Derwent Open 21/22 of June 2008
Only 5 days after the nationals, with
many still suffering from bruises and blisters, it came
to a respectable 15 Musto Skiffs at Derwent Reservoir
at the "Midsummer Regatta & Party". Nine
of the boats were local and indeed four of the helms
shared the same surname!
After some sailors arrived on friday and
enjoyed a beautiful night in and around the clubhouse,
saturday dawned not looking quite so midsummer. At 12C,
light rain was prevalent such that some contesters might
have regretted not to have won a hot-water bottle at
the preceding event.
Regardless, racing kicked off at a leisurely
1pm. The race course was shared with a fleet of RS200s,
which went mostly unnoticed during race one and two
but caused some exciting moments in the windier 3rd
race. The race course was set out near the damn, with
the easterly breeze blowing up its slope such that the
wind only had a few hundred yards over the water, making
for very tactical racing conditions.
In little more than 5 knots of wind, race
1 saw Iver Ahlmann take a start-finish win having claimed
a number of lucky shifts, crossing the line in front
of Richard Stenhouse and Jethro Gebhard. In race two,
many had cottoned on to the wind pattern downstream
of the damn such that benefitting from the shifts was
becoming less hit and miss. With wind picking up, race
2 also saw the marginal speed advantage of the lighter
crews reducing, Ian finishing in front of Richard and
Iver. By race three, wind had built to a good 12 knots,
Ian finishing first followed by Richard and Jethro.
Great credit goes to all helping out on the water who
braved the elements and provided high quality racing.
Right at the end of racing wind had built up to about
15 knots making the downwind leg into the harbour the
most brisk part of the day, with boats traveling at
warp speed, as one sailor claimed later in the bar.
In the evening it was the celebration
of the thirtieth wedding anniversary of Jackie and David
Gebhard as well as the eighteenth Birthday of Jake Gebhard.
This attracted many non-sailor friends and family mixing
in with the fleets of Musto Skiff, RS200 and Fever sailors
thus making for a lively mix of people. All this was
reason enough to put on a BBQ, sumo-wrestling, a live
band and a Disco with various forms of crowd surfing
in the later parts of the night.
 The
second day saw some very high wind speeds - up to 60mph
gusts were recorded - giving everyone ample time to
nurture their hang-overs while the racing was first
postponed and then cancelled. Nevertheless, some sporting
action was forced onto my morning schedule: a gust made
my tent airborne such that I found myself chasing it
down a field - the tent now giving vague resemblance
to a vessel from outer space - until it crashed into
a tree above head-height.
Big thanks to Jackie&David Gebhard,
Ian Trotter for making this much more than just a great
sailing event.
Overall Results
1. Ian Trotter
2. Richard Stenhouse
3. Iver Ahlmann
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