It was an absolutely thrilling finale at BSC for our Grand Prix series. Going into the final weekend Julie Nelson had already sewn up the short course trophy, with Tracy Haigh in a reasonably secure second place, but third place was still up for grabs with Oliver Keeble, Victor Iszatt and Kiley Gooch with just five points between them. In the general handicap series, Jonny Garlick was in the lead but family commitments meant he wouldn’t be taking part in the final two events. This put Jon Simpson, Gill Callandar, Rob Carver and Mike Smith all in the frame with a chance of winning.

Saturday saw the Dyer cup… and it was windy! For safety reasons Race Officer Paul decided to stick to a club line start rather than the traditional downriver send off. The main fleet were sent down river to ‘the doctor’ where they enjoyed some very lumpy waves courtesy of the wind against tide, with gusts of near 30 knots. Naturally there were a few swims. There was a well deserved victory for Maria Richards and Luca Batley in the fireball. Callum Marshall was just one second back on corrected time in an ILCA4, with Rob Carver and Ronnie Bartlett finishing third in their RS2000. In the overall series this gave Rob some crucial points as he gained on Jon (5th), Gill (6th sailing a Sprite with Steve Jarreed) and Mike (8th as a fireball crew for Richard Thomas).

The short course fleet avoided the worst of the weather with a truncated course. Oliver Keeble laid down the gauntlet for the other podium contenders with an emphatic victory in his Oppie, over 3 minutes ahead on corrected time. Carlie Jenkins was second in an ILCA4, and Julie Nelson and Kylie Gooch finished third in their mirror.

At the end of the day the numbers were crunched. Oliver was now on 245 points, 7 ahead of Kiley. With double points in the final Kiley would need to beat him by four places overall to snatch back third in the overall GP series. In the general series Jon Simpson took back the lead he has held on and off all year. But he was just nine points ahead of Gill and 16 ahead of Rob. With double points on offer Jon couldn’t relax yet.

The morning of the final dawned with lighter winds and a tense atmosphere in the boat park. A brutal format for the final awaited the main contenders – double points, two races, and no discard. Nobody could afford a disqualification, but everyone was very keen to win. Hence it was no surprise to see an individual recall in the general fleet, with nobody taking any chances and going back even if there was a hint they were over the line.

Conditions clearly suited the ILCA6, with Callum, Austin Edwards and Jess Welch taking the top three places. However with none of them in contention for the overall series it was the action behind that mattered, and they finished in their overall series order: Jon 4th, Gill and Steve Jarred 5th, and Rob and Ronnie in 6th.

Meanwhile in the short course it was another oppie victory with Jenson Edwards taking the win, followed by Howard Knott. Olivers third place kept him in contention for third.

The final race of the day was far too tense and exciting, with the general fleet very badly behaved on the start line resulting in a reluctant use of the general recall flag. When they got away cleanly it was a tight race in lighter and shifty winds. Victory went to Ben and Rob Haigh in their Wayfarer, with Jon in second and Rob and Ronnie taking third. Steve and Gill were fourth.

The short course start was less contentious, and Howard took the win. Chris Briggs was second in an ILCA6, with Julie and Kiley third. Oliver was a disappointing fifth – would this spoil his victory party?

After the computer software had done it’s work, the GP final event results were; in the short course: 1st Howard, 2nd Jenson, 3rd Chris Briggs. Oliver finished 4th, one point ahead of Julie and Kiley, securing him the final short course podium position in the overall GP series.

The general results were extremely close, with 1st and 2nd tied on points; and then just 3 points back 3rd to 6th also had to be separated on count back. Callum’s race win gave him 1st place ahead of Jon; whilst third place was taken by Rob and Ben. Rob and Ronnie were 4th, Steve and Gill were 6th, and Richard and Mike were back in 9th. This gave Jon the overall GP series win, but wasn’t quite enough for Rob to overtake Gill who finished four points ahead of him.

Everyone gathered for the prize giving to give away numerous bottles of wine, chocolates and scented candles. We also awarded two new trophies to the overall winners. Each trophy is named after a valued member of the BSC racing community who we’ve lost in the last 12 months: Brett Townsend and Phil Newman. The Townsend trophy was given to Julie Nelson for winning the short course, and the Newman trophy to Jon Simpson. The latter was particularly poignant as Jon was sailing Phil’s old Finn.

General series winners: Steve Jarred, Mike Smith, Jon Simpson, Gill Callander, Rob Carver

Short course winners: Tracy Haigh, Kiley Gooch, Julie Nelson, Carlie Jenkins, Oliver Keeble

Final series results

Fleets:

Fireball 1st Richard Thomas, 2nd Mike Smith

Fast 1st Mike Iszatt, 2nd David Styles

Optimist 1st Oliver Keeble 2nd Victor Iszatt

Topper 1st Daniel Hall 2nd Amelia Gilbert

Feva 1st Esme Thomas 2nd equal Florence Fenton, Hannah Thomas, Hector Johnson, Oliver Crickmore

ILCA 1st Jonny Garlick, 2nd Tracy Haigh

Solo 1st Drac Norman, 2nd Steve Goldstone

Wayfarer 1st Rob Haigh 2nd Graham Hoy

Mirror 1st Julie Nelson 2nd Kiley Gooch

Sprite 1st Gill Callender 2nd Steve Jarred

Medium 1st Jon Simpson 2nd equal Rob Carver, Ronnie Bartlett

Short course:

Cadets: 1st Oliver Keeble, 2nd Jenson Edwards 3rd Victor Iszatt

Ladies: 1st Julie Nelson, 2nd Kiley Gooch, 3rd Carlie Jenkins

Overall: 1st Julie Nelson, 2nd Oliver Keeble, 3rd Kiley Gooch, 4th Carlie Jenkins, 5th Tracy Haigh

General handicap:

Cadets: 1st Austin Edwards, 2nd Callum Marshall, 3rd Jess Welch

Ladies: 1st Gill Callander, 2nd Ronnie Bartlett, 3rd Nikki Johnson

Overall: 1st Jon Simpson, 2nd Gill Callander, 3rd Rob Carver, 4th Mike Smith, 5th Steve Jarred

Rob Carver

Hon Sailing Secretary

Photos © Zoë Nelson