2023 MYA Vane 36” Nationals Bournville RS&MBC 8-9th April

Racing started on Friday 7^th April with a nice bright sunny day and a very light and somewhat fickle breeze. The day was also designated as the “Pugwash Trophy” race. This trophy was created by Ian Taylor, and it would have normally been used for an end of season event, however this year it is the season opener and an excellent way to start the Bournville RS&MBC centenary.

The lake sides and pathways had been repaired and the silt removed last year so the lake looked it’s best, what with a temporary raising of the water level to make launching and recovery of the yachts easier. The flags and banners were out along with race control and starting berths at each end of the lake.

I don’t have a copy of the race results from the “Pugwash Trophy” but the winners were Dave Geldard and Ian Cooke.

Pictures of the Friday sailing below were from Peter Moore.

Race Officers Report.

Saturday morning at Bournville saw a fine day with sun about to break out, but with virtually no wind. 17 competitors from 8 different clubs with 9 different designs arrived for the event including a pleasing number of younger sailors, however before the start a variable light North Easterly breeze arrived sufficient to get sailing underway.

After briefing at 9.45am racing commenced at 10.00am with a variable beat to the Northern end and a variable run to the Southern end, and with the wind moving a bit westerly it was virtually a reach up and down but with the wind varying all the time some yachts were making some interesting patterns at times. By lunchtime at 12.15pm, 4 heats had been completed with all the skippers having dropped points.

After a very nice lunch provided by Bournville of sandwiches and chocolate and lemon drizzle cake (the latter made by member Andrew Hinds) racing commenced at about 1.05 with a further 3 heats completed by close of play on Saturday. At this point the leaders were: (With a resail to be completed)

25 points   Chris Harris,     23 Points     Derek Priestley & Martin Dovey,     22 points     Peter Hopkins, Martin Roberts & Lewis Wyeth     .

Sunday saw a slightly stronger variable wind still Westerly/North Westerly.  Racing commenced at 9.30am with a view to cracking on to try and get the racing in, bearing in mind that the full schedule was 17 Heats.

By lunchtime a further 5 heats had been sailed and at this time Chris Harris was in the lead with 42 points followed by Shaun Wyeth on 37 and Lewis Wyeth and Martin Dovey on 36 points.

After a nice lunch, the race officer asked the competitors their views about continuing the schedule of 17 heats, bearing in mind the Notice of Race stated no heat would start after 2.30pm, and the general consensus was to carry on to completion.

So, racing cracked on with a further 5 heats being completed by about 4.00pm in light and variable conditions.

After 17 heats the winner was:

1st Chris Harris  57 points,   2nd Dave Geldard  55 points,  3rd Martin Roberts   53 points,  4th Derek Priestley  53 points.

A full list of the skippers finishing positions and scores are here: 2023 MYA V36 National Championship results

There is also a breakdown of skipper scores by percentage V36 Skipper percentage score skippers from each club V36 skippers per club and boats by design V36 boats by design

It was encouraging to see a large number of younger sailors and the junior Prize went to Oliver Stollery on 43 points.

I would like to thank those who gave up their time to help with the event, John Burgoine, Roger Hopper and Alen Oxlade on the sailing course and Jane Moore and Anne Burgoine with the scoring and Bill green with the administration.

Peter Moore, PRO Bournville RS&MBC.

Chris Cook also provided me with a few pictures below, along with the following comment in his email.

“It seemed to go well yesterday and one of those events to really put sailing in front of the public. I had not been appreciative of vane sailing before; now though, I would really enjoy taking part. Far from being an historic interest, this arm of the MYA could really hold some wider interest for skippers. A few at Bournville will be interested in getting hold of boats now”.

The prizes were presented by Stephen Hodgkinson, Bournville RS&MBC Commodore.

We also managed to recreate a picture from 40 years ago. Peter Stollery was due to race Chris Harris from the club house end of the lake on Sunday afternoon as part of the Nationals race schedule and he remarked that the same picture had appeared in the “Model Boats” magazine when they were both quite a bit younger. Peter was actually sailing the same boat “Mickey Mouse”.

A selection of pictures below are from the Sunday racing.