Solo Open at BA Silver Wing Sailing Club
by Richard Charles 13 Apr 2006 00:02 PDT
2 April 2006
Action from the Solo open at Silver Wing © Richard Charles
The 17 entries in this Thames Valley series event were treated to classic early April weather with strong winds, squalls and heavy rain. Forty degree wind shifts tested the competitors skills. Only 8 were still sailing by the end of race three!
The event was won by Mike Hobin who lead all the way in the first race. Further back was anything but a procession with some big place changes. Some lost out whilst Steve Jones moved up from 7th to 2nd. Graham Hughes sailed consistently in the top four finally finishing 3rd.
The tough conditions in the second race affected results even more drastically than in the first. Mike was leading the second race when he was caught by a big shift and filled the boat with water. That allowed Daniel Goodman through from second and he held on to win. Steve Jones pulled up from 4th to 2nd, even better was Clive Evans finished 3rd having been 11th in lap 2. Ian Ayres came up from 7th to finish 4th.
Despite an individual recall at the start of the 3rd race Daniel Goodman lead until the last lap when the finish of the concurrent Laser race caused the leading bunch some confusion. At that point Mike Hobin took the advantage and got ahead of Daniel, Steve Jones and Graham Hughes.
There were numerous capsizes and unfortunately some damage to boats. Despite all this the view was that an exhilarating days racing was had by all.
Overall Results:
1st 4649 Mike Hobin (Oxford)
2nd 4322 Daniel Goodman (Kingsmead)
3rd 4422 Steve Jones (Littleton)
4th 4353 Graham Huges (Papercourt)
5th 4589 Ian Ayres (Kingsmead)
6th 4432 Clive Evans (Reading)