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International
Flying Dutchman |
FD Southern Area ChampionshipLee-on-the-Solent - 20/21 June 1998The FD fleet assembled at its main base at Lee-on-the-Solent (venue for 199 World Championship) for a hotly contested Southern Area Championship. With this as the first regatta at which all three of the new £10,000 Maders were participating, there was keen interest to see their relative merits and whether they could beat the tried and tested older boats. The weather provided a full test of skills from force 1 with flat water to full Solent chop with white horses and force 6 gusts of warm SW winds. Race 1 was held in a force 1-2 wind south easterly wind. With a good start the main fleet headed in towards the shore. At the first mark John Best & James Cole (in a new Mader) had established a good lead over Hugh Myers & Gordon Kinsgston (in the only Speedwave in the UK) followed by Peter Doran & Richard Phillips (in an early 90s Mader). Rounding the first mark Hugh Myers found his rudder floating and whilst refixing it, Doran & Phillips slipped past and by the end of the second spinnaker reach had caught Best & Cole. On the short beat to cross the start line Doran & Phillips established a small lead over Best & Cole which they extended on the rest of the beat and the run and held to the finish. After two triangles and two sausages Myers & Kingston caught Best & Cole and gained second place on the final short beat to the finish. By the start of race 2 the wind had increased to force 3 and strengthened during the race to force 5. At the first mark Best & Cole again led with Myers & Kingston second. Stephen Parry & David Parr (in a new Mader) were third closely followed by Peter Weeks & Robbie Lammiman. Whilst Best & Cole and Myers & Kingston battled out first place with Best the eventual winner, Parry & Parr retired due to spinnaker problems. Weeks & Lammiman were hotly pursued by Doran & Phillips who moved up to third place when Lammiman left the boat for a swim on the first reach of the second triangle. In the increasingly gusty conditions Doran & Phillips capsized allowing Tony Lyall and Colin Burns (new Mader) to move into third place. After the gybe mark, Weeks, having rescued Lammiman was level with Doran & Phillips. On the final run Weeks & Lammiman pulled up to third place and Doran & Phillips finished fourth. The third race was held on Sunday morning in a SW force 2-4 wind. Doran & Phillips led at the first mark, closely followed by Parry & Parr who soon gained the lead with a quick spinnaker hoist. By the gybe mark Best & Cole and Myers & Kingston were gaining on Doran & Phillips who managed to hold them off until the third beat when Myers & Kingston went left and, finding a more favoured wind, pulled up to second place. The next reach was a very close race. Best & Cole, using their weight advantage, kept the spinnaker flying to pull over Doran & Phillips fifty yards from the gybe mark. Positions were held until towards the end of the second run when Doran & Phillips pulled back in front of Best & Cole. John Berry with new crew Jonathan Mellows improved on their two sixths with a fifth place. With four boats able to win the Championship, only a win in the last race would ensure victory. The race officer decided that five laps should be sailed. The race was held in a SW 4 to 5 and with the whole fleet flying up wind Best & Cole gained some pace to reach the first mark in the lead closely followed by Parry & Parr who misjudged the layline and was forced onto the mark by the tide. Weeks & Lammiman and Neil Pye & Mike Williams were well on the pace. The first reach was too tight to carry a spinnaker. At the gybe mark Best & Cole led with Myers & Kingston and Weeks & Lammiman close behind. Parry & Parr and Doran & Phillips were beginning to find better speed. At the start of the fifth lap, Best & Cole were still in the lead with Myers & Kingston fighting hard to keep in touch. Doran & Phillips were in third place gaining on Myers & Kingston. Weeks & Lammiman and Parry & Parr were very close behind. In the closing minutes of the race fortunes were turned. Best & Cole with a clear lead capsized yards before the finish allowing Myers & Kingston to clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. Weeks & Lammiman had a screaming final spinnaker reach to finish second and Parry & Parr gained third place to put them second overall. Doran & Phillips were fourth, Pye & Williams had their best result with fifth, Tim Lester & Roy Poole had their best result with a sixth and Matt & Catherine Stephenson - the flying doctors - recorded their second seventh. Overall
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This page was last updated on 06 December 1998 - Please send contributions and comments to Richard Phillips mailto:100446.2371@compuserve.com . For more sailing links see www.sail-cd.demon.co.uk/index.htm |