It's a blast for sailors
A FEROCIOUS south westerly blasted Beccles Amateur Sailing Club last Saturday so much so that apart from the hardy Topper fleet, the only other boat that touched the water, an Enterprise, remained under bare poles against the quay-heading.
A FEROCIOUS south westerly blasted Beccles Amateur Sailing Club last Saturday so much so that apart from the hardy Topper fleet, the only other boat that touched the water, an Enterprise, remained under bare poles against the quay-heading.
OOD Rory Kelsey abandoned the first race when most of the eight boats out were knocked down rounding the number two marker including Saskia Baylis who found herself entangled in a cruiser's mooring lines, as the wind ripped down from the new bridge.
After getting back ashore and a quick briefing with the ever-keen helms, a shortened course of two buoys was set in the modest lee of the Norfolk bank, which provided some exciting planeing conditions downriver past the clubhouse.
After a hectic start, Ollie Baylis closely followed by Jake Smalls and Milo Phillips literally flew ahead of the pack and slowly increased his lead as the lighter helms struggled to keep the boats flat and eventually screeched across the finish line to win by some margin but in the second race the wind really whipped up and with some gusts registering force six, no one was immune to capsizing.
The start line saw some erratic incidents including Jake Smalls being yanked off his Topper deck after being lassoed by Katie Roll's mainsheet leaving him to be pulled from the water by one of the very busy rescue boat teams.
The heavier helms again got away including Rob Gilchrist who soon forged out a reasonable lead, which he kept to the finish in spite of receiving a nasty blow to the head from his boom earlier.
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Bob Ashcroft and Ollie Baylis battled it out behind but unfortunately Bob lost control soon after rounding the number two mark letting Ollie slip past on the last round to take second spot.
Senior BASC sailors will be hoping for more civilised weather this weekend.
Results
Tann Trophy Race One (8): 1 Wonkey Donkey (O Baylis), 2 Tip Top (Jake Smalls), 3 Windsinger (M Phillips).
Tann Trophy Race Two (8): 1 Ketchup (R Gilchrist), 2 Wonkey Donkey, 3 Piranha (B Ashcroft).
