Poole Harbour, as always, delivered glamorous conditions of full sunshine and warm easterly winds for the twenty Mirrors competing in the Poole Yacht Club Mirror Open over the weekend of 12-13 July.
The club has achieved a rapid resurgence of its Mirror class this year expanding from two to sixteen boats in less than six months, with no sign of this explosion slowing down! Eight home boats made it out to contest the open and they were joined by twelve top visiting teams making for a fun and competitive event on and off the water.
17 Mirrors, mainly from the Poole YC Squadron with a couple of visitors from the West Country contested the Poole YC open over the weekend 22nd/23rd May. Saturday was a pleasant sunny day with a very shifty & variable force 2 to 4 Easterly and a neap tide.
The fleet got away cleanly at the start of Race 1. There were lots of place changes on the 1st beat as the shifts and gusts came and went. Eventually Ania Booth and Jenny House in “Festino Lente” climbed they way out of the pack to lead at the first mark from Matt & Ben Mills in “Chalk N Cheeze” followed by Charlotte Hine & Jenny Llewelyn in “The Immaculate Contraption”.
An excellent day for racing Mirrors, with 36 boats on the water and a nice south westerly wind force 3-4, good food and good company.
All so exciting we hardly noticed the odd drop of rain, close racing all the way through the fleet, keen competition for every place. It was nice to see a high standard of sailing throughout the event, under the guidance of Race Officer Hugh Conway and his team.
In the three sailing races, we were competing for the Mirror Trophy, presented last year for the first time by Rolfe Kennard and Lapworth and won by Sidmouth.
The Metropolitan Police Sailing Club held its first ever Mirror Open on Saturday, 17th July, 1976, at the I.P.C. (Iver) Yacht Club.
The meeting was bedevilled by a complete lack of wind, with only the occasional zephyr, and consequently a lower number of entries than anticipated. Nevertheless, there were 15 entries from the four clubs: I.P.C. (Iver) Yacht Club, King George's Sailing Club, Queen Mary Sailing Club and Metropolitan Police Sailing Club.
Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club held their Mirror Open Meeting on 7th/8th August and attracted 20 entries. A good easterly breeze, Force 3 on Saturday, freshening to 5 on Sunday, gave the fleet some good sailing.
