The sun shone and the breeze blew steadily from a little east of south, for the twenty-six boats who sailed in the Open meeting for the Mirror Class at Chichester Yacht Club on Sunday, June 6th (as well as, of course, for the D-Day celebrations elsewhere, though only the Race Officer and some other grandparents could possibly have live memories of that!)

The fleet divided itself almost automatically into two divisions : the fast half, which included a number of boats with the tell-tale white numbers on their jibs which spoke of entry into the Class National Championships – there were four or five out of the top twenty at the Nationals – and a slower group who began a bit tentatively in the first race, and formed rather a long tail of the fleet, but who improved rapidly in races two and three and, although still a slower group, were a good deal closer to the fast group on the finish line. The fleet was very competitive on the rather short start line, which was lengthened for the third race, and in the second race there was a General Recall and a rapid substitution of the “Round-the-ends” Flag for the Blue Peter for the re-start, at which the sailors displayed much more decorum. The course was a series of triangles and sausages, with a spreader mark at the beginning of each sausage, and a gate on the beat, and this gave sufficient opportunity for making tactical decisions about which way to go to ensure place-changes happened.

But not at the very front of the fleet, where Robert Strucker and Tom Hodkinson took three firsts in Magic. Behind them on the first race were Josh Rumbol and Tom Davidson, who made an impression on the Race Committee by sailing neatly up to the Committee Boat before the start and handing over two cases with the word “Please look after our lunch!” and sailing swiftly away again! “Is that outside assistance, do you suppose?” the Committee wondered! Luckily no-one noticed or complained. However, after their initial second, they slipped into a fourth and sixth, leaving Tom Robinson and Shaun Mason to take second spot overall with a third, a second and a third. Behind them came the Yeoman brothers, Jack and George. They had won the previous day at Bosham, with George steering his brother’s boat, but with the owner at the helm for the first two races they scored a fourth and a third, but with George steering in the last race, they only managed a fifth, so any complications about substitution of helm which a shouted comment from another competitor had suggested were luckily done away with by the discard rule. Fifth overall, and first dad and daughter combination, were Ian Barnett, crewed by Tamzin. They came up the fleet, with a ninth and a sixth, and finally a close second. Earlier Ian commented, “These kids : they’re so competitive!”

The whole meeting was master-minded most efficiently by Class Captain Graham Griffin, who also sailed effectively with son James, although with the pressures of the job they didn’t feature in the prize list.

Preliminary Results

Sailed: 3  Discards: 1  Ratings: None

Pos.	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	Magic	70002	Robert Strucket	Tom Hodkinson	Itchenor SC	1	1	1	2.0
2	Encore Une Fois	70003	Tom Robinson	Shaun Mason	Warsash SC	3	2	3	5.0
3	Ace of Clubs	70263	Josh Rumbol	Tom Davidson	Poole YC	2	9	4	6.0
4	The Other Half	70280	Jack Yeoman	George Yeoman	CYC	4	3	5	7.0
5	Wicked Wiggle	69304	Ian Barnett	Tamzin Barnett	CYC	9	6	2	8.0
6	Which Witch	70216	Alice Darling	Jillian Darling	Itchenor SC	5	5	9	10.0
7	Starship	6565	Simon Lovesey		Warsash SC	7	4	10	11.0
8	Tickle Crab	70155	Graham Griffin	James Griffin	CYC	8	10	6	14.0
9	Checkmate	70258	Jamie Knill	Lewis Rumbol	Poole YC	6	11	8	14.0
10	Speedflea	70228	Ed Fitzgerald	Izzy Fitzgerald	Itchenor SC	10	8	7	15.0
11	Defance Tol	69334	Shaun Hampton-Mathews	Ed Hampton-Mathews	Warsash SC	14	7	12	19.0
12	Screamer	69910	Martin Orton	Various Orton	CYC	12	12	11	23.0
13	Passing Wind	70154	Tom Lovesey	James Lovesey	Warsash SC	13	14	15	27.0
14	Silver Fox	64016	Sam Nicholls	Georgina Kirkwood	Maidenhead SC	18	15	13	28.0
15	Sea Slug	31924	Neil Shaw	Various Shaws	CYC	19	13	16	29.0
16	Purple Haze	59187	Ron Vass	Ed Nicholls	Maidenhead SC	16	17	14	30.0
17	Maximus Mirridious	58227	Jon Bonsor		Warsash SC	15	18	17	32.0
18		70133	Simon Ward	Oliver Murray	CYC	17	16	DNC	33.0
19	Lets Ride	69638	Fiona Holland-Tucket	Charlotte Baker	CYC	11	23	DNC	34.0
20	Lean Machine	64087	C. Hodge	T. Hodge	CYC	21	20	18	38.0
21		67933	A. Sloper	S. Knight	Itchenor SC	20	22	DNF	42.0
22	Shooting Star	49768	Cindy Orton	Various Ortons	CYC	24	19	DNF	43.0
23	Toys r us	53246	Mark Harper	Various Harpers	CYC	22	21	DNC	43.0
24	Supertonic	49305	Caroline Griffin	Charlotte Griffin	CYC	23	DNF	DNC	50.0
25	Bizzie Lizzie	61824	David Renton-Rose	Harry Renton-Rose	CYC	DSQ	24	DNF	51.0
26	Smootie	35501	Martin Buckley	Charlotte Buckley	CYC	DNF	DNF	DNC	54.0