Dell Quay Sailing Club

(Published in the Chichester Observer on Thursday 24th March 2016)

A bright and sunny day kicked off the start of Dell Quay Sailing Club’s 2016 racing season, with the first of the Early Helm handicap series. Wind conditions were less favourable however, forcing race officer Chris Rowsell to postpone the start of the race for over an hour.

Once racing started the wind picked up quickly allowing Mike Shaw (Solo) to win the first race, followed by John Purdy (Solo) with Rob Corfield (RS400) third. In race 2 Purdy beat Shaw to first place leaving Corfield to settle for third again.

The sunny weather continued the following day, with cold northerly winds providing good racing for the start of the Early Trophy races.

In the first race of the Handicap series the RS400 team of Rob Corfield and Henry Bettle took on Tom Bettle and James White (RS200) with a competitive start. Once sailing off the wind the faster RS400 was able to pull away from the rest of the fleet, which suffered a number of capsizes. Corfield and Bettle were able to maintain their lead to finish first on handicap with Sue Nash and June Matthews (2000) second, leaving Bettle and White third.

In the second race only three boats started, with two retiring, leaving just Corfield and Bettle to finish the race.

In the Solo races Mike Shaw had a great start and was first to the windward mark, closely followed by Roger Puttock and Richard Bridgmont. Shaw sailed an excellent first lap, keeping the lead around the first 3 marks and it was only on the beat back that Puttock managed to overhaul Shaw to take the lead, which he held to the end of the race.

The other Solo's enjoyed very close racing for the whole 3 laps, with places changing all the time, but it was Shaw who held second place closely followed by Bridgmont, who sailed a commendable race to finish third.

In Race 2 Dave Maltby dominated the racing from lap 2 onwards to come in first, despite Puttock and Shaw taking the lead at the start and having to settle for second and third place respectively. 

Edited by Andrew Horne

Contributions by Rob Corfield and Roger Puttock