Solo Midland Area – Chelmarsh SC Open

Sponsored by Allen – 3rd September 2022

It was an early start for some of us, driving about 100miles, but that didn’t matter, I was excited to be back on the road after two months from our last Midlands series event in Shustoke early in July; I was glad about the idea of a decent forecast of 11 to 15 knots and a still warm September morning.

This is my first year in the Solo fleet and racing, but there is such good energy at these meetings that I don’t mind all the packing and unpacking, every event is a joy to me. I don’t think a year ago when around this time the Solo fleet at Northampton SC convince me to try out the club Solo, that I would be buying my Solo a couple of months after that and that shortly after I would be out on the road visiting different clubs and meeting a lovely bunch of people.  I remember the first race at Banbury, I never had packed/ unpacked my boat and had never towed a boat before, but I was very lucky to never be short to find help from everyone in the fleet to encourage me to take part.

Anyway enough of me and back to Chelmarsh, I arrived there about 9am, and I was happy to see faces I know already there, Kev Hall, Chris Brown, Jon Woodward and our host Matt Robinson, fleet captain at Chelmarsh, who was very kind to help me put my mast up. I was very pleased to meet Tracey (Chelmarsh) and Anna (Shropshire) and to learn they would also be sailing! It is a little intimidating to be the only woman out there, so that raised my spirits. As soon as the boat was set up the lovely smell of bacon butty invited us to move to the clubhouse.

Briefing at 10:30 by PRO Tom Dickinson, who gave us all the details about how the day would run and then shortly after 20 Sailors set off onto the water. The first race started smoothly, and very quickly we saw Martin H, Kev Hall, Chris Brown, Alex Alcock and the two Jon’s take the lead…. I saw them from a distance but was pleased to be leading between the ladies. The wind was shifting so often that it kept us on our feet trying to be in the right place at right time. Martin finished first followed by Kev.

The second race had a general recall, and after re-locating the committee boat to adjust to the ever-changing wind direction, race two took place. We saw the same group leading the race, but this time Kev was better placed than Martin on a wind shift as they approached the finish line which gave him a win. From the lady’s group, Tracey had the lead.

We had our break for lunch, and a lot of happy faces jumped at the sight of cake 🙂  I have to say, it was a great idea to add breakfast and lunch together with the entry fee. 

We were ready at 2:15 and back on the water to start our last race of the day with no recalls. Conditions remained very shifty and the wind had picked up a bit. Similar to the previous 2 races we had the same group at the front except for Kev who missed his spot at the start and after a couple of hiccups on the way decided it was best to go back to set up the prizes…. Martin H. won the last race followed closely by Chris B and Alex Alcock; in the ladies group, Tracey again took the lead for race 3.

So final results for the day:

Spot prizes:

First open meeting helming: Anna Nankervis (Shropshire)

First Chelmarsh: Jonathan Carter (Chelmarsh)

Club prizes:

First wooden: Lee Nankervis (Shropshire)

First Lady: Tracey Hanan (Chelmarsh)

1st place: Martin Honnor (Ogston)

2nd place: Kev Hall (Northampton)

3rd place Chris Brown (RYA)

Massive thank you to our PRS, Tom Dickinson and Will Ramson for setting up good courses in very changing conditions, the safety boat team Frank & Ewan Whitley, Philip Griffin and Martin Smith for keeping an eye on us, and to the great team in the galley Linda Thursfield, Sally Fowler, Mary Andrews and Karen Whitehouse for looking after us at breakfast, lunch and the bar after the race 😊

Maria E. Franco

Northampton SC

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