Burton week results - race by race

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We'll attempt to post race by race write ups here during the week. Tune in to keep up with what's happening on and off the water

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The practise race

The dinghy park was frantic with last minute measuring, adjustments and general preparations for the week. There are a number of new faces and boats and some recently renovated. Dare Barry has brought his latest Pudding, the practise race was the third time the boat had hit the water. The latest Pudding has higher freeboard for more leg room and a modified bounyancy layout. Jo Richards is sailing his original Bouncer design N2993 which he has modified to add a double floor, widen the decks at the stern and controversially removed the dagger board. Bouncer looked fast in the practise race, watch out for some top results during the week.

A nice force 3 greeted the fleet for the practise race and the rain mostly held off until we'd finished. A port biased line meant there was a scramble for that end. Tom Stewart was hot off the blocks and lead for one lap until his jib sheath exploded on the mast. This let Graham & Zoe past but the Giffords were also in the wings. The pack behind included Caroline Martin & Andy Douglas, Jon Ibboston & Charlotte Stewart, Jo Richards, Fran Gifford & Sophie Mackley and team Perkis - lots ofl contenders for the top slots during the week.

Weather not looking great for Sunday but at least we're not at work!

Off to the bar now for the official briefing

Graham

[MikeDay]

Graham

Thanks for this post and those to come - the on-line spectator fleet is expectant!  Jo Richards and Bouncer ... who'd have thought it?

Hope you all have a good one tomorrow.

Mike D
N3496

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Race 1 - Sunday

Hooray - no rain! We've had sunshine (between the clouds) and just about enough wind.

The wind started from the North but 30 minutes before the start a weak sea breeze emerged from the opposite direction and battled with the gradient wind. After an hour the sea breeze was victorious and the race office attempted to start in a South Easterly force 1-2.

The fleet were very badly behaved but the race officer was very tolerant. As a result the fleet had 4 attempts at the start and the race office kept the black flag at bay. On the final attempt few enough
people were over that the race officer could call them all and the rest of the fleet got away.

Gavin & Sabrina Willis had the best start at the port end of the line and managed to tack on to port very quickly to take an immediate large lead. There were some radically different tactics applied to the first beat. The Willises led a pack going right towards the shore whilst a second pack led by Frances Gifford & Sophie Mackley headed left out to sea. Tom Stewart & Liz Ross battled with Frances & Sophie and also Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne to get to the left hand side. In the end the left paid
with a little more breeze and a bigger port lift into the windward mark.

Graham & Zoe just crossed Tom & Liz's bow on the final approach to the mark to take the lead. They battled for the next 2 laps but Graham & Zoe managed to stay ahead to the finish.

1st Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne
2nd Tom Stewart & Liz Ross
3rd Kerry Harris
4th Steve Norbury & Andy Hill
5th Caroline Martin & Andy Douglas

[Tim L]

Glad the rain held off for everyone but where was Jo R today and who's leading the AC??

High pressure for the rest of the week so know who my money's on..........

Tim

[Mikey C]

Got to be better than last week - we had 45 knots on Thursday in Weymouth!

[MJ (Guest)]

This is all a bit tricky posting here, but I was wondering if the full results are on line as it seems my siblings are saving their best for later in the week and I wanted to know how they are doing?
Love to all,
M.J.

[Jane Wade]

Maybe Burton Week should have been on Pitsford Reservoir - we had a force 4 and glorious sunshine here all day!  Still doesn't make up for not being there and the buzz of competing.  

MJ - I was considering putting some money on one of your siblings and if Tim's forecast is right then I definitely know which one I will be backing.

Jane
Countdown to getting  back in a 12 - 47 days to go (Hope you have taken note of that Kevin!)

[Kevin]

Force 4 at Thorpe Bay too, with sunshine as well. 2 decent races and back in time for a late lunch - fantasic.

47 days and counting duly noted Jane!

Kevin

[tom lee]

Graham,
Other classes seem to be submitting day by day reports of their nationals on yachts and yachting.
I'd be happy to do it for the 12 if you are OK with that.

good luck to everyone for the rest of the week

Tom
N3258

[Kevin]

I hear the first two were repeated from yesterday but Mr Richards managed a third in very light winds.

Kevin

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Race 2 - Monday

The day dawned bright and sunny with a light northerly breeze . The race officer sent the fleet out early rather than waiting for a confirmed sea breeze which proved to be a good decision. As the fleet
sailed out the sea breeze started to take hold and the wind veered to north easterly.

Unlike race 1, the fleet were well behaved and the start got away cleanly first time. There was a difference of opinion within the fleet as to which side would pay. There was a bunch of boats at both the committee boat end and the pin end with few in the middle of the line. The left side looked good initially and Rosie White & Clare Hunter took an early lead. Tom Stewart & Liz Ross went out right along with Jo Richards & Holly. On  the second half of the beat the wind started to vapourise and a big hole developed on the left. The right now looked better. A big band of sea breeze could be seen hovering just above the starboard lay line. First into that breeze were Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne  closely followed by Tom & Liz. Graham & Zoe covered Tom & Liz as they searched for the wind and rounded in the lead.

Having succesfully negotiated the holes in the wind the next challenge was to find the wing mark, of which there were a number to choose from with two other championships being held in the bay. Graham & Zoe set off in the general direction of a reach and finally spotted the wing mark half way down the leg. For the next four laps Tom & Liz were hot on the heels of Graham & Zoe and as the wind filled in  on the runs they got within 6 boat lengths. On the heels of Tom & Liz were Jo & Holly in Bouncer who were going very well down wind.

With the shifty breeze Graham & Zoe kept a tight cover on Tom & Liz during the next four beats. The wind picked up to a good force 3 on the final lap. Tom & Liz picked up the pace but couldn't break the tight cover.

1st Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne
2nd Tom Stewart & Liz Ross
3rd Jo Richards & Holly
4th John & Katy Meadowcroft

PS, Tom, If you could post on Y&Y that would be much appreciated

PPS, MJ, we'll try and get the overall results up a.s.a.p - This afternoon was the crews race so only just got off the water . . .

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The crew's race

With gorgeous conditions on the water there were loads of takers for the crews race so after a short
re-hyrdation stop on shore 8 boats re-launched for the crew's race. It was held close to the harbour under the cliff which made for some of the more challenging conditions of the day, gust and shifty.

Sophie Mackley was first off the line dualing with Zoe Ballantyne for the best windward mark approach. Sophie rounded first but Zoe got on the inside at the run, Sophie broke the overlap for at the gybe mark and Zoe had to bail out passing the challenge on to the Pellings. On the second lap both the Pellings and also Rebecca Johnson looked good to snatch the lead but Sophie came back with a port lift to the windward mark. The wind shifted for the final downwind leg of the P course meaning there were two runs, this allowed the fleet to bunch up once more. Sophie kept her nerve and held the lead playing safe tactics on the final beat.

[Gerald New, Uk Ed, Sail-W (Guest)]

Hi Guys

We are posting your daily Burton Week results and reports on Sail-world.com/uk.

Please let us know where we can get the overall results, nothing on venue website I could find.

www.sail-world.com/uk

Gerald

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Race 3 - The Burton Cup

The forecast was for a force 2/3 from the north east. The day started very sunny but little sign of a sea breeze developing. The race officer thought the sea breeze might not kick in so knowing how long the Burton cup can take, he made an early choice to get on the water and make the most of the wind
available.

The fleet were clearly excited by the Burton cup and needed three attempts at the start with the round the end flag coming out for start two and the black flag bringing the fleet into order for the third attempt. The wind was indeed from the north east and very shifty.

Jon Ibbotson & Charlotte Stewart looked good on the middle-left of the beat whilst the Meadowcrofts and Giffords looked good middle-right. Places swapped continuously as the fleet made their way up the 1 mile first leg. It wasn't until the final hundred metres that a leader became evident as the wind
favoured one side then the other. It was Jon & Charlotte who rounded first followed by the Pellings, Caroline Martin & Andy Douglas and the Meadowcrofts. The reaches were long and hard to overtake on, so no places changed until the following beat.

On beat number 2 the Pellings found some nice shifts to take the lead and Tom Stewart & Liz Ross fought their way up to 4th place by the second windward mark. Again no place changing on the next two reaches, but the wind filled from behind so the fleet bunched up.

The wind had swung round for beat 3 so the sailors needed to quickly re-establish their bearings. The Pellings had clearly got the hang of the conditions and stretched out their lead. The Meadowcrofts looked to the right hand side in an attempt to keep their second place but Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne took advantage of some better shifts in the middle to pull through into second. Again no places changed on the reaches.

There was little place changing on lap 4 as the wind seemed to have stabilised a bit but a few boats gained lots by testing the corners of the beat, in particularly John & Mandy Thornton who had joined for the day.

The start of the final beat provided some tense racing. Graham & Zoe caught up to within a boat length of the Pellings and a tacking battle ensued. The Pellings were unwilling to budge an inch and covered very tightly until Graham & Zoe had to back off, in an attempt to stop the pack behind who were being led by Tom & Liz from overtaking. Having consolidated their position on the pack Graham & Zoe had another attempt to overtake but again the Pellings fought it off successfully. After recuperating Graham & Zoe put in one final attempt but to no avail, the Pellings crossed the line several boat lengths ahead to claim the Burton Cup. Graham & Zoe took second with John & Mandy Thornton popping out the right hand side of the beat to steal third from Tom & Liz.

1st Paul & Guy Pelling
2nd Graham Camm & Zoe Ballantyne
3rd John & Mandy Thornton
4th Tom Stewart & Liz Ross

PS, Gerald, thanks for posting on Sail-World, the series results so far are now attached to this discussion thread,