Race Results

Event Report

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Back to 2006 Events

23rd - 24th September

Draycote Sailing Club

By Caroline Ramsey

This is going to be a somewhat different report on a major race in the Miracle Calendar, because I’m not going to focus on the front of the fleet and I’m not going to focus on how friendly it was during the evening meal on Saturday

There was tough and competitive racing at the front of the fleet. Dave Southwell achieved a real triumph in sailing a borrowed boat on his return to Miracle competition into a winning position. Wayne Atherton and Paul Huett both left the competition with major ‘if only’ regrets, as they both could have won if only they hadn’t … It was that tight through the races.

So, the formal, front of the field bit is as follows:

The Miracle Inlands were held at Draycote Water with generous sponsorship from NFU Mutual, AF Areospace and Surf and Sale, Draycote Water’s on site chandlery. 31 competitors were on the start line and there were 5 races with 3 to count.

In race one, Atherton lead to the windward mark but lost out to Southwell and Huett over the next two laps. Although Huett crossed the line first, he was disqualified for missing a wing mark and Southwell won.

In race two Atherton again led for most of the race until the final leg when, in covering Southwell on the starboard side of the beat, he allowed Aldhous, who was to win the Silver division, to sneak through on the port side for a win.

In race 3, Pye was first to the windward mark but was overtaken first by Atherton and then Southwell, who gained first place.

Race 4 was led from start to finish by Huett with Smith, Atherton and Southwell all holding second place, with Southwell leading the chasers at the line.

Southwell had now won the championship and sat out the final race. The major competition, then, was for third place between Amos and two local boats Huett and Pye. In getting ahead of Amos for second place behind Atherton, Huett gained third place overall.

On the social side, of course we had a good dinner in the club house. The large lounge bar and dining area is one of the big benefits of Draycote Water as a venue. The Bar was open and the conversations were still going strong when I left at nearer 11 than 10 that evening. I wandered around the different tables remembering why I enjoyed the Nationals at Brixham so much … because the Miracle crowd is as friendly off the water as they’re competitive on it!

So what was it like racing at the back of the fleet? Well it was as competitive as the racing at the front! Looking back at the results every crew in the back ten had its good race and we all had our struggles as well. Making it a family affair, Ashley Southwell won the Bronze division, with local youth sailor Ian Payne coming second. But, actually that doesn’t really tell the story of a large group of sailors, many of whom were racing in a large fleet for the first time, sailing hard, getting the better of the nearest boat before being pulled back, recovering from mistakes by sailing well.

As we headed down the run, several of us would look across to the top guys on the beat – which side were they sailing up, who was doing best? Should we head for the dam wall or go down the port side of the course? “Ha ha, we’re sailing flatter and faster than them, maybe we’ll catch them up?!” “Rats She’s lee bowed me, got to tack”… “hmm, yep, I’ll have to go behind them as they’re on the starboard tack”. “Hang on where have they come from!?” “ Oh damn, there’s Tim Wareing’s transom again! Got to get ahead of him on the next beat!” Then in the club house, there were the conversations: cruets and forks used to ask or explain important points of sailing, questions about whether we/they should have asked for turns (the answer was yes, by the way :-).

But the moment I loved best was during the final race. Carmela and I had had a good start and first beat. We’d then sailed the two reaches well enough and had a second good beat. As a consequence, we were much nearer the gold and silver fleet guys “Yeah!! We’re going to get a really good result!!” And then I looked around and saw that all the same boats were close by me. You see, it wasn’t just Erik the Boat who was going faster, all the tail-enders had been learning through the weekend, we’d all had better beats and were sailing faster!

And for many of us, that is what open meetings are all about. With larger fleets than most club racers normally experience, there will always be someone of your ability with whom you can compete with and learn. Oh yes, it’s important to remember that there are some pretty impressive sailors competing at the front of the fleet but they all started at the back once upon a time too, so maybe just maybe in a while…

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