Races at West Oxfordshire SC

Races at West Oxfordshire SC
April 20-21st 2024
The tales of two Wanderers: Teazle and Wizzard
Race Report by Ian Simpson, W1004, Teazle

Lively and changeable wind made for an energetic sail for the Spring Wanderer Open Meeting at West Oxfordshire Sailing Club (WOSC) on 20th to 21st April. The lake is a long rectangle with in-situ marks, and the course was a cat’s cradle of legs which included a long run diagonally across the rectangle, permitted by a northerly wind.
Four boats took part – a disappointing number compared with previous years, and there was also a dearth of Wayfarers (five), whose race was held simultaneously, with a start five minutes earlier than the Wanderers.
The table of results is below. Ian Simpson and Dave Bardwell of 1004 “Teazle” made the question of who is going to come second a more interesting question than who is going to come first, despite a sporting start from 676 (Mike Bellew and Richard Maltby) who sped away from the start in Race 4, only to be overtaken before the first mark.
Ian and Dave achieved this doubtless by watching the front edge of the jib, which, if you read last year’s account of the West Oxfordshire event, is what they both do for all of every race! They were the only boat to use their spinnaker. This, however, did not seem to gain them much advantage – other boats seemed to proceed at much the same pace down the long run. Their advantage seemed to be more in the beats.
The fight for second place was the scene of the competitive action, and, while W1662 (Alex Nairac and Mike Lewington of WOSC) beat Mike Bellow and Richard Maltby (W676 – of WOSC and Whitstable) was second in four of the five races, the result was rarely clear until the end
Richard Elliott from Arun, sailing in W718, valiantly sailed single handed, with a reefed sail to help him with the wind conditions. The reef, and the increased difficulty of doing all the simultaneous actions required for a manoeuvre single-handedly, led to a not-unexpected consistent fourth position.
Race 4 began with the aforementioned speedy start by Mike Bellew and Richard Maltby, aided by being upwind of the others; however, this involved a longer journey to the first mark, and W1004 had overtaken them by the time they reached it. W1662 then caught them up and overtook at the mark that represented the start of the run, by sailing a more efficient route, and continued to increase their lead for a couple of marks. It got more exciting on the beats back up, as W676 was catching up – but then lost ground on the leg back to the start line, never to regain it in that race.
In race 5, W1004 tried a change of tactic, continuing their starboard tack towards the edge of the lake, then tacking and sailing up the edge of the lake to the first mark. The upshot was that W1662, sailing the more conventional route by tacking onto port early, reached the first mark first and had a noticeable lead by the second mark. 1004 caught up a bit by doing a tighter turn around the second mark, but 1662 were still in the lead by the end of the run, despite 1004’s spinnaker. However, 1004 must have done something good at the bottom mark, as they came out of it ahead of 1662. It was short-lived, however, as 1662 was in the lead again by the next mark. With the help of two tacks by the clubhouse (due to a windshift), 1004 found a fast route up the lake and gained the lead again at the top mark, which 1662 overshot. They retained this lead for the rest of the race.

Results 

Richard Elliott, W178, Wizzard
“Be adventurous and let’s give racing a go!”
Over the weekend of the 20th-21st April, I decided to push my boundaries and embrace the thrill of competition. Normally I prefer to cruise with the Wanderers at the summer events, but I said to myself, “Be adventurous and let’s give racing a go!
Firstly, what a wander-fully friendly club WOSC is, from the first greetings and warm smiles to the farewell handshakes, this is genuinely a family friendly club with years of experience in staging these events and rallies.
With a welcoming breakfast bacon-bap on arrival, we set up and registered for the first of three races on the Saturday, one before lunch and two afterwards. Forecast and anemometer showed it blowing a good force three with a few higher gusts from north and north-east at times. So, to make the best of the wind, the seasoned race- officer displayed, on the chalk board, what to me. looked like boot-lacing diagram!
However, my apprehensions soon faded as I realized all I had to do was follow the Wayfarers who went first because on their GO–hooter we started our 5-minute countdown and we were off.
Racing for me, as a single hander, was fun and exciting, judging the right times to tack, reaching to clip in the jib (after tying those ends together for the second time!) then a sudden gusty uplift had me stretching out on the side whilst trying to figure the next barrel marker and trying not to fall too far behind my fellow Wanderers, yet actively trying to avoid the Wayfarers crisscrossing on their slower downwind leg. It was all go, and, needless to say, a few duff tacks and lost jib lines left me to the back of the fleet in all the races. But who cares really? I didn’t, I just loved the new experience, the thrill of the race timer and positioning on the line, the fleet taking flight majestically and making for the first mark. Also, the tipping and crashing of the Wayfarers (yes, one actually t-boned another!) and the satisfaction of the hooter indicating I had actually got over the line without falling in the drink.
Sunday, though bright and sunny, brought whistles through the rigging lines indicting a further rise in wind-speed. Now faced with a Force 4 gusting stronger at intervals – being a lone-sailor I reefed the main, fueled up on a bacon butty, put on the drysuit and set forth, coming fourth (out of four) again! The race marks were now moved to include a few coloured buoys so as to avoid the edges where the lee wind died and stalled. More boot lacing followed: I missed mark five, went around 6 but had to go back, only to go around the green buoy starboard rather than port! (Oh well, never mind!) But as the wind built in strength, I ducked out of race five, showered, de-masted and was in for lunch just as the others came to shore. Pasta with sauce, salad and chocolate cake to finish – yum
Scores were in and they all won and received elegantly engraved glass tankards or glasses. Overall, I loved it and would thoroughly recommend it to all single handers or cruisers, you never know you might come first if you give it a try? Don’t miss out, book early for this sociable opportunity to spend a great weekend with fellow sailors next season.