Tideway Championship 2017, get ready for Day 2

Published 16:37 on 20 May 2017

OK, there wasn't sun, OK, it was pretty chilly, but a punchy southwesterly provided perfect conditions for the 36 boats that took to the water for the 2017 Tideway Championship from Ranelagh, South Bank, Strand and LCSC.

With three short races, the starts were always going to be crucial, and difficult to master with so many boats angling for wind and tide and avoiding the windless Surrey Bank. It became apparent, too, with short races and ideal early planning conditions, that the Lasers were going to be hard to beat, and so it proved.

The first race was a battle between our own Laser sailors Phil Robin, Stephan Meyen, Clive Kitson and Andy Oliver finishing within six seconds of each other in that order, with Thomas Stolper from Ranelagh not far behind in fifth. On corrected time ex Corinthian sailor Johnny Lyell obviously remembered some of the nuances of Hammersmith Reach, coming in next in a Solo on corrected time, with the ever threatening Val Neyalkov and Chris Winnington Ingram in the X boat next – although taking line honours, not able to put enough distance between themselves and the fleet to win on handicap.

In race two it was again the Lasers scrapping for the points, this time with Simon Hills and Thomas Stolper match-racing around two laps until Stolper managed to point high enough to stop the former tacking in front of him, before tacking himself and taking first place. Stephan Meyen showed consistency again, coming in third, while this time Val and Chris, although again first over the water, had to settle for fourth place on corrected time. Andre Gareh was fifth and Bex Dawkes in her Radial 6^th. Next visitor was another ex-Corinthian member, Una Jane Winfield, who steered her RS 200 to ninth place, crewed by her son, William.

So there was everything to play for in race three, with Thomas Stolper, Bex Dawkes, Simon Hills and Phil Robin leading the fleet. Things went a bit pear-shaped at the mark for Phil Robin, who stalled, as did Simon Hills hard on his stern, which gave Thomas Stolper the lead, and let the Lasers of Andy Oliver, Clive Kitson and Ranelagh's Renato Hidalgo through, although Phil recovered to take third place on handicap. Bex sailed an exemplary race to win on handicap, with Thomas second. First non-Laser was our own Jeremy Whiting sailing his enterprise to ninth on handicap.

Alas, while we dominated the racing, overall across three races with one discard it was again a visitor taking away the first prize, so congratulations to Thomas Stolper for his win. In second place was Phil Robin, third was Stephan Meyen with Bex Dawkes in fourth.

Well done to everyone for organising, especially Jeremy. It was terrific to see so many boats – from a couple of Gulls down from Strand to an Albacore to at least one boat none of us had ever seen or heard of before – upon the water in great sailing conditions. Especially for the Lasers!

See all the pictures HERE

Last updated 10:35 on 18 February 2024