Sunderland 19th - 20th August 2006

The National Ranking event at Sunderland YC  on 19-20 August was held as part of the club's Roker dinghy regatta and alongside the OK National Championships. Courses, all triangle sausage format, were set outside the harbour off Roker in generally light winds. Seven Europes took part, with Guy Revill again travelling the furthest - from Devon. Greg Pitt came to try out a new sail from the Goacher loft where he works as a sailmaker. Katie Hughes brought her vintage K124 to show that older boats can still stay up with the fleet.

Saturday

The wind was from a generally southerly direction to start with, shifting to south westerly later in the day. After a delay to the first start to allow the regatta races to be synchronised with the OK starts, both Saturday's races were sailed on the outgoing tide. There was a big chop and a lumpy sea left over from the previous day which made progress difficult on every leg, particularly as the wind was varying downwards from light for a lot of the time.
 
Race 1:

The breeze for the first race was southerly at around 10 knots but was dropping noticeably by the end. The fleet spread out on the long start line and got off to an unremarkable start. Guy went left to round the windward mark just ahead of Greg. Katie Mapplebeck started at the pin end which had been the right end when the OK fleet started but was the wrong end by the Europe start leaving Katie M to round the windward mark in fifth place. On the subsequent legs Greg overtook Guy who, in turn, just managed  to hold off Stacey Vials at the finish.  Katie M worked her way up to overtake Gareth Williams to cross the line in fourth place but, along with Katie H, was disqualified for going through the finish gate on the downwind leg.

Race 2: 

The wind had dropped and shifted further right and there was another hold up while the course was realigned. At the start there was a big rain cloud at the top right hand side of the course and Stacey, Katie H and Katie M all headed right towards the rain. The boys all went left away from the rain! Brian Finnie soon tacked back towards the right and was surprised to find himself already on the port lay line! The continuing wind shift along with the increasing tide had turned the leg into a straight fetch. Guy and Gareth, who had overstood by miles, still managed to reach the windward mark ahead of the others by reaching down to the mark from the left.  Katie M was next, having been lifted on port all the way from the start line without tacking. Katie caught Gareth on the reach but Guy kept ahead to the gybe mark after which Katie M worked past him on the second reaching leg and held the lead until the end. Stacey had been working hard behind the leaders to round the final leeward mark in third place and having split to the right on the final beat to the line just got in front of Guy at the finish.

Sunday

Sunday started with a light northerly breeze and a flat sea. There was a strong tide running south throughout the race period which towards the end of the afternoon was making it very difficult to make progress to windward. Maximum advantage had to be taken of the occasional increases in the breeze.

After starting in a steady northerly breeze the opening race on Sunday race was abandoned due to big wind shifts by the time the Europes had reached the gybe mark.

Race 3: 

After hanging around for ages while the Race Officer waited for the wind to settle and realign the course, only Gareth and Brian were at the line for this start, both choosing the middle of the line.  Katie M and Stacey were at the committee boat end and started about 10-20seconds after the gun. Katie M sailed left up the beat with Gareth, overtaking him and covering him on his tacks. Katie M reached the mark first and pulled away from the fleet. Brian, having been left behind by Gareth after the start, got mixed up with the skiff fleet which had caught up with the Europes (for some reason the Asymmetric start was five minutes after the Europe start). In the crowd Brian's recently repaired GBR367 suffered a hit from a 49er on port gybe, leaving Brian some way behind the rest of the Europe fleet checking the extent of the damage with the help of a nearby safety boat. Meanwhile, Katie M held on to her clear lead until the last beat where the tide became quite strong and caused havoc for those trying to cross the line. Gareth and Guy were both catching Katie M and would have passed if Katie M hadn't decided to cover them - slowing them down enough to cross the line in 1st place.

Race 4: 

With the tide pushing people down wind it was essential to get moving before the gun. Nobody was on the line at the B of Bang. Katie M was the first to start from the committee boat end and sailed left up the beat to round the windward mark with a good lead.  Stacey was second round the
mark followed closely by the rest of the fleet which covered Stacey on the off wind legs, allowing Katie M to pull away.  Katie M, Stacey, Guy and Gareth were then the only remaining serious contenders in this race, Greg having decided not to start; Katie H made the decision to go back to shore and pack up after trailing at the first gybe mark; while Brian spent much of the remaining time battling the tide in the dying wind at the windward mark .