British Moth Open at Leamington Spa Sailing Club

Saturday 22nd of April saw the return of the British Moth fleet to Leamington Spa for their first Open of 2023. With light winds forecast & a somewhat foggy start conditions didn't look especially promising.

The fog quickly cleared and by the time the visiting sailors started to turn up the wind was starting to fill in nicely. With nine visiting sailors and three local helms it was looking like there would be some good sailing and that proved to be the case.

British Moths at Leamington Spa - photo © Jayne Whigham

Race 1

The fleet made a clean start with Elaine Laverty (Leamington Spa) getting to the first mark ahead of the rest of the fleet but this proved to be a flash in the pan and Toby Cooper (Broxbourne) soon got ahead and carried the lead to the finish, Toby Smith (Medley) showed some promising form before being overhauled by Tim Davison (Medley) who took second place. There was a major mid-fleet tussle going on through the race and the last leg saw Gary Tompkins (Hunts) get ahead into third place and Steve Baker (Leamington Spa) gained several places to finish sixth, the big losers in the tussle were Jonathan Carter (Chelmarsh) and Elaine Laverty.

After the first race there was a break for lunch and lots of chat.

British Moths at Leamington Spa - photo © Jayne Whigham

Race 2

Toby Cooper led from the second lap to take first place but was challenged through out by Tim Davison, Jonathan Carter & Toby Smith and they took second, third and fourth place respectively and Gary Hogan (Emberton) came through strongly in fifth place. Manuel Greenwood (Telford) showed really good speed early in the race but had his boom come off the gooseneck and slipped back to the back of the fleet.

British Moths at Leamington Spa - photo © Jayne Whigham

Race 3

Toby Cooper sat this one out having taken two bullets and having won overall. Tim Davison filled the void and pretty much led from start to finish but was being chase hard by Gary Tompkins who took second place with Toby Smith in third.

Boats were then quickly packed away, cake eaten & prizes presented.

It was good to see some new faces with Gary Hogan, Gavin Goodall and Jonathan Carter visiting for the first time as well as some regular visitors.

Overall Results: