Results / Burghfield SC - 16/10/2021
The 2021 Burghfield Rooster Southern Tour Event will be remembered for many things: the warm welcome; the great bacon butties; the sightly disconcerting buzzing coming from the huge electricity pylon in the middle of the boat park, to name but a few. Unfortunately, it will not be remembered for an abundance of wind.
The briefing was held on the club balcony giving all a bird’s eye view of the lake. Or was it a mirror? It was hard to tell.
By 12.30 the assembled sailors, boats having been bimbled to death and far too much coffee having been consumed, were presented with a stark choice: pack their boats up having not even touched the water or give it a go.
And so it came to be that 14 boats lined up for the first start at 2pm. What followed was tight tactical racing with places changing right up to the final leg. The name of the game: stay in the wind at all costs. The race officer set a perfectly true course and away we went.
In race one the wind filled in from the right but the pin was slightly biased. Those who could get an early tack in were smelling like roses by the top mark. Downwind connecting the dots was key. By the time the fleet had reached the leeward mark another puff was developing on the right-hand side. The Eames/Tilley combination managed to snatch victory on the finish line – coming in hot from the right handside – with the Andersen pair in second and the ever consistent Cockerills in third.
The start of race two coincided with a gust down the left. Nicholas Charles nailed the pin and led from start to finish. Behind a tight battle for second was taking place. Emily Heath had stolen the helm from Sam and was leading the Cockerills for much of the race, ultimately being pipped at the end.
Back ashore all agreed that the race officer had squeezed the absolute most out of challenging conditions. A huge thanks must go to Rooster & West Country Boat Repairs for sponsoring the tour, Trisha Clancy for stellar organisation, and all those at Burghfield who put on such a superb event.
Race report by Christopher Eames
Photo credits Trisha Clancy