Lots of sunshine, little wind

The 49er and 29er fleets enjoyed glorious sunshine at their open meeting in Thorpe Bay

A healthy fleet of 29ers and a small but select fleet of 49ers made the trip to Thorpe Bay over the Bank holiday weekend. Both fleets were treated with Excellent race management, light to medium winds and lots of sunshine - not to mention the great party on the Saturday night ( thanks Steve and Angie.)

In the 49ers it was clear that Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith were going to dominate, however, a battle for the minor places ensued with Mark and Paul Dell, Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign and Dave Hall and Paul Constable all getting a look in.

Saturday's light winds made tidal decisions crucial while on Sunday the better wind brought in a bit of boat handling and speed skill.

In the end it was Mark and Paul Dell who got the second place behind CJ and Asquith after winning the last race.

For the 29ers the light shifty winds on Saturday proved a challenge. With no particular side paying at the beginning of the day until the tide swung round and it started to pay to go right to get out of the tide upwind. After four races and a real mix of results the overnight leaders were Huw and Max, second were Matt McMurtry and Tom Humphreys, with Will Tremlow and Pete Perea in third.

Sunday dawned sunny and warm, with fortunately no racing until 1.15, giving everyone a chance to recover from the awesome party hosted by Steve Hopper on Saturday night. The 15 knots of breeze predicted never filled in - instead the fleet raced in a shifty force two to three.

Gust awareness was key on Sunday, as proved by Hannah Tatershal and Sophie Portious in the second race, where a massive gust downwind consolidated their lead in race two taking the fleet by surprise. A fourth and a second on Sunday brought them up from seventh to fourth by the end of the event.

Stevie Wilson and Gemma Macintyre also made an impressive second day comeback, climbing from fifth to second by putting in a series of consistent results. A good call on the last leeward mark of the last race in strong current pushing down the course helped them just slip ahead of Hannah and Sophie around the windward mark. Despite being rolled during the rounding, they gybed off quickly, noticing the tactical advantage of the tide pushing down the course and therefore over the port layline, and pulled through in front with Hannah and Sophie close behind in second.

Consistency shown by Will and Pete won them third place. They seemed to show the fleet what to do on every run, gybing off above the starboard layline (whilst everyone else carried on port) and then coming in on the faster port tack, proving that downwind tactics are just as important as upwind in the 29er.

Huw and Max battled it out at the top of the fleet, but by the end of the second day they had won the event with a race to spare, walking away the clear winners of the Thorpe Bay Open.

Results:

49er

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot	Net
1	Paul Campbell-James	Mark Asquith	1	1	1	1	1	1	-7	13	6
2	Mark  Dell	Paul  Dell	2	-3	2	3	3	2	1	16	13
3	Dylan Fletcher	Alain Sign	3	2	3	2	-5	4	2	21	16

29er

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Tot	Net
1	Huw Humphreys	Max Todd	-5	1	2	2	1	2	5	18	13
2	Stevie Wilson	Gemma McIntyre	7	3	5	-9	2	3	1	30	21
3	Will Twemlow	Pete Perera	1	4	-10	5	3	6	7	36	26
4	Hannah Tattersall	Sophie Porteous	-9	5	8	7	4	1	2	36	27
5	James Hopson	Sam Combes	3	11	1	-18	5	5	3	46	28