British Moth Boat Association

 

 

 

 

 

 

RACING RESULTS

 

British Moth Nationals 2007


 

 by Mark Collyer, Chippenham SC
The Year of the Stoat

Every Nationals for the past few years seems to have had a wildlife theme, at Stewartby it was the angry swans, at previous Northampton championships we have had wasps and flying ants. This year it was the year of the stoat (those who were not at breakfast missed out on a marvellous show). Every year is, of course “the year of the Brent Geese” a fact that had Wendy Pope muttering about Christmas dinner.

None of the above had anything to do with the sailing, but a lot to do with event.

The Championships really started on Tuesday evening when a moderately low key barbeque for early arrivals attracted just over thirty people. Tents were erected, boats rigged, friendships renewed, stories re-told, drinks drunks and food duly eaten.

By the time PRO Bruce Merry started his briefing most of the fleet were in position and raring to go, at that point the weather started to take control and two laps into the Practice race, Bruce wisely decided that the rescue crews had enough to deal with and duly sent the fleet home.

Either the wind had moderated or the fleet had become acclimatised to the conditions, because two hours later a good fleet set out in pursuit of the Teddy Hicks Trophy, unsurprisingly Rob Wilder (Tamesis) made the pace, but could not shake off the attentions of Tim Davison (Medley) and John Wayling (Northampton). Ian Edwards (Evesham) outpaced Roger Witts (Frampton) for fourth place and Tim Hogan (Welwyn) sailed well above his weight to finish sixth.

The AGM on Wednesday evening saw, amongst other matters, several changes to the Committee and a Technical Sub Committee formed to oversee the finer points of the measurement of the GRP/FRP hulls

On Thursday morning the Coupe De Leon was another one, two three for Wilder, Davison and Wayling but this time Witts had moved up to fourth and David Eales (Evesham) to fifth leaving Colin Hall (Hunts) in sixth.

Thursday afternoon’s race was for the Marlow Ropes Salver and saw John Wayling’s first visit to the top of the ladder, leaving Wilder in second and Witts in third. Eales took fourth place and Graham Pope (Severn) recovered from an OCS in the morning to record fifth.

Friday saw Roger Witts making a strong bid for the title; he won both the Thompson and the Amethyst Trophies and in so doing propelled himself right back into contention, although Wilder (second and fifth) and Wayling ( fourth and second) still had a slight edge.

Friday evening’s 75th Anniversary Supper was a great success due in no small part to the catering skills of Elaine and Vicky, not to mention the bar tending skills of John Wayling

As usual, the final race was going to be the decider, Wilder had control and needed a third or better to win, but a win from Witts or Wayling would give them the Brent Cup if Wilder failed. Wayling and Davison made the best of the start, and Wilder rather blotted his copybook by taking a swim at the end of the first lap. Meanwhile Witts was having a nightmare with his handling and eventually retired when it was obvious that this race would be his discard. By the end of the second lap Wilder had got back to third place and then sailed a beautifully controlled race to regain the title. At the front, Wayling saw off Davison’s close attention to take second overall with Davison taking third.

Despite the intensity of the racing at the top there was far more to the Championship, Stephen Seargeant (Fishers Green) launched his brand new home finished boat and duly finished 10th and a lot of newcomers covered themselves in glory, Mark Wiltshire (Chippenham) took the Endeavour Trophy with a resounding fifteenth, Tony Jacks (Evesham), Jeremy Higson (Evesham) and Stefan Gerard (Medley) also showed well. It was also good to see some of the older faces, Rick Benson (Cam) having a good week after a few years away, and Morris Metcalf (Rye Harbour)   returning with his incredible metal boat, and Rupert Whelan (Whitefriars) had some good performances in a rather “interesting” boat

The Ladies had their best showing for many years with Tina Hardyment (Medley) having four others to fight off, and the Popelets showed a lot of improvement in the juniors, although Chris Harris in the rescue boat did offer them “loyalty cards”.

This years entry consisted of 42 boats from 16 clubs including nine from Evesham that three weeks earlier had their boat park under seven foot of water

Thanks are due to Severn Sailboats (Graham Pope) for supply a selection of chandler and some very nice burgees which were used as prizes.

Saturday afternoon saw the prizes presented, the tents collapsed and the boats loaded up as the fleet made their way home, despite the weather it was a wonderful week, the club had been magnificent, right across the board they could have not done more for us. It is very easy to over use superlatives these days but when it comes to Northampton Sailing Club there are not enough in the thesaurus. Thank you all very much; I hope we return very soon.