LWA 2009 Summer Series:
Event 1 - Bough Beech  Sat 21 Mar

     This year we experienced the other face of Bough Beech, instead of the howling gales and rain it was a pleasant, warm, sunny spring day and some brave souls even wore shorties! A few of our regulars were absent, skiing and windsurfing in far flung climes, but to make up for this lack we were joined by a couple of new faces from Bough Beech SC, where there is a revival on interest in windsurfing and longboard racing in particular, stimulated by Club Vice Commodore Robert “Abe” Abrahams and Class Captain Chris Bishop. There were a couple of the new Phantom Raceboards on the water in the hands of Rob Kent and Andy Lacy, and two of the new Tushingham XR Race 9.5s, one for Rob Kent and the other on its first time out with David Kinnerley. 
     James Grimsley, who used to sail with us as a youth many years ago, and had come to watch the Melting Pot Races at Queen Mary, was nobbled by Rob Kent and persuaded to come and race at Bough Beech. James was surprised and delighted that Raceboard was not only alive but kicking and Rob Kent kindly offered to lend him some spare kit! However, half way round the first lap Rob was beginning to regret this as James sped off into a huge lead, however he was gradually hauled in and Rob eventually managed to put him into second place ahead of Nick Kidd on his old 10.25 Reflex. Nevertheless a great achievement.
     The wind was coming from all directions and none at all, sometimes with a nice puff of 8 knots or so, then disappearing just as you were laying the windward mark from 50 yards away. It was essential to get the shifts just right or you were totally doomed. A glance at the results shows how very few people were putting in a consistent performance. Rob and James filled the first two places in Race Two, with Annette Kent in third.
     After lunch, Adrian Rippington and James Grimsley got everything exactly right in Race Three and went off into a storming lead and seemed uncatchable, however the old red mist descended and just before the start of the second lap the wind veered so much on the bottom reach that they could not lay Mark no 4. Instead of tacking to pass through the gate between the leeward mark and the Committee boat they both tacked below the Committee boat and consequently had to lose their 1st and 2nd places and the Grand Prix finishing system awarded them 13th and 14th instead. A bitter disappointment as they would otherwise have finished ahead of the well-nigh unbeatable Rob Kent and James would have taken 2nd place overall. A hard lesson learned!
     By the start of Race Four James’ hands were so blistered with pumping that he was unable to continue and Rob Kent complained about the blood all over the borrowed boom. So young James is now in the market for some raceboard kit of his own we hear! This is exactly the scenario that the Raceboard Revival is hoping for - apart from the blistered hands that is - namely people who used to race coming back and enjoying themselves, so PLEASE DO YOUR VERY BEST TO WORK ON ALL YOUR OLD WINDSURFING FRIENDS, THEIR KIT IS ALMOST CERTAINLY STILL COMPETITIVE, EVEN IF THEY SAIL IN THE 7.5 FLEET RATHER THAN THE 9.5. 2009 is the year of the Raceboard Revival!
     Race Four once again went to Mr Kent with Nick Kidd in pursuit and Andy Lacy in close attendance. Nick had been very consistent with results of 3,4,3 and 2, which gave him 2nd overall ahead of Annette who was able to ditch her 6th place and Andy Lacy who was grateful to be able to discard his 11th.
   In the Techno 7.8 Class Stuart Hards, who had come up with his father Phil from the racing hotbed of Hythe just down the road, stayed ahead of Andrew Robinson thoughout the whole event, Stuart’s National Squad experience keeping him well clear of Andrew who has so far reached only Zone Squad status. Between them they managed to beat  a few of the raceboards, which was a great achievement in the very light winds.
     Jon Davis, who was racing with a recently acquired helmet camera, has put a few minutes of video on Youtube.

• Click here for video:

As you can imagine, in view of the light winds it isn’t exactly spectacular footage, but he hopes to improve on this as the season progresses - Thanks Jon.

• CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THE BOUGH BEECH EVENT

RESULTS: (Overall positions in brackets)

Raceboard:
1: Rob Kent (1); 2: Annette Kent (3) also 1st Lady); 3: Andy Lacy (4)
7.5:
1: Luke Boughton (14); 2: Colin Flint (15)
Unlimited:
1: Nick Kidd (2); 2: Paul Robinson (9)

First Newcomer:
James Grimsley

First Bough Beech Sailor:
Luke Boughton

LWA Summer Series 2009: Event 1 - Bough Beech Raceboard: R1: R2: R3: R4: Dis: Total: 1 919 Robert Kent RRM 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 133 Nick Kidd RUV 3 4 3 2 4 8 3 918 Annette Kent RRW 6 3 2 4 6 9 4 9383 Andy Lacy RRV 4 5 11 3 11 12 5 2 James Grimsley RR 2 2 14 DNF 18 18 6 416 Alan Jackson RRV 7 7 8 5 8 19 7 531 Jon Davis RR 8 8 5 9 9 21 8 1597 Phil Hards RRM 9 6 DNF 6 18 21 9 353 Paul Robinson RUV 11 9 6 7 11 22 10 537 Rod Davis RRV 10 14 4 12 14 26 11 843 Adrian Rippington RRV 5 13 13 8 13 26 12 1311 David Kinnerley RRV 15 10 7 11 15 28 13 557 Graham Horsley RRV 12 11 9 10 12 30 14 9438 Luke Boughton 7.5 13 12 10 13 13 35 15 497 Colin Flint 7.5 14 15 12 14 15 40 16 538 Janet Pain RRW 17 16 15 15 17 46 17 XX Nick Patsias RRV 16 17 DNF DNF 18 51 Techno 7.8 R1: R2: R3: R4: Dis: Total: 1 597 Stuart Hards 7.8 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 343 Andrew Robinson 7.8 2 2 2 2 2 6