fitful wind 2 races were started with Jimmy Millar (N3315) taking both of them with Gill Moore (N3262) in second and John Murrell (N3444) third.
1st N3315 Qui Cinq (Crusader 88 design) Jimmy and Robert Millar Bristol Corinthian YC
2nd N3262 Jammin (Crusader design) Gill Moore and Mandy Keen Saltash SC
3rd N3444 Trick Cyclist (Feeling Foolish design) John and Emma Murrell Salcombe YC
4th N3377 Strumpy (Baggy Trousers design) Robin and Ben Wood British Steel SC