Miracle End of Season Championship at Shustoke Sailing Club

by Zara Turtle 9 Oct 20:40 NZDT 5-6 October 2024

Shustoke Sailing Club played host for the Miracle End of Season Championship on 5th and 6th October.

Although we did not have our most ideal wind direction on offer we did manage to supply beautiful autumn sunshine on the Saturday and a mostly dry day on the Sunday (despite the rain forecast!). 7 Miracles took part over the weekend with 4 visiting boats from across the country.

For races 1 and 2 on the Saturday afternoon the race officers set out a challenging course with 3 good beats. The conditions ranged from strong gusts from varying directions, to no wind from any direction under the windward bank!

The start of Race 1 saw David Turtle and Zara Frankton find themselves the benefactors of a "lucky lift" which took them most of the way to the first mark, leaving the rest of the fleet having to tack up the beat. After rounding first David and Zara managed to maintain this lead throughout the race. However, behind them there were many place changes as fortunes oscillated in the tricky conditions and most teams found themselves floundering in a "hole" at some point.

In Race 2 the wind gods chose not to favour any particular boat up the first beat and it was Graham Watts and Helen Jacks who rounded the windward mark first and start to open up a lead. David and Zara managed to hold on to Graham and Helen, eventually overtaking half way through the race. They were closely followed by Simon and Julie Dolman. Harry Marlow was borrowing a Miracle for the weekend and teamed up with fellow Laser sailor Lucinda Thornton for the Saturday. They had a close tussle with Paul Robinson and Karen Glisson throughout both races and managed to hold onto 4th each time. In an effort to get as many boats out on the water as possible non-Miracle sailors at Shustoke are enticed into any spare boats and this year it was Harry who took the opportunity - he's done the best so far...! Home boat Ross Patterson and Paul Jephcott are also very new to the fleet, having only purchased their boat a couple of weeks ago, and were sailing excellently in a very old boat and without a spinnaker.

Sunday provided lighter winds and from a, slightly, less shifty SE direction. Today the Miracle fleet were sharing the water with a Midland Topper series event so there were lots of other boats across the course to look out for or to use to lose other boats behind! The experienced team of Wayne and Angela joined us for the racing Sunday and would give all the other boats a good run for their money!

Race 3 saw Simon and Julie charge out of the blocks displaying some impressive boat speed. However, the lucky puff had David and Zara's name on it again and they found themselves at the windward mark first. Harry teamed up with Solo sailor Jamie Cuxson for the Sunday, fresh from his triumphant second place at the South Cerney Solo Open the day before. Wayne and Angela managed to close the gap on David and Zara on the runs but David and Zara managed to defend their position take their third 1st place, and the title. The battle for third was very tense during the short beat to the finish line with Simon and Julie just holding off Graham and Helen by a matter of inches. Harry did less well in this race ending up in 6th... I wonder if he blamed his crew?!

After a short break on the water Race 4 was held back to back. There were many place changes up the first beat with most boats passing in front at some stage but at the buoy David and Zara emerged in front closely followed by Simon and Julie. Harry and Jamie swapped roles for this race and got off to a promising start, rounding the windward mark in third and holding on to the position for a few legs before dropping down the rankings. By the end of the race Graham and Helen had moved up to second with Simon and Julie claiming third.

With first and second overall now decided, all eyes were on third place with Wayne and Angela on equal points with Simon and Julie.

Race 5 saw the closest racing of the weekend with places changing on every leg and all boats finishing within a couple of minutes of each other. David and Zara pulled out a good lead to start with but were caught up by the rest of the fleet when the wind filled in from behind on the run, the wind gods obviously thought they'd used up their fair share of lucky puffs! Graham and Helen went from second to last on that run whereas Wayne and Angela pulled up from the back of the fleet to first! David and Zara managed to get on the inside on the following reach to get to the next mark first but the proximity of Wayne and Angela meant that a tacking duel commenced on the beat - is it even a Miracle open meeting if David and Wayne don't battle it out up a beat at some point?! David and Zara managed to extend their lead again but on the final run the same happened again! The whole fleet bunched together seeing Graham and Helen reverse their bad luck from the previous lap and launch from near the back up to second place which they held to the finish. Simon and Julie and Wayne and Angela had a very close race to the line with Simon and Julie just nipping in front to complete their consistent string of thirds for the weekend!

So after an exciting final finish that left David and Zara in first place, Graham and Helen in second and Simon and Julie in third. Big thanks to all the volunteers at Shustoke SC for making the weekend run smoothly and providing sustenance - the galley, race team and rescue team - thank you!

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	3794	Dave Turtle	Zara Frankton	Shustoke SC	‑1	‑1	1	1	1	3
2nd	4114	Graham Watts	Helen Jacks	Staunton Harold SC	‑2	2	‑4	2	2	6
3rd	4011	Simon Dolman	Julie Dolman	Shotwick SC	‑3	‑3	3	3	3	9
4th	4121	Wayne Atherton	Angela Sweeney	Delph SC	(DNC)	(DNC)	2	4	4	10
5th	4026	Harry Marlow	Lucinda/Jamie	Shustoke SC	4	4	‑6	‑5	5	13
6th	4110	Paul Robinson	Karen Glisson	Whitefriars SC	5	5	5	‑6	(DNC)	15
7th	1638	Ross Patterson	Paul Jephcott	Shustoke SC	6	6	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	20