Sep
13
2011
Peter Hearne
Dinghy News, Training News
Teign Corinthian Yacht Club
Coombe Cellars Dinghy Regatta 2011
Junior Fleet Report
by Benjamin Flower (aged 13)
The Teign Corinthian Yacht Club (TCYC for short) held their annual regatta down at Coombe Cellars, in total there was 41 boats that entered 12 in the juniors and the rest in the adult fast and slow fleets. There was a better turn out than last year in the junior fleet, as there were an amazing 8 more dinghies this year. The races were supposed to start 9.30am on Saturday and 10.00am on Sunday but on Saturday due to not much wind Don Harrison put up the AP and postponed the race to 10.45am (Sunday’s racing started on time). The weather held off and luckily there was no rain and plenty of wind to keep the competitors happy. On the Sunday there was a lot of capsizes and parts broke and some sailors retired. The junior fleet had 12 competitors in total some went in with their parents as they had little experience of racing, but the majority were sailing single handed. Unlike the adult fleets all the juniors came from the host club (TCYC), quoted from many people down at the club that “It was lovely to see so many juniors down sailing and having fun”. There were 9 starters on the Saturday and all 12 started at least 1 race on the Sunday.
On the Saturday, 1st race, there was a close tie between Ben Miles and his son Archie, Rory Bascombe and Benjamin Flower, despite their handicaps they all finished very close but Benjamin Flower came out on top. But while they were all fighting it out, Rowan Weyer Brown caught up in his RS Tera, he was so close he took victory. Henry Hocking had a disaster in this race on Saturday as he badly bumped his nose, how he did this was the boom came unexpectedly and hit him right on the nose. Henry was very fortunate and he competed again on Sunday. He finished this race but did not compete in the second race. James Wagget and Robbie Robinson were squabbling at the back not to come last, but James pipped Robbie at the post and came 8th in the race. Also another sailing beginner named Lucy Ellison did very well in this race and she finished 5th. The top three were Rowan Weyer Brown in first, Benjamin Flower in second and Ben and Archie Miles finishing third.
In the second race on Saturday, Rory Bascombe and Benjamin Flower got to the first boy extremely fast and they were very far out in the lead (they even both lapped Rowan Weyer Brown) Rory ended up finishing first on the water by about 20 yards from Benjamin, but it was not enough to win and he finished second behind Benjamin. Once again James and Robbie were very close and improved in their position by three places. Arthur Hocking improved in the racing and moved from 7th to 4th. Benjamin Flower was really hoping for more wind on the Sunday as it had only been a light breeze. Sadly in this race, a couple of people had retired including Henry Hocking and Lucy Ellison, luckily however, they returned on the Sunday and were raring to go. Archie and Ben Miles in the RS Feva never finished because they only did one lap, but they enjoyed it never the less.
On the first race on Sunday, there were 3 new competitors that we never saw down on Saturday they were Rosie Karakusevic, Steven and Teri Shotter. In the first race, there were 10 competitors as James Wagget and Robbie Robinson did not come down. Benjamin Flower managed a tactical start as Ben and Archie Miles was in his way, so Flower made him go over the start line which meant he had to go back across the line and do a 360º. Benjamin Flower was in the lead all on his own and no-one was near him by the end of the race. Rowan Weyer Brown was extremely good and finished in front of Rory Bascombe in the much faster Laser Radial on the water. After a couple of capsizes by Ben Miles, he fell to the back of the fleet and finished 8th but as Archie is only 7 so he did very well to be competing at that age. Rosie Karakusevic finished 4th in her first race over the weekend, also her worse result which was good considering she only competed in 3 races. Henry Hocking after his bump to his nose on Saturday, finished well up in 5th position, increased his ability in the races to come on the rest of the day. The juniors all went onto the far side beach for a rest, had a nice friendly chat and Henry’s transparent sail was giving a reflection “Pico” on the ground. Then when the juniors launched for the second race Benjamin Flower tried to tack and suddenly the tiller broke off the rudder on the laser 4.7, Benjamin insisted he got towed in to the club house as he could not sail as he was going round in circles.
On the second race on Sunday, Benjamin Flower did not see what happened as he got the replacement boat (A Topper) to race in the final race. But judging by the results the RS Tera’s did very well getting a 1st and 2nd which was Rowan Weyer Brown who came out on top from Rosie Karakusevic. Rory Bascombe also had a calamity with his stern mainsheet and could not sail so he got towed in. Ben Miles came in 3rd as Henry Hocking got 4th. Steven and his sister Teri Shotter, Arthur Hocking and Lucy Ellison all retired leaving just 5 competitors for the last race.
In the final race on Sunday, there were just 5 competitors they were: Benjamin Flower (Topper), Rowan Weyer Brown (Tera), Rosie Karakusevic (Tera), Henry Hocking (Pico) and Ben Miles (Feva). They all started cleanly and Benjamin Flower got to the first buoy the quickest and after the first lap he was leading, but he realised he had an incredibly a lot of water in his boat then he realised he forgot to put the bung in, disaster he was sinking. He told the boat that he may not make it round another lap. He got to the final buoy (Flow Point) and was in the lead by some way but hadn’t finished and because he had so much water in his boat he could not tack easily and got more and more water in the boat. Ben Miles overtook him and won the race and Rowan Weyer Brown offered him a lift aboard his Tera but Benjamin said that he would finish. Rowan finished 2nd and Rosie Karakusevic in 3rd. Benjamin’s persistence paid off and he got to the finish line and finished 4th but another person that had a lot of persistence was Henry Hocking he was not giving up despite capsizing a lot of times. He later quoted “It was the best regatta ever” so he enjoyed himself even despite this. Rowan at the end of the race said that “I am the best, hopefully next year there will be more wind”. Arthur also enjoyed himself as he said “It was a Cool Beanz regatta”.
The final results were:
| Rank | Helm | Crew | Class | PY | Sail no. | Sat 1 | Sat 2 | Sun 1 | Sun 2 | Sun 3 | Total | Nett |
| 1st | Rowan Weyer Brown | Tera | 1459 | 75 | 1.0 | (3.0) | (2.0) | 2.0 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 4.0 | |
| 2nd | Benjamin Flower | 4.7, Topper | 1175, 1297 | 111 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | (13.0 DNS) | (4.0) | 21.0 | 4.0 | |
| 3rd | Ben Miles | Archie Miles | Feva XL | 1200 | + | 3.0 | (13.0 DNF) | (8.0) | 3.0 | 1.0 | 28.0 | 7.0 |
| 4th | Rosie Karakusevic | Tera | 1459 | 317 | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 4.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 35.0 | 9.0 | |
| 5th | Rory Bascombe | Radial | 1106 | 72438 | 4.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | (13.0 DNF) | (13.0 DNS) | 35.0 | 9.0 | |
| 6th | Henry Hocking | Pico | 1265 | 11 | (6.0) | (13.0 DNS) | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 33.0 | 14.0 | |
| 7th | Arthur Hocking | Topper | 1297 | 41075 | 7.0 | 4.0 | 9.0 | (13.0 DNF) | (13.0 DNS) | 46.0 | 20.0 | |
| 8th | Lucy Ellison | Q’BA | 1275 | 601 | 5.0 | (13.0 DNS) | 7.0 | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 51.0 | 25.0 | |
| 9th | James Wagget | Topper | 1297 | 41033 | 8.0 | 5.0 | 13.0 DNS | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 52.0 | 26.0 | |
| 10th | Robbie Robinson | Q’BA | 1275 | 595 | 9.0 | 6.0 | 13.0 DNS | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 54.0 | 28.0 | |
| 11th | Steven Shotter | Topper | 1297 | 41033 | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 6.0 | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 58.0 | 32.0 | |
| 12th | Teri Shotter | Topper | 1297 | 41020 | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 10.0 | (13.0 DNS) | (13.0 DNS) | 62.0 | 36.0 |