The weather forecast was accurate and the high winds had spent themselves overnight, revealing a benign on-shore Southerly of 5-9 knots and sporadic rain for race day. Despite missing some of the Merlins to their class event, 29 boats were on the water for the start of the first race.
The wind then built with gusts in the 20s but the start sequence proceeded smoothly right down to the final minute when the wind suddenly veered to the West and forced almost the entire fleet prematurely over the line. It then hit them with a punishing and sustained squall, recorded on shore at 35 knots. With some capsizes and the safety boats fully committed, the next 15 minutes were about resolving the on-water issues and making plans to recover the racing situation. Some 11 boats headed for shelter and despite some incidents close to the shore, all were safely recovered with no reports of injury or significant damage.
As is the way, it quickly calmed down and left a wind of around 11 knots from the SE. The course was adjusted to suit and the remaining 18 started cleanly. The 505 of Charlie Chandler and Owen Mills led the way throughout the 3 laps, their enormous orange spinnaker adding a real splash of colour to the grey overcast, and with a considerable gap back to the next boat, the Phantom of Adam Froggat. Nevertheless, the corrected time winners were Mike Senior and Ollie Goodhead in their GP14.
Lunch was Chilli Con-carne, a great choice for its warmth-generating properties. A delayed start to the second race was inevitable given the dramas of the first one and heading onto the water at 1420, the wind was 11 gusting 23 knots from the SW. A clean start however, was not on the cards, but a black flag saw success at the second time of asking. With glorious sunshine as the backdrop, the 505, once again, led the way and achieved line honours with Adam's Phantom not quite as close behind as in the first race. Most boats squeezed in 3 laps as the fading light fell across the reservoir.
The winners for the day were previous Barrel champions, Mike Senior and Ollie Goodhead, followed by Adam Froggat with Mark Hartley third. As in Round 1, Hartley Chandlers supplied additional prizes in the form of a generous quantity of useful bits of kit which were raffled between all the competitors.
Blithfield Barrel Round 2 Results:
Pos Class Sail No Helm Crew PY Club R1 R2 Pts
1st GP14 14168 Mike Senior Ollie Goodhead 1130 SSSC 1 1 2
2nd PHANTOM 1449 Adam Froggatt 1004 Chasewater SC 3 2 5
3rd SUPERNOVA 1341 Mark Hartley 1077 Blithfield 2 6 8
4th FINN 5 John Greenwood 1049 Blithfield 6 3 9
5th FINN 0 Andy Couch 1049 Blithfield 4 7 11
6th PHANTOM 1428 Sam Coxon 1004 Chasewater SC 7 5 12
7th 505 8881 Charlie Chandler Owen Hills 903 Tewkesbury SC 5 8 13
8th LARK 2536 Samuel Bailey Holly Evans 1073 SSSC 10 4 14
9th LASER/ ILCA 7 PK Paul Keeling 1100 Blithfield 8 11 19
10th SUPERNOVA 1066 Julian Bassett 1077 Blithfield 9 13 22
11th GP14 13868 Oliver Dumbelton Harriet Dumbelton 1130 Nantwich BCSC 14 10 24
12th GP14 13326 Steve McCarthy Gareth Thomas 1130 Blithfield 12 12 24
13th LASER RADIAL/ ILCA 6 157393 Harriet Temple 1147 SSSC 18 9 27
14th SUPERNOVA 1332 Nick Woodhead 1077 Blithfield 16 14 30
15th FLYING FIFTEEN 3563 Jim Watterson Andy Watterson 1021 Blithfield 15 15 30
16th OSPREY 1333 Doug Rankin Paul Rankin 930 Blithfield 17 18 35
17th HORNET 2189 Justin Jones Chris Anderson 955 Chasewater SC 11 41
18th PHANTOM 1370 Duncan Adams 1004 Burton SC 13 43
19th SUPERNOVA 1328 Rob Swinnock 1077 Blithfield RET 16 45
20th GP14 13120 Rosie Grittith Isaac Shirley 1130 Blithfield RET 17 46
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