WANDERER National Championships Whitstable YC July 11/12th 2009

 
Hover over photos for pop-up description.  See Photo Slideshow of Nationals here

 

 

 

 

 

Nineteen Wanderers gathered for the Nationals at Whitstable YC on 11th/12th July.   The new Wanderer HL boats from Hartley Laminates attracted a lot of interest.   Richard and Mark Hartley scored 5 bullets and won the event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday provided a great day's sailing in a shifting SW force 4.   The pin end was favoured for race 1, and a big windshift after the start gave a one-sided beat.   Tim Barr and Ali Nicolson led the fleet off the line, but Richard and Mark Hartley in their brand new HL boat took the lead up the beat, closely followed by Gavin Barr and Mark Skipper.   These two boats pulled out a big lead and despite Gavin and Mark's best efforts, the Hartleys held on to win.   Tim and Ali were third, followed by Mike and Jane Saqui in W984, proving that an old boat is still competitive in the Wanderer fleet.   The gusty conditions took their toll and the rescue boats were kept busy.

 

For race 2 the wind steadied on 250.   The line was biased to the committee boat end.   Gavin and Mark popped out near the boat, and tacked immediately.   At that moment the tiller extension gave and an unplanned swim ensued.    They eventually worked back up to 5th.   Meanwhile the Hartleys powered away to win, followed in by Tim and Ali.   Paul Yeadon and Liz North took third.   Not bad as neither of them had stepped into a Wanderer before that day.   Gavin and Mark were back in it for race 3 and led at the windward mark.    But they could not keep ahead of the Hartleys who won again.   A word of praise for Tim Robertson of the RNLI sailing (sensibly reefed) with son Max aged 6.

 

After an excellent evening meal the clubhouse rang with "The Sloop John B", "The Wild Rover" and "The Nut at the end of the Tiller"... (Don't ask!)

 

Passage races up the Swale and back had been planned for Sunday but a strong SW breeze and high pressure held back the tide and Plan B was put into effect, i.e. round the cans.   In race 4 Tim Barr shut out the Hartleys at the committee boat but once again their boatspeed took them through to win.   In the dying breeze of race 5 the Hartleys completed their clean sweep.   Tim and Ali held off the Saquis for 2nd.   After the finish the wind returned and provided a force 5 to 6 for a screaming reach home.

 

Thanks to Hartley Laminates for sponsorship of the prizes.

 

 

Overall Results:   1st Richard & Mark Hartley (Carsington); 2nd Tim Barr (Trinidad & Tobago SA) and Ali Nicolson; 3rd Gavin Barr & Mark Skipper (Whitstable); 4th Mike & Jane Saqui (Royal Lymington); 5th Paul Yeadon (Papercourt) with Liz North & Andrew Stanley.   1st non-spinnaker boat Julie Stuart-Smith and Tony Dod (Whitstable).   Ted Shepherd Trophy Donna Hender and David Lowes (Whitstable). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report by Gavin Barr - Photos by Terry Pullen
Stratos photos available here