Such was the draw of this event, and possibly the popularity of the venue, that the entry list reached the maximum of 70 boats with 2 weeks still to run. If you weren’t quick, you weren’t sailing.
Blithfield is the largest reservoir in Staffordshire and although we don’t have the run of the entire water, we were especially pleased to have South Staffs Water agree to extending our normal sailing area for this event. Moreover, we had also negotiated the use of a much larger camping field which readily swallowed up all the competitors and provided luxurious levels of personal space. The unintended presence of some sheep brought an added connection with nature.
With the majority of the competitors arriving in a steady stream on Friday night, some of whom had nightmarish journeys, the Blithfield hospitality team were able to serve hot Chilli Con Carne and drinks to the latecomers even as they sorted their boats after dark – in the car park. To say those in receipt were astonished would be an understatement. With a warm day and stunning sunset, the Supernova audience piled into the hospitality in all its forms. Food was served on a continuous basis throughout the evening and we suspect that the vegan option will become the pre-eminent choice next year!
Saturday morning saw the wind start to show its predicted colours – ENE and 9-12 knots, a direction that remained constant over the weekend of competition although the wind hit 17 knots at the Clubhouse it was estimated as 20-25 knots, on occasion, in the centre and on the leeward side of the reservoir. Those camping were offered the big bap bacon or sausage butty plus egg (cooked to order, no less), another thumbs-up for the popular catering team. The remaining competitors arrived in good time and all were sorted and briefed for the day ahead. ‘Max sailing, min faffing’, ‘launch and recover in seconds, not minutes’ were the orders of the day to fit in races and lunch.
The first race started on time and at first ask. The start line provided sufficient length for all to have a fair chance. The Easterly wind is notorious at Blithfield for its gustiness and this made the race hard physical work for all competitors. It was less about the absolute wind strength, more about the sudden change in strength and there were as many capsizes to windward as to leeward. The first windward mark was particularly unforgiving as the approach on starboard required you to overstand if you had any chance of managing the tricky windshifts, not least with the, as yet unsplit, mass of boats charging down on this one point.
Notwithstanding this, the fleet quickly diverged into a leading echelon of less than 10 boats who frustratingly (for the rest) managed a disproportionate separation from the remainder. With such a large fleet, clear wind was everything and hard to obtain, so those lower down the fleet were not only contending with the gusts but had the added challenge of dealing with the impact of the gusts bouncing off the boat to windward. The visitors quickly recognised that the northern side of the reservoir provided the lift up the shore thus negating the local knowledge advantage that the home team might have had. The downside was that all those being lifted were coming in on port tack so the windward mark was very congested. That said, plenty of clear warning shouts as well as some wonderfully good-mannered exchanges of perspective brought fun rather than tension to competing in such a large fleet. Of note, the Chair of the Protest Jury, a local RYA Judge, was out on the water as an observer and was able to proffer a few thoughts afterwards. Suffice to say there were no protests during the weekend! A few had the tedium of re-rounding the windward mark for the aforementioned reasons and otherwise turns were taken as needed. There were two gybe marks, each providing another opportunity for capsize, not least from the fast reach into them. The finish was deliberately separate from the start to avoid the challenge of identifying multiple boats crossing close-hauled. First home in the first race was Cliff Milliner.
Everyone played ball and the recovery was straightforward with only a little help required from the Beachmaster team. A lunch of baked potatoes and multiple filling options was consumed in an orderly manner before all were back on the water for a 1345 start.
The second and third races on Saturday saw only a minor change to the course and each start was clean. The PRO was both pleased and surprised by the behaviour and discipline of the Supernova Fleet (he’s a Merlin sailor). Races 2 and 3 were won by Cliff Milliner and Matt Thursfield respectively. The PRO had inserted several fast reaches (more than 12 knots recorded by one sailor) which were hugely appreciated and ‘yee-haw’ was a frequently heard expression of joy. Each race was around 50-55 minutes so everyone had a good physical work-out.
All were ashore in good time for a very well attended AGM and a high-end evening meal with all the trimmings. A good-natured crowd stayed long into the evening, drained the last of the real ale barrels (note to self, more next time) but the logistics chain had foreseen this and nobody left the bar without something to their liking.
After a quiet night in the campsite, the atmosphere was more one of people waiting for the Sunday papers rather than psyching themselves into the race programme. A big butty breakfast fortified everyone in preparation for the 3 back-to-back races. The fourth race was started just before 1000. The wind had remained loyal and essentially unchanged in force and direction so the course reflected this too. The observations from the first race remained true but a subtle change in the course tightened some of the reaches which brought additional spice to the plane down to the second of the two gybe marks. Two of the three starts were clean with only one individual recall in the third. From the Committee boat perspective, the Black Flag never even looked like it would be needed during the weekend. The safety crews had little to do as all seemed deal with the slips and trips of the event. Fourth, fifth and sixth races were also won by Cliff.
Scores were collated and passed to the Class Association team and prizes were awarded with a large and appreciative audience present. The overall champion was Cliff Milliner who along with the Class President, Tony Bleasdale offered thanks to Blithfield Sailing Club Ltd for, as one senior sailor put it, a ‘flawless’ event. Just as important to the organiser was an orderly departure from the Club grounds and such was achieved with many competitors choosing to take a slow and leisurely (for that read happily fatigued) exit.
Comments