(07/01/02) (11/01/02) 18/02/02
Downs Sailing Club Lift The Team Trophy at the Hoo Freezer (18/02/02)
The Downs team of
Steve/Katie Restall, Chris/Nikki Catt and Richard White/Martyn Styles
won the Team Prize at the Hoo Freezer race which was held on the River Medway
on 9th/10th February. This annual event
for for mono-hull dinghies was held over the weekend with a practice race on
Saturday and the main race on the Sunday and was hosted by Hoo Ness Yacht Club
with assistance from other clubs on the Medway providing volunteers and craft
for safety cover.
The race attracted 82 entries representing 32 classes
and from 28 clubs in the south-east, Sussex, the Solent, Thames Valley and
Midlands. Also this year the ‘Freezer’ was the fourth and final event in the
Typhoon Winter Classic Circuit, sponsored by Typhoon International.
The overnight gales had eased slightly to a strong
southwesterly Force 5-7 for the thirty-seven boats that took to the water for
the Saturday practice race and spills and thrills were the order for the day.
There were three starts; fast, medium and slow, with overall results based on
corrected average lap times. For the Downs team of Dutton and Winchester it
proved to be a severe test for the new boat. After some exciting three-sail
reaches a broken rudder and shroud forced them to retire.
Sunday dawned bright and sunny with the southwesterly a
more steady 15 - 22 knots giving ideal sailing conditions. The RS 800 of Paul Jenkins/Colin Hatton from
Weir Wood Sailing Club lifted the Hoo Freezer Trophy and the prize for fastest
average lap time of 29 minutes and 39 seconds.
The 29er’s of Chris/Nikki Catt from Downs SC and
David/Laura Hall had a private battle which was eventually won by the Catt duo
to give them an excellent 4th overall.
Steve Restall, crewed by daughter Katie, was the first
medium handicap boat home in 10th place overall closely followed on corrected
time, by Richard White and Martyn Styles, also from Downs, in 12th place.
Further down the fleet, Chris Dutton, crewed by Toby
Winchester had borrowed a replacement shroud from fellow club member Jeremy
Blackman and had affected a temporary repair to the rudder which had been
broken in the practice race. They completed the race without any further
breakages. The Downs juniors, Simon Bishop and Sam Rowe, both in Toppers,
sailed very well in the testing conditions to finish 59th and 64th
respectively.
The previous week, Cadets Rory Sharvill & James
Cooke came 29th overall in the Tiger Trophy at Rutland water on 2nd/3rd
February. They were 10th 420 and 7th national squad boat.
Sailing Action moves Inland (11/01/02)
With racing at Deal now in abeyance until the start of
the new season in March, a number of Downs Sailors have been in action at
inland venues around the country. At the end of December three teams took part in the Grafham Grand Prix at
Grafham water in Cambridgeshire. Entries for this, the first of the four major
Winter Classic events , had closed with a full entry of 200 boats on 16th
December with many late comers disappointed and unable to gain entry to this
popular winter event. Entrants were split into four fleets with two separate
race tracks and two races, both to count. Catamarans and Fast Asymmetrics
shared one course with the Fast handicap group. Slow Handicap and Single
Handers shared the other course. Two Downs teams took part in the Fast handicap
fleet and one in the Slow. Conditions on race day were ideal for the committed
winter sailor - a force 2-3 westerly with an ambient temperature just above
zero.
The brother/sister team of Chris and Nikki Catt in a
29er finished an excellent 9th overall, their first race position of 14th being
supplemented by an 8th in the second. Slightly further back, Sally Styles,
crewed by father Martyn, had a 21st and an 18th which gave them a 17th overall.
In the slow handicap fleet, Steve Restall, crewed by daughter Katie, gained a
12th and a 9th, which made them 11th overall.
The second major event attended by Downs sailors was the
Bloody Mary, so called because it takes place at Queen Mary sailing club in
South London. On Sunday 5th January the race lived up to its name, the whole
lake being blanketed in fog with a very light wind. Nonetheless, 249 boats
completed the race, making it one of the biggest events in the UK. The format
of the event is a single pursuit race, with all the classes of boat starting at
different times, according to their handicap. The slowest boats start first,
the faster boats later and the first
past the post is the winner. The father/daughter team of Steve and Katie
Restall in an RS200 sailed an excellent race in the difficult conditions to
finish 12th, finishing only feet behind another RS200. The veteran team of
Martyn Styles and Frank Catt in an RS400 found that their combined weight was a
disadvantage in the light conditions and finished mid-fleet at 159th.
The remaining two Winter Classic events are the Pompey
Perisher at Portsmouth and the Hoo Freezer which takes place at the mouth of
the River Medway, as their names suggest participation is not for the faint
hearted and winter woolies are definitely the order of the day. Reports on the
performance of Deal crews will follow.
A total of thirty-four boats took part in the Downs
Sailing Club Winter Series held during the months of November and December.
Although racing took place on the open sea off the coast at Deal, the weather
gods were kind and only one day was lost due to high winds. The asymmmetric
boats dominated the results, taking the first twelve places. The winner overall
was the veteran Ed Styles crewed by daughter Sarah in a Buzz, closely followed
by Richard White and Martyn Styles in an RS400. The number of cadets taking
part was reduced due to winter training commitments elsewhere, however the
all-girl crew of sisters Clare and Helen Stubbs performed well to finish eighth
overall as did Robert Waite, sailing a Topper to thirteenth position, the first
non-asymmetric boat. The Winter Series finished on 23rd December, but there was
a further race
on Boxing Day in support of the RNLI. The cold North-Westerly and moderate surf
provided a rapid cure for any Christmas hangovers and from the twenty starters
there were a number of retirements due to gear failure or the low water
temperature. Nonetheless fourteen boats
completed the race and it was the 420 of Rory Sharvill and James Cooke, fresh
from training with the National Youth Squad, which took the honours. Hugh
Styles and Adam Heeley, the former taking a break from his Tornado campaign,
were second in an RS400 followed by Ed and Sarah Styles in a Buzz.