Oxford Inlands 2009

A crisp south-westerly breeze and spitting rain met twenty three Blazers for the 2009 Inland championships, hosted by Oxford Sailing Club and shared with the RS 800 Inlands.

Despite encouraging forecasts, I was doubtful about this one.   Driving west through fog, drizzle and precious little wind brought back memories of fruitless travels to Essex and Wales the previous year.   Nature seemed to be getting ready to pull the same old trick of turning an apparentley promising weekend's racing into a protracted boat tuning session.

My doubts proved unwarranted and as sails ran up masts the friendly crunch-thwack of luffing mylar promised intense racing.   The start line was laid at the far side of the reservoir, facing a southerly breeze.   The course was to be (for the Blazes) a left handed trapezium, with the 800s playing windward-leeward (snore).

Race one kicked off in fifteen knots of breeze, with regular gusts topping twenty.   Hardly the force six we'd been promised in the clubhouse, but certainly respectable breeze.  Mike Lyons (769), Christian Smart (763), Nick Miller (757) and Andy Hewitt (760) formed a leading pack at the windward mark and would spend much of the rac ein their own private battles.   As the race went on, the prevailing wind shifted gradually west, turning a relatively even beat in to a bit of a procession.   Gains were to be made downwind, with fitful gusts providing very temporary "bare knuckle" planing experiences, and coming up on the gybe mark, fine opurtunities for capsize training.  Lyons, exhibiting good downwind speed, eventually came through to win, followed by Smart, Hewitt and Miller.

The westerly shift continued, eventually settling west-south-west, about 40 degrees from where it had started.   With marks re-laid and a start line jsut off the launching beach, the pre-start sequence began and as if taking its cue from the Comitee Boat, a previously strong but manageable breeze became something else altogether.  Affected by a peculiarly local cloud group racing overhead, the fleet battled up the first leg in eclipse-like shadow, bows toward the sunlight at the water's edge, literally sailing 'towards the light,' I know I felt inspired.   Haranged by 30 knot gusts the fleet spread wide quickly, with Holman rounding first, followed by Lyons, Miller and Smart.   Lyons and then Miller were caught off-guard by short sharp gusts on their way to the wing mark and Smart on rounding it, leaving Holman with a clear lead, pursued by heavy-wind merchant Jon Saunders (611).   Three exhausting laps in ragged wind did little to change the pecking order.   Holman with a clear lead, then Saunders closely followed by Miller and Lyons in battle for third, with Lyons winning out.   As a side note, it should be mentioned that while having RS800s and Blazes rounding the same leeward mark looks fine on paper, in 30knot breeze-on reality being treated as a poorly placed invisible obstacle became rather unnerving.   Twice my life flashed before my eyes as a glinting carbon bow-sprit lanced by my unassuming head.    The tactical result of the windward-leeward arrangement was that the 800s were always approaching the leeward mark on the inside of the Blazes (who were reaching in at a much higher angle), it often paid to choose your rounding moment carefully, or risk being stuck three or four 800-widths outside the mark in the sky-scraper like windshadow of the skiffs.

Unfortunately such favourable racing conditions didn't last and for race three the general wind strength had dropped to around to a mid force four, alright for some.    So busy were the "usual suspects" in keeping eyes on each other that they barely noticed Bob Cowen (743) slip around the windward mark ahead of all.   Lyons followed in hot pursuit and overtook, followed by Hewitt and Smart.   No lead or chasing pack properly formed for this final race of the day, and the fleet finished in procession, Lyons 1st, followed by Hewitt, Smart and Miller.

It was only upon returning to shore that it became clear how lucky we'd been in our timing.   No sooner were the last hulls on their trolleys, then from nowhere a protracted squall blew in over the reservoir, easily topping 40knots and threatening to overturn the unguarded boat.   Without exception in the crowded boat park, all eyes and hands lifted from their machinations to witness the apocalyptic event that was clearly about to take place.   It didn't, but if it sounds like I'm describing the opening of The Day After Tomorrow, then my pursuit of journalistic truth has not been a fruitless one.

Armed with the sense that we'd just recieved a verbal warning from God, the fleet congregated in to two groups for the evening, the eaters and the drinkers.   The eaters retreated to Abingdon for the traditional end of season curry night, the drinkers to Oxford for...well, drinking.   It was at this point that the thought came to me, with both trepidation and excitement, "wasn't this supposed to be our light-wind day."

Sunday morning seemed ready to deliver on the promise of a still windier day, with a steady force five gusting six by 9am, the same time I'd been driving through fog and drizzle the day before.   Race four launched with the noticeable absence of Smart, 'Lead Drinker' and the last minute arrival of Holman, his 'Second in Command'.   Miller led from the off and sailed what must have been (for him) a tremendously dull race without meeting a single challenger (with the possible exception of towering RS 800s and their stern crews, why the long faces?).   Dissapointingly, mother nature apparentley ran out of steam and the racing winds never peaked over where they had started, and by mid race had dropped to a choppy breeze of anywhere between ten and twenty knots.   Hewitt and Lyons locked horns and, despite meeting Holman and Saunders up the beats, proved too much for the 'young guns' in the lighter airs.

Race five saw Miller (looking for a repeat performance) form an early lead, followed around the windward mark by a rejouvenated Smart, then Holman and Lyons.   In the variable wind Smart and Lyons slowly reeled in Miller and, counting on the heavens not to pull any of saturday's stunts, gybed for the inside track on the downwind leg of lap 3, overtaking Miller who, clearly too used to sailing on his own, had opted for the safer outside.  Lyons began the last downwind leg in first but opted for keeping the fleet guessing by clipping the penultimate mark, and losing three places to the resultant turns.

With only one discard available, there was to be no letting off in the final race, Lyons clearly led on points but if he posted another fourth and Smart another win, he would lose the championship on the final race...to a walking hangover.   Off the line the fleet split up the beat, Smart hit the left corner, Lyons and Miller did battle in the center and Pete Barlow (758), having started from the starboard end, found that with regular starboard flicks he could nearly find the layline without tacking.   Smart met him at the mark and took the lead offwind.   Not to be discouraged, Barlow hit the right corner again on lap two and met Smart, who had been covering his other pursuers in the center.   Smart pulled away again offwind and sailed the rest of the race unchallenged.   Barlow finished second, clear ahead of Lyons who in winning his battle with Miller, secured the championship.

Mike Lyons thanked the race team, club, and weather for providing the kind of racing we've been pining for over the last two seasons of lacking conditions.   He also requested more wind next time, here here.

Jon "that's not how it happened!" Saunders.

Final results: