Craftinsure Supernova training and open meeting at Girton Sailing Club
by Sam Mason 22 Jul 21:17 UTC
20-21 July 2024
Craftinsure Supernova training and open meeting at Girton © Ed Johnson
Summer arrived at Girton Sailing Club on the weekend of 20/21 July. With it came temperatures in the high 20s, light and fickle winds and a hoard of Supernovas.
Saturday was given over to a Supernova Association training day which attracted people from far and wide to hear words of wisdom from coach Matt Thursfield and to learn millimetre madness and the use of coloured tape. The afternoon was profitably spent with on the water coaching.
Sunday dawned clear and sunny with a force 2 westerly breeze which was forecast to fade as the day progressed causing race officer Sam Mason and his team to run 2 races back to back in the morning and one after lunch if the wind held.
Race 1: Twenty five boats started with the wind fairly constant in strength but swinging about through up to 30 degrees. The expected chaos on the start line did not materialise with only 1 boat being called back. The scene was set for the day with 1344 Alex Reeve (Cotswold) and 1220 Mike Critchley (Bolton) being together at the windward mark with 1281 Alan Bishop (Girton) snapping at their heels
These three made the best of the prevailing conditions and progressively pulled away from the rest of the fleet and finished in that order although not without place swapping throughout the race. There was close and friendly competition all the way down the fleet.
After a slight alteration to the course Race 2 got away cleanly with Alan Bishop using his local knowledge to build an impressive lead with Alex Reeve in a fairly comfortable second place Mike Crichley had a difficult start with an infringement in the early seconds of the race causing him to do turns and putting him well back in the fleet but he pulled out all the stops and was up to fourth by the finish.
1139 Dana Church (Notts) was third and places 2-3-4 very close by the finish.
After an excellent lunch it was decided to run a third race in a now dropping and shifty breeze. Alan Bishop decided to start early and got called back for his trouble, Alex Reeve started to pull away accompanied by Mike Critchley, Dana Church and Marcus Shaw (Girton) but Bishop had the bit between his teeth and pulled up to second by the end of the first lap.
The wind continued to alternatively drop and swing causing "snakes and ladders" racing for all but the leaders at the end Reeve took the win from Bishop, Church and Shaw.
Results:
1st - Alex Reeve, Cotswold SC
2nd - Alan Bishop, Girton SC
3rd - Mike Critchley, Bolton SC
1st Mk1 - Chris Aubrey, Bolton
1st Junior - Thea Harris-Ellis, Girton