Report from 2007 Mirror/Optimist Open Meeting
November 11th, 2007 by: Fraser KerrThe day dawned warm and grey without much wind.Fortified by copious quantities of tea and toast from the galley, the crews of 26 boats – 13 Optimists and 13 Mirrors launched onto the Mere for the first race. The wind was forecast to pick up a little and settled into a light south to southeasterly.
The Optimists started 5 minutes after the Mirrors following the same course set with two beats across the Mere.
The Mirrors spread out in the testing light wind conditions.
By contrast a hole in the wind appeared at one of the windward marks, bunching the Optimist fleet. The course needed to be shortened to ensure that lunch could be taken at a reasonable time. Given the conditions there was no “rescuing” needed but the rescue boats earned their keep by encouraging the Oppie back markers with coaching advice to help keep the boats moving!!
It was great to see how much the young sailors from Budworth and beyond were enjoying the sailing.
On such a grey day it would have been understandable for helms, some as young as six, to become disheartened.
Despite their inexperience all kept in touch with the field and were able to finish.
At lunchtime, there was a happy buzz as everyone tucked into bowls of steaming pasta stoking the boiler in readiness for the two afternoon races.
The course for the Mirrors remained the same for both afternoon races.
However, the Optimist’s course evolved from a short two beat course into a simple triangle as the wind dropped off before the last race.In the Optimists, Max Spedding from Dee SC sailed faultlessly to win all three races and the Open trophy. James Clermetson was second overall after a second, third and fourth. Tom Joesbury was just pushed into third place after coming third, second and fifth. Rhona Kerr and Ben Fullard made a late assault on the podium with second and third respectively in the last race.
| Rank | SailNo | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total | Nett |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 4696 | Max Spedding | Dee | -1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 2nd | 5413 | James Clemetson | Budworth S C | 2 | 3 | -4 | 9 | 5 |
| 3rd | 5216 | Tom Joesbury | Budworth S C | 3 | 2 | -5 | 10 | 5 |
| 4th | 5280 | Ben Fullard | Budworth S C | 4 | -5 | 3 | 12 | 7 |
| 5th | 4801 | Rhona Kerr | Budworth SC | -6 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 8 |
| 6th | 4497 | Oliver Guess | Bristol Corinthian YC | -7 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 11 |
| 7th | GBR | Thomas Arkle | Budworth SC | 5 | 7 | -12 | 24 | 12 |
| 8th | 4412 | Josh Dawson | Budworth SC | 8 | -11 | 6 | 25 | 14 |
| 9th | ‘C’ | Haydn Griffiths | Leigh & Lowton | 10 | 8 | -11 | 29 | 18 |
| 10th | 3996 | Hannah Bristow | Budworth SC | -11 | 9 | 9 | 29 | 18 |
| 11th | 4422 | Henry Edwards | Bristol Corinthian YC | 9 | -10 | 10 | 29 | 19 |
| 12th | 4462 | Matthew Leckie | Budworth SC | -12 | 12 | 8 | 32 | 20 |
| 13th | Colour | Faye Singleton | Budworth SC | 13 | (14.0 DNC) | 14.0 DNC | 41 | 27 |
In the Mirrors, the Escritts from Yorkshire Dales SC took pole position followed closely by Brendan Sweeney & Max Ligema from Royal Windermere YC. The Grey family from Royal Windermere YC took third.
| Rank | SailNo | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total | Nett |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 70503 | Ian Escritt | Callum Escritt | Yorkshire Dales SC | -2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 2nd | 70477 | Brendan Sweeney | Max Ligema | Royal Windermere YC | 1 | -3 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| 3rd | 70450 | David Grey | Emily Grey | Royal Windermere YC | -3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| 4th | 39970 | Rory Nicholl | Lily Charlesworth | Royal Windermere YC | 4 | -6 | 4 | 14 | 8 |
| 5th | 70252 | David Moore | Jack Moore | Blithfield SC | -5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 10 |
| 6th | 70436 | Katie Greenwood | Imogen Richards | Budworth SC | -8 | 4 | 8 | 20 | 12 |
| 7th | 53395 | Alex Joesbury | Martin Joesbury | Budworth SC | 6 | -7 | 7 | 20 | 13 |
| 8th | 56815 | Izzi Bristow | Graeme Bristow | Budworth SC | -9 | 8 | 6 | 23 | 14 |
| 9th | 60963 | Steve Arkle | Ben Arkle/Rhari Kerr | Budworth SC | 7 | 11 | (13.00 DNC) | 31 | 18 |
| 10th | Yellow Eyes | Emily Whelan | Nick Whelan | Budworth SC | -11 | 10 | 9 | 30 | 19 |
| 11th | 69731 | Charles Whitaker | Jane Whitaker | Budworth SC | 10 | 9 | (13.00 DNC) | 32 | 19 |
| 12th | 55795 | Rebecca Morgan | Maddy Loftus | Budworth SC | -12 | 12 | 10 | 34 | 22 |
The day was made a great success by the many helpers - those who toiled in the galley and bar, the OOD and those in the rescue boats who made the best of difficult conditions for the younger helms, and those doing the registration and paperwork.
The trophy table looked as if there should have been security guards in place to protect it!!
Perhaps the Budworth Open 2007 medal will sit next to Olympic medals in the future??
What do you do when you have just finished a day’s hard sailing?
Jump in off the jetty of course!
Many thanks to Peter Cull for his excellent photography.