Stewartby Water Sports Club TT : Winter Series
Saturday 5th November 2011

32 and rising! – Stewartby kicks the Winter TT series into action

An excellent turnout of 32 boats consisting of 20 visiting boats and 12 home boats made for an exciting start to the Winter TT series. Stewartby Water Sports Club saw an increase in both its home and visiting boats by nearly 30% - indicative of the commitment and enthusiasm that exists both within the club and the class itself. The damp and misty conditions gave way to a light North-westerly breeze and, at the briefing, race officer Simon Witham explained the course with each of the marks rounding to starboard so as to make the best of the windier side of the lake.

The start of the first race saw a clean start form the entire fleet with the boats of Stuart Snell, Howard Hawkes and Steve Sawford breaking away from the fleet following a somewhat interesting approach to the first windward mark. The coming together of two streams of port and starboard boats resulted in some intimate roundings (with local Simon Miles astride the inflatable mark on lap 1) and those that chose to steer clear and take the mark wide generally benefited. Ultimately Snell took the honours with Hawkes and Sawford finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively

A little too much starboard bias on the line in race 2 led to quite a gathering around the committee boat and once again thanks to a large dose of common sense the entire fleet started cleanly. The leading boats held starboard tack whilst others were forced to tack into clear air only to be greeted by a number of unpredictable shifts. The long run from marks 2 to 3 saw some tactical thinking with several boats gaining positions by choosing to take a wide course to the leeward mark. Gaining clear air was the order of the day. Snell again took 1st place with the home boat of Simon Miles taking 2nd.. The closely contested battle for 3rd and 4th between Hawkes and Mark Aldridge.

Ultimately it was consistency that won the day, with the two 1st places of Stuart Snell (Grafham Water SC) clinching victory over Howard Hawkes (Thorpe Bay YC). 3rd 4th and 5th places were again hotly contested with last year's winner Peter Slater (Draycote SC) taking 3rd position ahead of the first Stewartby boat of Mark Norman 4th and Mark Aldridge (Grafham Water SC) 5th. The battle for 4th resulted in a tie break situation between Norman and Aldridge, both on 11 points, which eventually resulted in Norman's favour.

It was great to see a number of new names appearing especially those of David and Jonathan Lee (Datchet Water SC) participating in their first event in the two-up format.

The wonderful curry served by the galley staff served as an excellent chance to socialise and discuss the day's action and finally the customary liquid prizes meant that nobody went away empty handed – Surely a recipe for success!

The fleet, pic: Steve Ivory
The fleet, pic: Steve Ivory
Mark Norman, pic:Alan Howie-Wood
Mark Norman, pic:Alan Howie-Wood

Results:


Full Series Results available here



Two Up Fleet
CompetitorsEvent Placings
NameSailClubFormatHandicap PlaceFleet Place
David Lee and Jonathon Lee1683Datchet Sailing ClubTwo Up3228
Una Fleet
CompetitorsEvent Placings
NameSailClubFormatHandicap PlaceFleet Place
Stuart Snell1982Grafham Water Sailing ClubUna Rig11
Howard Hawkes1643Snettisham Beach SCUna Rig22
Peter Slater1627Draycote Water Sailing ClubUna Rig33
Mark Norman1431Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig44
Mark Aldridge19Grafham Water Sailing ClubUna Rig55
Steve Sawford1733Rutland Water Sailing ClubUna Rig66
Simon Miles1827Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig77
Paul Craft1267Worthing Sailing ClubUna Rig88
George Stephen1594Queen Mary Sailing ClubUna Rig99
Liam Thom554Shanklin Sailing ClubUna Rig1210
Andrew Gregory1958Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig1311
Jon Finch1890Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig1412
George Love1825Carsington Sailing ClubUna Rig1513
Robert Finch1838Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig1714
Stewart Pegum1918Oxford Sailing ClubUna Rig1815
Jan Elfring1913Draycote Water Sailing ClubUna Rig1916
Ed Tuite Dalton1940Draycote Water Sailing ClubUna Rig2017
Erling Holmberg2007Shanklin Sailing ClubUna Rig2118
Christine Roman1925Shanklin Sailing ClubUna Rig2219
Andy Bunyan1289Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig2420
Gordon Goldstone2004Queen Mary Sailing ClubUna Rig2521
Daren Fitchew1642Thorpe Bay Yacht ClubUna Rig2622
Steve Wakelam1479Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig2723
Marcus Finch527Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig2824
Karl Pountney1494Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig2925
Simon Hare1970Oxford Sailing ClubUna Rig3026
Clive Latham1841Oxford Sailing ClubUna Rig3127
Sport Fleet
CompetitorsEvent Placings
NameSailClubFormatHandicap PlaceFleet Place
Chris Clarke378Stewartby Water Sports ClubSport101
Derek James1744Draycote Water Sailing ClubSport112
Robin Hall1292Stewartby Water Sports ClubSport163
Gary Burrows1871Thorpe Bay Yacht ClubSport234