Contender Travellers Trophy Round 6 at Broadstairs Sailing Club
by Tom Hooton 23 Sep 2021 17:27 NZST
18-19 September 2021
The Contender fleet made is way to Broadstairs for the 6th round of the Travellers Trophy. The 15 highly tuned athletes fresh from the nationals were greeted with bacon rolls and the normal hospitality one has come to expect from Broadstairs Sailing Club.
The travellers were looking out to sea, dubious if there would be enough wind to sail on the very tidal waters, but at around one o'clock the boats launched out and slowly made their way to the course that had been laid by the race committee. The Contender fleet managed to get straight into its normally over-eager starting procedure before the U flag came out.
The first race was under way in around 5-6 knots of breeze with the tide fairly slack at this point, with two helms falling victim of the U-flag, straight away Stuart Jones showed his class in these conditions taking an early lead followed by Adrian Smith and Simon Mussel, who was testing out his new sail, finishing the race in that order.
The second race got away after another general recall, this time only one keen helm was spotted over the line, and again it was Stuart Jones leading the fleet this time being chased down by Gary Langdown followed by Broadstairs' very own Dave Adams who was showing some good speed and local knowledge to come third.
The third and final race of the day and again Stuart Jones got to the top mark first after an eventful beat saw second placed Tom Hooton get T-boned in a port starboard incident with Rob Smith who immediately retired. Tom still managed to round just in front and inside local Dave Adams and they swapped places several times throughout the race but eventually it was Tom finishing second behind Stuart with Dave getting his second 3rd place of the day.
The competitors retired to the bar in the sailing club where they had a pleasant evening with a three course meal followed by various games and time to reflect on the highs and lows of the day pondering what Sunday would bring.
Sunday morning dawned and it looked like there may be some breeze, but as forecast it was dropping off and the tide was now running in the opposite stronger direction. Despite this the race officer was determined to try to get a 4th race completed. The competitors made their way out and managed to get a start but the wind continued to die and it became clear that the tide was too strong to make this a race so it was abandoned and the competitors made their way in for an early bath.
Thanks to Broadstairs Sailing Club for their organisation and hospitality and for running an event during these testing times.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Stuart Jones | 2706 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Gary Langdown | 2484 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | Dave Adams | 595 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| 4 | Tom Hooton | 678 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 19 |
| 5 | Chris Boshier | 2702 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 22 |
| 6 | Adrian Smith | 2730 | 2 | OCS | 4 | 22 |
| 7 | Nick Curry | 2661 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 23 |
| 8 | Rob Smith | 2449 | 4 | 5 | RTD | 25 |
| 9 | Bill Hooton | 666 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 29 |
| 10 | Rodger White | 712 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 29 |
| 11 | Simon Dodds | 2423 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 29 |
| 12 | Peter Nobel | 2718 | OCS | 7 | 7 | 30 |
| 13 | Simon Mussel | 2420 | 3 | 14 | 14 | 31 |
| 14 | Tony Cook | 696 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 37 |
| 15 | James Daniels | 2710 | OCS | 11 | 12 | 39 |