2019 Results | Solution Class Association

Northampton Inlands

The final event of the Solution calender this year took place at Northampton SC with a mixed forecast. 8 boats arrived in high spirits with good numbers from the N12, Enterprise & Lark fleets also joining us.

Saturday morning we were greeted with great conditions but an interesting forecast. After the disappointment of another world cup journey coming to an anticlimactical end, the forecast was right with white horses screaming down the lake, racing was postponed for a couple of hours. Once the wind had dropped off, 5 of the 8 sailors made their way out the startline. The Solutions were starting 3rd following Larks and chased by Enterprises. The first race provided a close fought race between Josh, Kevin and Jack whilst the wind was still up. The second race saw Jack and Paul swap places with newcomer Richard giving Jack a run for his sail. After the delay to racing we just about made it back in before all the daylight had disappeared by a matter of minutes.

In the evening the club held BBQ style food, a huge bonfire and fireworks as well, but one thing they didn't have was pudding so Jack and Kevin may have found a small snack elsewhere.

Sunday morning dawned with decidedly less wind but more enthusiasm. Kevin thought that staying ashore would be best for his sanity so 7 boats went out for 4 back to back races. Josh carried on where he left off from Saturday winning the opening 2 races with Paul and Peter sharing second places. Paul realised he liked being near the front and won the final 2 races of the day with Josh and Kathryn taking second. Peter had a solid end to the open picking up consecutive thirds and Richard's overall consistent results making overall third place a very close contest. But unfortunately nobody could quite do enough to take it from Jack.

Report: Jack Turnbull
Photos: Jack Turnbull/Martin Tubb

Bala Inlands

A small Solution fleet arrived in Bala ready for the Inlands. Many excuses abounded from hernias to sons getting married and the odd locust storm, so it was left to 4 eager sailors to fight it out over 2 days.

Saturday morning arrived to shiny flat lake and hot sun; somebody had turned the wind machine off! So after a lengthy postponement the racing finally got under way. Martin went left and everyone else went right; the left track proved to be the best, which gave Martin a good lead by the windward mark. The wind was a shifty 2 to 3, leaving 3 boats playing snakes and ladders. Peter got the better of Kathryn and Kevin to finish second with Kevin third and Kathryn bringing up the rear.

Race Two, saw Kevin wake up and fight with Martin for line honours. Nobody could quite understand how Kevin was going well in light airs ( drugs test called for). Peter and Kathryn were swapping places for third and fourth, Kevin eventually running out the winner and again Kathryn bringing up the rear.

Race three saw Kevin take an early lead. With the rest wrestling with the shifty conditions, Peter and Martin pulled a small lead on Kathryn which was not to last: while going up the fetch, a wind shift and a hole saw Peter fall out to windward, letting Kathryn catch up. Going back up the run, Kathryn overhauled Peter and Martin to come second, Martin third and Peter fourth. Despite shifty winds, all the races were closely contested and only small margins between the boats.

Day two started much the same as Saturday: shiny lake, sun and no wind, so after many coffees and a postponement, racing got under way to a steady force 2 – 3. Martin, getting off to a good start, showed everyone a clean pair of heels. Peter tried to force his way in at the start, which saw him have to do penalty turns from which he never recovered, holding onto fourth quite convincingly. Kathryn and Kevin were squabbling over second and third, which eventually saw Kathryn beat Kevin into third.

Race 5 saw Peter hot out of the blocks to take an early lead, with Kevin second and Kathryn and Martin a little behind. The wind slowly built to a three to four and as the wind raised, Kevin got closer to Peter leg by leg. Kathryn kept Martin behind for the whole race, leaving Peter and Kevin to fight it out. By the final leg Kevin was only two boat lengths behind Peter, but Peter did enough to take his first Solution win and keep Kevin in second. Many comments about cherries ensued most cannot be written here!

Race six saw the wind build to a good four with white caps all over the lake. With such close racing and everyone trying out all the positions it was anybody's chance to win the weekend and take the Solution fish home. Kevin got a clean start and built an early lead, never to be troubled through the race. Martin and Peter struggled to do anything about Kevin's lead, so fought over second and third, with Martin winning out. Kathryn came in fourth showing her dislike of windy conditions.

With Bala serving up a good weekend’s racing and fantastic scenery, everyone went home tired and happy. With only seven points separating first to fourth, it was a very well contested championship, so thanks must go to Bala SC for a great weekend, and we will look forward to returning again.

Report: Peter Fisk
Photos: John Hunter Bala SC

Felpham Nationals

Felpham Sailing Club welcomed a small but enthusiastic fleet of Solution sailors by providing perfect weather though a punishing breeze for the 2019 National Championships.

There were a number of Solution sailors kicking themselves at having to miss out on the flawless sailing conditions due to accidents, injuries, weddings, anniversaries and birthdays, but undoubtedly those who made it were the far more attractive and charismatic members of the fleet.

Given the small numbers, the probability of finishing third and earning the right to write the race report was higher than usual and people took various measures to avoid this ignominy. Kathryn Clark kicked off with an early bid to avoid third place by setting out with the 10%-reduced sail, not realising that this is so well-designed that she could still get to the windward mark ahead of the rest of the fleet.

Paul "Basher" Nix took the most extreme action by snapping his boom in half, not realising that Jack Turnbull had purchased a spare which allowed him to get back out for the rest of the event. Jack himself made the most comical effort at throwing third place when he "accidentally" missed his toestraps, not appreciating that there were only four boats on the water for that race as Paul Taylor had also retired from that race.

Neal Gibson made valiant efforts to steer clear of third place, firstly by missing the first days' proceedings in order to go see Pink at Wembley and then, when he found himself leading the fleet, stopping to take on a crew who had fallen off a jetski.

Josh Hamer found the most effective route to avoid third place was simply to win the first four races of the event, although Kevin and Jack didn't make it easy for him. Despite breaking two kickers, Kevin Clark was left without escape when the music stopped.

With his four hard-won wins, Josh was able to retire early leaving Kevin, Neal and Jack to fight over second, third and fourth. Jack had done enough in the first four races to hang onto second place, leaving Kevin and Neal on the water for race 5. By this point the wind was a strong force 5 and the intervention of incompetent jetskiers lead to them sharing the points for race 5, before Kevin had to retire having broken his second kicker.

Neal's completion of race 6 allowed him to take the Ted Funnell Memorial Cup for mid-fleet.

As usual Guy Mayger and his race team, and all the volunteers and members at Felpham SC did a cracking job and put on a wonderful event for the Solution Class. We are only sorry that we were pipped to first place in the quiz on Saturday night. We'll back next year for a re-match!

Report: Kathryn Clark

Llandudno

The Solution fleet were joined by a mix of Hornets, Scorpions and GP14s for the end of April Llandudno Open meeting.

Most of the Solution sailors arrived Friday evening for some food- now was it Dylans at 7:30 or Henrys or Harveys at 7:00, I can’t remember, other than I got it wrong. A few drinks at the club bar afterwards gave us all just enough courage to battle against the howling wind along the promenade back to our digs. Storm Hannah had arrived, bringing strong winds and heavy rain. After a full breakfast we all leisurely arrived for the briefing on Saturday morning, and as everyone anticipated, it was brief- AP over A and we’ll see you tomorrow! Caution dictated that masts were best left down, and boats strapped to trailers in the boat park so we looked for alternative entertainment.

Deciding that as we couldn’t get cold, wet and exhausted out sailing, we’d seek the same results by trekking 400 feet up the Great Orme to Llandudno’s ski slope. The toboggan run was closed, possibly because we might aqua plane down the run and end up on the pier. However we managed to have a great time hurtling down the slope getting drenched and giddy in rubber donut rings. The lovely hot chocolates in the alpine lodge afterwards were well deserved.

After more food at a place with another man’s name, the giant Jenga set in the club house came into play for the annual contest against the Scorpions. We weren’t really keeping score but an over exuberant tug of one block, a bit like trying to whip out a table cloth from under a load of crockery, sent it flying into the bar, nearly taking out a row of optics, so the Scorpions got full marks for artistic flair.

Thankfully Storm Hannah had left overnight and there was a good westerly breeze on Sunday morning. There was still a decent swell though, so I went easy on the breakfast for obvious reasons. To make up for lost days racing, the race officer ran 4 back to back races using a triangle sausage course. In the first race Martin Tubb went right up the beat to get the best of the tide and was first to the windward mark, before we headed back towards the clubhouse on our first lap. However Josh Hamer was in hot pursuit and took the lead to win. Martin managed to keep ahead of Kevin Clark with Paul Nix and Ian Ramsay taking 4th and 5th respectively. Kathryn Clark decided the conditions were too rough for her, and Llandudno local Peter Fisk was out injured.

Race 2 was a three way battle with Josh again taking the win, Kevin second and Martin third, all reaching to the finish line within 15 seconds of each other, in what was the closest race of the day, and probably the year.

By race 3 the tide was slack and Kevin took the win with Josh and Martin not far behind.

For the final race of the day, the wind had swung more to the north, and the windward mark was moved out towards the end of the pier. By the final lap the windward leg was against a strong tide and we arrived at the mark at the same time as a swarm of GPs which made for an interesting rounding with several GPs1 being pinned against the mark by the tide. Kevin made the best rounding and took the race win, Josh took a couple of attempts to get around to take second. After 3 attempts Martin finally got around with Paul close on his tail.

This proved to be pivotal as with the discard Kevin took the overall win on equal points with Josh who was second. Martin and Paul taking solid 3rd and 4th places.

Thanks again to Llandudno Sailing club for hosting a great event in testing conditions.

Report: Martin Tubb
Photos: Sue Tubb

Burghfield

The first open meeting of the year was held at Burghfield Sailing Club, and with a good forecast (so I’m told, I never look) 7 boats travelled from far and wide to join the 2 home boats. After a briefing and having the layout of the buoys explained, several times, we launched with a reasonable breeze. The first race got underway promptly and, with the wind increasing slightly throughout, this helped Jack Turnbull pop out of the pack to take the first win, followed by Josh Hamer who had made up places all through the race. The second race followed, this time with Josh getting away at the start never to be seen again. The rest of the fleet were battling hard and on the final downwind leg, Paul Nix managed to sail underneath Martin Tubb, Peter Blackman and Jack to take second place. Although Peter did slightly hamper himself with a perfectly positioned capsize at the gybe mark… right in front of the clubhouse.

After a hearty lunch, the racing continued in earnest following a similar tale to the second race. This time though it was Peter keeping Josh company as the pair battled out front, despite any local knowledge this wasn’t to stop momentum that was building for Josh. Meanwhile back in the fleet Paul succumbed and joined Peter in the capsize club, although he did show his experience and picked a better place with no cameras around. The 4th and final race of the day saw Kevin wake up as he and Josh lead round the first beat. The downwind leg saw Josh stretch his legs and pull away, the following windward leg Jack caught Kevin where they went different ways round the top island with Kevin coming out still ahead. Under no pressure, Josh made it a hat trick of victories for the day.

Sunday dawned with less breeze than Saturday but just as much enthusiasm; a course was set, a race officer found and we were off. As the race progressed it appeared the lighter wind was suiting Peter Blackman as he lead the field for the majority of the race, right up until the first and final run through the start/ finish gate when Josh made his move and pipped Peter over the line.

The final race was run off the back of the club racing which added an extra dimension to the racing with more than just the 2000’s from Saturday to avoid. This time Josh and Paul were off the front as quick as whippets meanwhile the rest of the fleet were doing their best to pick the correct shift to follow, with positions changing tack on tack. This was true up to the final beat of the final race for the finish line as Jack almost overtook Kevin and were given joint positions which meant I had to make you all suffer through this write up

The first open of the year has lived up to expectations and left a hard act for the rest of the year’s meetings to follow with extremely close racing throughout the field and only 2 points separating 2nd-4th, 0.5 point 5th-6th and 3 points separating 7th-9th.

Report: Jack Turnbull