Byte Nationals at Weston

Findlay wins in borrowed boat

14 Byte sailors made the journey to Weston Sailing Club to contend the 2004 National Championships. Friday’s weather charts; packed with isobars and riddled with fronts, were mostly responsible for the smaller than expected turn out and the weather forecasters didn’t fail to deliver. Saturday’s racing began in a steady 20 knot westerly that backed through the day and increased to 25 knots with the odd squall recorded at over 30 knots. Sunday dawned somewhat more benign and the competitors enjoyed a shifty force 2 to 3.

Class secretary Olwen Binks was unable to sail having just had a baby. She lent her boat to fellow Weston sailor Matt Findlay, who scored six straight wins to take the series overall.

Race 1 got off to a clean start with top junior Nick Miller making the most of the port biased line to follow Findlay around the top mark ahead of Ray Smith. However it was Smith who was to win the battle for second with Miller coming third. With conditions really starting to kick up for race 2 it was Paul Kevan who showed great boat handling to take second with Adrian Stell storming into third ahead of Miller. Miller came good in the third race to take third with Kevan once again taking the runner up spot.

With big gains and losses to be made in the shifty conditions on Sunday it really was a game of snakes and ladders and a few of the wiser and more experienced members of the fleet appeared at the front! In Race 4 Weston sailor Maggie Futcher made the most of a good right shift up the first beat to follow Findlay around mark 1. She was then able to hold off Smith who added a third to his already consistent scorecard. The first beat of race 5 saw Findlay caught out on the right hand side of a big left shift and he rounded the windward mark eighth. Smith on the other hand had called the shift perfectly and along with top lady Ruth Taylor was making his getaway. A couple of beats and a lot of shifts later and Findlay managed to sneak past the battling pair of Smith / Taylor to take his fifth win and the coveted title of Byte National Champion. Smith took second from Taylor in a photo finish. Race 6 was almost a repeat of race 5 but this time it was Futcher battling with Smith while Findlay played catch up. Smith again hooked into some great left shifts to take second and with it Second overall while Taylor snuck past Futcher for fifth overall. Paul Kevan had just done enough with two fourths on the Sunday to hold off the young Miller for third overall.

All in all a great weekend was had by the Bytes and Weston once again did a first class job of organising and running the racing. Our thanks go to Ian Praine and Mike Jarman and their teams of helpers who made sure that everything ran flawlessly.

	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Matt Findlay	Weston	[1]	1	1	1	1	1	5
2	Ray Smith	Dabchicks SC	2	[5]	4	3	2	2	13
3	Paul Kevan	Blackpool & Fleetwood YC	7	2	2	4	4	[9]	19
4	Nick Miller	Marconi SC	3	4	3	5	[7]	6	21
5	Ruth Taylor	Weston	6	[10]	6	6	3	3	24
6	Gordon Kevan	Blackpool & Fleetwood YC	4	7	5	7	[8]	8	31
7	Eddie Pope	CSSA	5	6	[DNF]	8	10	11	40
8	Helen Houghton		9	9	[DNF]	11	5	7	41
9	Ken White	Mudeford SC	8	8	7	9	[11]	10	42
10	Maggie Futcher	Weston	DNC	[DNC]	DNC	2	9	4	45
11	Mary Stamp	Royal Harwich YC	DNC	[DNC]	DNC	10	6	5	51
12	Adrian Stell	Tudor SC	[DNF]	3	[DNF]	DNC	DNC	DNC	63
13	Chris Rees	Warsash SC	[DNC]	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	75
13	Ian Ayres	Kinsmead	[DNF]	DNF	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	75