GP Southern Championships at Tollesbury Sailing Club

GP Southern Championships at Bradwell Quay © Derek Burchell

Tollesbury Sailing Club lies on a small creek on the north shore of the River Blackwater in Essex and launching and recovery are both constrained by the famous Essex mud and the vagaries of local tide conditions which are great fun for the Southern Travellers open but are too constraining for a championships. As a result, when the idea of the Southern Championships on the East Coast was first mooted, Tollesbury SC took the brave decision to move the whole club to the Essex Sailing Centre at Bradwell Quay and run a championships from this excellent training venue with excellent catering and accommodation.

Twenty six boats attended with a strong showing from BTYC and Seahorse Sailing Club at Welsh Harp with single entrants from Papercourt Sailing Club, Leigh on Sea and Frensham Pond. The majority of the Tollesbury fleet attempted to sail across the Blackwater but had to be towed due to an initial lack of wind. Several visitors made the long trip from the Midlands with representatives from Shustoke, Northampton, Chase and Nottingham attending.

With two days of forecast light southeasterly winds and strong local tides the race officer Derek Burchell faced a challenging weekend but managed the championship superbly. He ran the full six races despite having to abandon and restart race 3 due to a racing mark moving and did not have to resort to the black flag once.

The pattern for the weekend was set early in Race 1 with SimonPotts & Luke Shaw and Ross Kearney & Andy Tompson, both in beautifully presented new Winders, leading to the first mark from a port start on a biased cross tide start line. Chased by a pack including Neil and Hannah Davies, Roy Nettleship /Sabine Schamberg and James Ward/Richard Whitehill Potts & Shaw held on to win with Neil Davies leading Ross Kearney over the line.

A decent sea breeze kicked in for race 2 with Potts & Shaw winning from Kearney and Davies. Race 3 saw the southern sailors began to get on the pace with Richard Lord/Chris Lomax from Seahorse finishing second after Potts with Neil Davies again third. A superb evening meal was arranged by Essex Sailing Centre followed by a visit to the local pub and local music in the clubhouse.

Day 2 dawned with blue skies and much cynicism about whether sufficient breeze would kick in for a 10.00 start but Derek set off early and summoned the fleet out to maximise the chance of getting all races completed.

The first start in 5 to 10 knots of easterly breeze set the start line directly across the ebbing tide and many sailors struggled to get the uptide of the start. A general recall and round the ends rule resulted in two boats disqualified. Normal service ensued with Potts & Shaw posting their fourth bullet chased by Kearney, Davies, Ward and Alistair Lambert & Giselle Sherwin from BTYC.

Race 5 started immediately afterwards with light winds and the tide still strong. For a change Southern boats lead up the beat with Lord followed by Kearney with David Innes & Jon Denyer from Frensham close behind. At the gybe mark Lord and Innes went out into the stream looking for more pressure but the remainder of the fleet sought less flood tide further inshore and ended up in a hole. Lord held onto the lead throughout the race with Innes holding off the chasing pack of Ward, Potts and Neil Davies.

With Potts & Shaw heading for the shore Race 6 was a close fought battle between Kearney, Roger Walton & Helen Allen, Davies, Jim Faulner & Steve Cooper (BTYC) and Innes who finished in that order. The day finished with burgers and cream tea on the lawn, prizegiving, speeches and thanks to Tollesbury SC and Essex Sailing Centre for the superb organisation and a medicinal bottle of whiskey for George Rogers from Tollesbury who put the whole weekend together!

Overall Results: