Wraysbury Optimist Open Meeting
Papercourt sailors made an outstanding impression at the Wraysbury Optimist Open Meeting held on 11th June. It was a great event for kids and parents alike with bright sunshine, a friendly club and a lovely lake with good viewing for those off the water. Sailing conditions were varied and challenging especially for anyone who hadn’t sailed the lake previously. The wind varied from good to light to totally absent at various times throughout the day and with high trees and several small islands in and around the lake a good understanding of how wind is affected by such features was vital to a good performance. Long laps and the varying wind required a high level of concentration for all.
The Main fleet comprising 21 helms (4 Papercourt sailors) was won by a Jenny Smallwood (Wraysbury) who sailed very well making the most of the wind and local knowledge. From Papercourt, Flavio Tritto came 7th overall with a top finish of 2nd in the first race. Oscar Wright had a top finish of 4th coming 8th overall; Dom Hall, top finish 6th and was 14th overall, the same position he achieved in this event last year and our final Papercourt helm in the main fleet was Emily Walters who achieved a top finish of 11th coming 15th in the event; a very creditable result for all our main fleet helms.
The Regatta fleet was in no uncertain terms dominated by Papercourt not just in terms of the number of entrants, where no less than 15 helms comprised over 50% of the fleet but also, and most importantly, in the results. For the second year running the Regatta fleet was won by a Papercourt helm, this time Alice Handley came out on top. She & Zoe James had a fantastic tussle with each other and the final result was all in the balance on the last race. Alice eventually taking the honours with two 2nd and a 1st place. The girls eventually finishing 1st & 2nd overall and a local Wraysbury sailor, Katie Webb, just pipping Nick Walters (1st,4th & 5th) to 3rd place beating him by just one point. Other creditable performances include Chris James, Charles Handley, James Hall, all in the top 10. The remainder of our sailors were lead by Thea Walter who finished 11th. Jack Boon took the honours in the sibling rivalry with his sister Alice coming 15th & 16th respectively. Ben Buckley came 18th; Amelia Bryant 19th Jonathan Bell 20th William Ashworthy 22nd, Charlie Sumeray 25th. Perhaps our least experienced helm Zac West deserves a special mention coming 26th overall but unfortunately he took a heavy bash on the head in the third race doing well to finish and eventually retired.
All our kids did Papercourt and themselves proud with many of the Regatta fleet competing in their first ever open meeting.
Full results are available at the following links:
Main Fleet: http://www.kbsuk.com/data/OptimistIOCATV/data/results/OppyOpen2011mainAN04-P.htm
Regatta Fleet: http://www.kbsuk.com/data/OptimistIOCATV/data/results/OppyOpen2011regattaAN04-P.htm
Report by Peter Walter
