Dell Quay Sailing Club

(Shorter version published in the Chichester Observer on Thursday 19th May 2016)

Sunday 8^th May dawned with warmth, sunshine and wind in the low teens, perfect sailing conditions for the 2000 Class Open Meeting at Dell Quay Sailing Club. A good turnout of 11 visitors joined the 9 local boats for what would be some very close racing throughout the day.

With wind from the East, Race Officer Richard Ede was limited in the length of the course he could set but made full use of the width of the channel to set a good course providing options both upwind and downwind. The shorter course meant more laps which only added to the challenge, with more manoeuvres and spinnaker hoists and drops required than would normally be seen in a 2-day event.

Race 1 got underway in a relatively strong flood tide with a clean start and Simon Horsfield and Jessica Hunter (Army Sailing Association) rounded the mark first to take an early lead, hotly pursued by Richard and Ian Hudson (Bough Beech Sailing Club), Rob and Sarah Burridge (Weir Wood SC), Miles Wade and Gemma Burridge (Army SA), Steve and Sarah Cockerill (Stokes Bay SC) and Chris and Jill Jordan (Burghfield SC). There was much place changing as the race progressed, with the Burridges working through to take the win from the Hudsons with Wade/Burridge rounding out the top 3.

Race 2 with a significantly weaker tide revealed a fleet much more confident in attacking the start line and the only recalled start of the day. In the re-start the Hudsons were unfortunately too keen again, over the line as the gun went and therefore disqualified. Lee and Max Sydenham (Dell Quay SC) made the most of a good start to lead around the first mark and hold onto the lead for 3 laps before being passed by the fast-charging Burridges. Not giving up, the Sydenhams did retake the lead on the next upwind leg before difficulties at the top of the course allowed the Burridges to extend away. The Sydenhams were chased hard but held on to take second from Horsfield/Hunter.

Race 3 commenced in a strengthening wind in the high teens and gusting to 20mph. This not only added to the effort involved in racing around the course but the increased speeds meant that the race ran a full 10 laps. After two laps the Burridges and Cockerills had extended away to continue a two-boat race for the win. The Cockerills, relative newcomers to the class but rapidly getting to grips with the boat, put up a very strong fight and pushed all the way but the Burridges held on to complete a clean sweep with their third win of the day. The race for third place came down to the last lap with the Jordans winning out ahead of Class Chairman Iain and Sarah Yardley (SWSC) who crossed less than a second ahead of the Sydenhams.

A fleet of tired sailors returned to the shore for Dell Quay Sailing Club’s legendary cakes and to compare stories on the sun-baked balcony. Overall, Rob/Sarah Burridge took a well deserved victory ahead of Steve/Sarah Cockerill with Lee/Max Sydenham as first Dell Quay boat in third and Chris/Jill Jordan rounding out the prizes in fourth.

Rob in his speech thanked everybody involved from Dell Quay sailing club for the extremely friendly welcome, the lovely atmosphere and the great racing put on throughout the course of the day.

Lee Sydenham