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Savvy Navvy 2024

Firefly Inland Championship 2024 at Bough Beech Sailing Club

by Nigel Wakefield 9 Oct 10:38 UTC 5-6 October 2024

This year's Firefly Inlands was a fantastic success. Forty-one double-handers for an Inland championship is extraordinary. It was also great to see so many of the students enjoy themselves and learn. Thanks to the two schools and UEA for making it such a fun event. The event was sponsored by Sailboat Trailers, and further prizes provided by Craftinsure and Allen.

The sailing was challenging but fun. The race officer's preference for a heavily port-favoured line meant starting was a real challenge, with most of the fleet wanting to start within 4 boat lengths of one another. OCS (premature start and disqualification) was the real enemy.

Race 1 got away on the 2nd attempt after a large majority of the fleet pushed the pin end bias a little too far on the 1st edition of Race 1. Jono Pank and Freya Phillips were forced over and rounded the ends gifting Jason Aldous and Joesphine Mason a clear lane off the start to the left hand side of the track. Nigel and Emily lead briefly but succumbed to Jason and Jo's superior negotiation of the wind shifts, taking their first ever Inlands win!

Jono and Freya made no mistakes in Race 2 to take the win. Another new pairing, Jenny Smallwood Ph.D. and James Ball sailed divinely and were blessed with the Race 3 win.

Race 4 was the obvious highlight for Alex Baxter and Erin Pank, winning their first Inlands race having previously come second in seven! It was a tricky and shifty race, a shift and gust finally decided the race on the run which allowed Alex and Erin to get away from the chasing pack.

Race 5 Alex/Erin rounded in second, to Nigel/Emily. Alex felt he had the upper hand in terms of shifts and speed upwind, as the breeze had now built considerably. Eventually, with some great covering and protective sailing, Nigel and Emily just (with some discussion about infringement) prevailed.

When the fleet came ashore, no one knew who was leading or how many OCSs had been scored. A few of the front runners had scored big. Others breathed a sigh of relief.

The majority of visitors went for a curry and some late-night rum drinking at the Johnson's house. Overnight leader Emily Saunderson cut short the weekend to catch up on some work (earn money), leaving Nigel Wakefield in the care of Jenny Johnson on Sunday.

Alex Baxter's highlight of Sunday was giving a briefing to all the school children on how he rigs a Firefly. He spoke about the importance of when to pull the centreboard up, rig tension settings and transits on the start line. On the next start he scored an OCS. Another of Alex's personal lessons for the weekend was to arrive on time. His reliance on "friends" to rig his boat had backfired. Whilst on the water, he had to drop the jib, detach the shrouds and re-step the mast. Never one to be held accountable, he was also heard muttering about accepting lifts from unreliable drivers!

On Sunday, Jono/Erin were quick out of the blocks and stated their intentions by winning Race 6.

Roger Morris and Anna Morris took Race 7, also winning the day with an impressive 1,2,4 scoreline. Alex Davey and Stella Davey finished a close 2nd.

Jenny Smallwood Ph.D. and James Ball lead Race 8 by a miraculous distance. Despite labouring devoutly, they dropped to third allowing Nigel/Jenny and Jono/Freya to ascend. Dr Jenny Smallwood said afterwards that the race profile was analogous to the previous evening, where she'd drunk a large glass of neat rum.

Once ashore the scores were counted. Despite the fleet's continued erratic scoring, the top three were unchanged. Nigel/Emily/Jenny hung on for first overall. Jono/Freya 2nd and Alex/Stella 3rd. Other worthy mentions are Leo Dixon returning to the fleet sailing with 11-yr-old daughter Lily, finishing 6th. Well done to Jamie Middleburgh and Josh Beverley, who didn't sail on Saturday but lead two races on Sunday.

Rosie Heydorn and Allegra Fleming 1st all U18 crew
Sophia Johnson 1st U18 helm
Jenny Smallwood Ph.D. 1st female helm
Amy Morris and Gilly Ansell 1st all female crew
Thommie Grit and Rosie Howes 1st students

Many thanks to Bough Beech Sailing Club for kindly hosting the event so well on their beautiful expanse of water.

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmCrewR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8Pts
1st3007Nigel WakefieldEmily Saunderson24221(UFD)5117
2nd4400Jono PankFreya Phillips413461‑9221
3rd2649Alex DaveyStella Davey3556332(UFD)27
4th3119Roger MorrisAnna Morris666‑8721432
5th3625Jenny Smallwood Ph.D.James Ball771‑14943334
6th3840Leo DixonLily Dixon534118117(UFD)49
7th4444Will PankDan Malickis11‑12854511549
8th4379Thommie GritRosie Howes897958‑10955
9th2065Jason AldousJosephine Mason11112710614‑1561
10th3133Amy MorrisGilly Ansell‑1521110121381470
11th3739Lucy BorehamRachel Crebbin1310913117‑17871
12th2246Alex BaxterErin Pank98(OCS)12UFD4774
13th3154Sophia JohnsonDom Johnson1013103(OCS)10181276
14th3921Mike SteeleEdmund Jackson1215‑17121515131193
15th42Rosie HeydornAllegra Fleming‑1918131913121217104
16th41Kaz BurtLawrence Lingard171415(OCS)1891616105
17th3556Ted AshworthElla Ashworth161714151618‑2110106
18th3820Chloe HardingTessa Allen21‑34161817161918125
19th4377Rhys EvansLouise Woodley20‑28221722192020140
20th88Walter KeeganIsabelle Stoppard30161922(OCS)212219149
21st9Mika WooLouisa Regulla‑Wilkins2222‑272120232622156
22nd7Jasper NelsonAmelis Smith2523202426(UFD)2421163
23rd4378Rosie MadinLaura Therien‑3227292823202323173
24th43Arabella ParkerTessa Helsten1424211614(DNC)DNCDNC175
25th8Austin RichieJames Tinline2931‑342930222526192
26th1 BLev BalabinQuentin Rumpf2329182019(DNC)DNCDNC195
27th4 REmmanual ChanKai Guan242128(OCS)24DNCDNC13196
28th2 BBen SheppardBenji Bryden1819242528(DNC)DNCDNC200
29th54Jamie MiddleburghJosh Beverley(DNS)DNSDNCDNSDNS1766201
30th22 OIggy ReynoldsOscar Skelton35‑37313234242724207
31st23 ORichard XuNathan Chan33‑38353136262927217
32nd3 BBarney BrownAnton Chernyshox272023(OCS)21DNCDNCDNC220
33rd20 BDora WangAthena Cox‑3936363535252825220
34th6 RJacob AyalaHenry Tinker2633302325(DNC)DNCDNC223
35th11Max EvansJack B3825262629(DNC)DNCDNC230
36th5 ROliver PattisonJake Hu3126332727(DNC)DNCDNC230
37th24Angus BowmanHenry Landen283032(RET)DNSDNC3028234
38th21 BLulu WongDaniel Dittrich373537333127(DNC)DNC243
39th45Oli ChambersHenry Wilkinson(DNS)DNSDNCDNSDNS1415UFD244
40th12Freddie MitchellFreddie Foulkes3439253033(DNC)DNCDNC247
41st10Scarlett TallJane Kim3632383432(DNC)DNCDNC258

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