2008 Fishers Green SigneT Open Meeting Report and Results

Open Meeting Report

Five SigneTs gathered at Fishers Green SC for the third open meeting of 2008, despite a severe weather warning predicting lightning and a forecast of little or no wind, depending on your preferred weather forecasting website.

Hannah and Jonathan sacrificed their fight for the Paxton Youth Trophy to attend. As at close of play at the end of Saturday they were sat in 1st and 2nd place respectively. With a maximum of 2 discards and supposedly 6 more races on the Sunday they still had a chance of a place. How were the conditions going to fair further north?

We drove through thunder and lightning and severe downpours on the journey but luckily the rain dried up on arrival. However we were treated to a drifter extraordinaire with little, or for the most part, no wind. After a briefing by the race officer there quickly followed a postponement. There was a rumour of a breeze when you looked at the start box situated on an island in the middle of the lake.

With this being the case the club kindly provided a tow out for those dedicated souls who ventured round the dog leg for what turned out to be the days 2 races. The order of the tow was ST919 leading and ST192 at the rear. Was this a premonition of the final results? The race committee, who deserve a big thank you for two good races despite the conditions, battled to set a course with very little wind and at times 180 degree wind shifts. Only 3 club boats ventured to the start 2 Solo’s and topically a Ligntning! Their normal Sunday racing would see in excess of 40 boats hit the start line.

The first race began with the whole fleet quite bunched together which resulted in a compact drift round the first mark. The fleet had spread out by the end of the 1st of 3 laps, with ST 368 leading from ST 192, followed by ST 761 then ST 919 and ST 690. The race became something of a procession due to the conditions with the positions remaining very similar to the finish. However, Steve Leeding in ST 761 did the right and honourable thing of letting his son through to ensure he didn’t have to endure the embarrassment of being beaten by him. Cheers Dad!! Following this kind gesture the finishing order was ST 368 from ST 192, followed by ST 919 then ST 761 and ST 690. Following this race Mr Cannon was hopeful of a lunch break however this was not to be the case and we stayed out for another race, much to the delight of all involved in this test of patience and ability to sit still.

Race 2 followed soon after with a similarly chaotic pre start with boats coming very close but on the whole avoiding collisions. At the start all but ST 919 started in a tight group by the committee boat. At the first mark ST 368 led from ST 919, then ST 192, ST 761 and ST 690. On this leg places remained the same, the only change before the welcome shortened course at the end of the lap was that of ST 192 and ST 919 swapping. ST 919 was very lucky to gain a small amount of breeze to overtake ST 192 down the final run. This meant the final finishing positions were as followed: ST 368, ST 919, ST 192, ST 761, ST 690.

A big thank you to Fishers Green sailing club who did their utmost to ensure that we had a good day despite the difficult conditions they were faced with. Off the water we were well fed and watered with the highlight being the after racing tea provided for us by the club.

Open Meeting Results

Sailed:2, Discards:0, To count:2, Ratings:PY, Entries:5, Scoring system:My scoring system

As a result of there being almost no wind all day and quite a lot of weed in the lake, the Fishers Green Safety Boat volunteered to tow all the SigneTs out to the start. You will of course notice that Jonathan Leeding and Pat Overs are in the lead despite having no sails up yet. Needless to say, this was the fastest the SigneTs went all day.