GP14 Southern Travellers Series Round 3 at Maylandsea Bay Sailing Club

 

The third round of the GP14 Southern Travellers series was hosted by Maylandsea Bay Sailing Club on May 11, 2024. Relatively new to the GP14 southern circuit, the venue has become a firm favourite, and once again delivered fantastic racing, fine weather, beautiful scenery and excellent hospitality.

Undeterred by theM25 closures, nine visitors from Papercourt, Welsh Harp and Frensham Pond made the journey to deepest Essex where they joined by two local boats to complete the fleet. A mid-afternoon high-tide provided plenty of time for rigging, admiring last year's champion's brand new boat, and a necessarily extremely detailed briefing. By 1:15pm enough water had arrived and the real fun began.

Race 1 began in Lawling Creek with the start line laid a short distance from the club slipway. Successfully, for the most part, avoiding the shallows the fleet got away cleanly and set off into the wind and tide towards the river Blackwater. 

For Race 2, the race team set a traditional triangle-sausage course in open water opposite Orsea Island. The fleet got away first time and close racing ensued with conditions rewarding hard work (both physical and mental). 

Time and tide waits for no man (or woman), and this is particularly true at Maylandsea Sailing Club, where getting timings wrong can prove an extremely muddy mistake. And so Race 3 was essentially a race to get back to the bar whilst there was still enough water to reach the slipway. This said, with 5 boats all with a mathematical chance of overall victory and a 2 further in contention for a podium finish the situation was tense, and the general recall following the first start was perhaps predictable. 

Following the prize-giving MBSC laid on an excellent meal after which the visitors somewhat reluctantly set off for home, and the locals stayed on for a barn dance. Thanks again to MBSC for hosting a memorable event. The series now moves back inland to South Cerney on 23rd May with the prospect of more close and competitive racing.

Overall Results:

1st Steve Cooper and Liz Guest

2nd James Ward and Richard Whitehall

3rd Tony Perkins and John McGuinness

4th Maurice Cleal and Romel Kowalewski

5th Paul Trubridge and Matt Hall

6th Sue Tomkins and Yossi

7th Tomasz Szakola and Charlie Cotter

8th Jamie Isles and Caro Mitchell

9th Vicky and Richard Broomfield

10th Stephen Bethel and Guy Harden

11th Dean Saxton and Mark Harman