4000s at Derwent

32 boats make the trip for round three of the Crewsaver UK series

A stiff breeze and a warm welcome awaited the 32 boats from all over the UK who descended upon Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club over the Bank Holiday for the 2nd round of the Laser 4000 Crewsaver UK Series.

The story of the racing revolves around one boat as Al Hodgson and Kevin Reed sailed quickly and consistently all weekend and simply never put a foot wrong whilst those around were struggling to find any consistency in the testing conditions. On Saturday when the South westerly breeze fluctuated between 8 and 28 knots with regular (or irregular!) changes of direction they scored 2 firsts and a second to give them a commanding overnight lead which they then consolidated by leading most of the 1st race on Sunday and winning the second to take the series with a race to spare. The sixth and final race was never sailed as conditions on Sunday were generally windier than Saturday and by the end of the fifth race there were some extremely vicious squalls coming down the course and given the confines of the lake in a Southerly wind direction the decision to abandon the last race was a sensible and popular one.

Second place was taken by Hugh and Helen Watson who carried two 3rds and a 14th through into Sunday. A last gasp win in the first race on Sunday was too little to late to be able to put any real pressure onto Hodgson and Reed and a capsize on the first run of the fifth race sealed their fate leaving them with much work to do to salvage second place. Their cause was helped on the last run by a vicious squall which wiped out at least 4 of the boats in front of them allowing them to recover to 5th. This put them on equal points with Greg Eaton sailing with CC Summerhayes who continued his excellent early season form to take 3rd place. This could so easily have been 2nd as they led most of the first race only to be pipped on the line by Hodgson and Reed and were comfortably leading the 5th race when they capsized on the final run avoiding a capsized backmarker. Mini Summerhayes sailing with Kevin Barnard finished 4th after some rapid sailing spoiled only by a few capsizes. Local heroes David and Jackie Gebhard finished 5th after an excellent performance on Sunday.

This was a great advert for Laser 4000 sailing with some close and exhilarating racing between 32 boats from the length and breadth of the UK excellently hosted by a friendly and enthusiastic club who provided a lively social on Saturday night. Round 3 is at the ever popular Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club on 7/8th June.

Results

1, 4518, Alastair Hodgson, Kevin Reed, 5 Points
2, 4536, Hugh Watson, Helen Watson, 12 Points
3, 4582, Greg Eaton, Catherine Summerhayes, 12 Points
4, 4264, Christina Summerhayes, Kevin Barnard, 23 Points
5, 4498, David Gebhard, Jackie Gebhard, 26 Points
6, 4314, Tom Glanfield, Rich Mayo, 32 Points