Mirror Open Meeting at Gresford Sailing Club
by Gareth Morris 10 Apr 2003 20:11 NZST
The Club was full of the smaller boats this weekend, with the annual Mirror open taking place. There where 3 club boats and 3 visitors taking part.
The first race got underway at 11am prompt, with the fleet splitting into 2 packs of 3. David Turtle and Zara Turtle from Gresford where swapping the lead with Robbie Cwik and Rhiannon McKeown from Hollingsworth Lake Sailing Club. Close behind the leading 2 was Jonathan Happs from Gresford with Nick Blore helping young Jonathan from the front of the boat. Further down the fleet Andrew Bell and James, where having an incredibly close battle with David and Jack Moore from Blithfield Sailing club.
The second Race was very similar to the first with 2 main groups appearing. David and Zara Turtle where out in front leading again, this time followed by Jonathan Happs and Nick Blore. A close race was seen between Robbie Cwik and Andrew Bell, with Robbie just having the advantage of the spinnaker to pull away on the down wide legs
Race 3 was held after a short lunch break giving the sailor’s time to recover after the close racing from the morning. This time Robbie Cwik led for the first lap, with David Turtle using all of his local knowledge to fight his way through to the front by the end of the race. David and Jack Moore fought hard throughout the race but lost 3rd place to Jonathan Happs within site of the finish line
With the event won for David Turtle Race 4 was who would take 2nd and 3rd place. Robbie Cwik had the perfect Start and led the rest of the fleet around showing great boat control in the light and shifty conditions. David Moore found himself in the perfect position ahead of David Turtle, and only lost out 2 legs of the course before the finish, when David again used his experience to power past the younger crew. The battle for 4th place became quite heated with Andrew Bell and Jonathan Happs having a close battle until the wind picked up on the downwind leg and with Jonathan having his Spinnaker set managed to pull out a distance that was never made up by Andrew. Throughout the day Tomas Price crewed for by the Commodore and his Father Stephen Price, proved the most consistent team throughout the day and showed that it wasn’t the winning but the taking part, especially when using the one of the clubs training boats and not a race boat like the other sailors.
Overall Results: (4 races, 1 discard)
Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | Pts |
1st | 63502 | D. Turtle | Z. Turtle | Gresford | 3 |
2nd | 58625 | R. Cwik | R. Mckeown | HLSC | 6 |
3rd | 69801 | J. Happs | N. Blore | Gresford | 8 |
4th | 67493 | D. Moore | J. Moore | Blithfield | 12 |