R36 District Championship Bournville RS&MBC 07.04.19. Race report.

Nine of the Midland District R36 skippers turned up at Bournville RS&MBC lake to be met by a warming kettle and a promise of a brew at booking in. The wind direction was a North Easterly, so it was blowing across the park, wind strength was about 5mph.

A few skippers had had the opportunity to have a quick practice and during the skipper’s briefing conducted by the PRO Phil Watkins, Peter Moore decided that he would change the rig to a slightly smaller one.

Racing got away on time with all nine boats on the water sailing an interesting course. The start line was between a pole on the bank and a buoy about three quarters of the way across the widest part of the Bournville lake, from there the boats sailed up to the narrow end where they rounded the first mark to starboard, a short spreader again to starboard and then a diagonal run down to the port end of the start line. From there to another spreader mark and then two laps, followed by a short beat back to the finish line. This worked well and made the maximum use of the lake.

Race 1 and Peter Moore (24) quickly emerged from the pack to lead the first beat closely followed by John Burgoine (35) both sailing their Sybora’s. At this stage both boats looked quick and they were followed home by John Humphries (53) sailing his Raptor.

Race 2 and Stephen Hodgkinson (14) got the drop on the fleet to windward and notched up his first race win. He was followed by the two protagonists (24 & 35).

I missed the third race as I had to assist with the race management, setting up the HMS computer scoring, and loading the first two race finishes. When the race results came in it was Peter Moore once again at the top of the sheet. We then had a short tea break.

Phil Watkins then called the skippers back to the water to be met with a lighter breeze. Phil called John B (35) over at the start and he then quickly set about clawing back Peter’s lead making it back up to third by the end of the race. This allowed Mike Ewart (33) to get second. Peter Hopkins (69) was leading the pack but they were not making much impression on the leaders.

The wind picked up again so the racing continued at a steady pace for the rest of the event.

By race 6 Mike Ewart had to replace a deck patch as one had lifted and the boat was taking on a lot of water, there was quite a lot of running around whilst he grabbed a new patch and some Sellotape to seal the edges. You cannot get a good seal on a wet patch, so a bit of belt and braces was required. He then managed to finish fourth in the race, so it was worth the effort.

From race 5 to 9 Peter M bettered John B in every race, taking first and second on each occasion. John Burgoine did finally get the better of Peter M in the final race of the day taking his first race win of the event.

Phil Watkins then called an end to the racing and we all collected in the club house for the prize presentation. Looking at the results, with a score of 8 points after two discards, both of which were a second and District Champion for 2019 was Peter Moore. Second with twice as many points was John Burgoine and in third was Mike Ewart, the furthest travelled skipper.

For a full set of results click here: MidlandDistrictr36Championship

Thanks to Bournville RS&MBC for hosting the event.