LWA Melting Pot & AGM

Queen Mary Sat 21 Feb 2009

     What a fabulous day, quite the warmest of the year so far, reminding us of those Melting Pot Events some years ago at the Welsh Harp when Xav Ferlet and John Ellis were strutting their stuff in shortie wetsuits! No one was quite so adventurous, but there were more than a few summer suits in evidence. 14 Raceboards and 4 Technos turned out to ease themselves into the new season.
     There was a sprinkling of Starboard Phantoms in the fleet and Midlands Region Chairman Bob Ingram, down south for a meeting of the recently formed UK Raceboard Association, was determined to show these southern characters how it should be done. In Race One he managed a brilliant start (see photo) and held on to his lead despite the best efforts of Rob Kent and Doug Starr to unseat him. Having said that, Bob was sailing a 10.25 against the others’ 9.5s, but it was an impressive performance nonetheless in the shifting winds. (more photos to follow shortly, courtesy of Andy Watkinson)
     In the Juniors the new LWA Young Windsurfer of the Year Andrew Robinson was engaged in a tussle with Conor Wells and Jessica Plant in the Techno 7.8 class and Henry Bloodworth was enjoying himself, having moved up from 4.5 to 5.5.
     It was one of those days where you had to get the shifts spot on, otherwise you were sorely punished as the wind had a nasty habit of dropping off near the windward mark.  In Race Two Annette Kent was first round the mark, having taken an individual line upwind, but despite trying desperately to keep ahead of husband Rob - and giving away a whole 1 sq m of sail - she was hauled in and finished in second place ahead of Doug Starr, who seems to have discovered a whole new dimension with his Starboard Phantom. Somewhere around mark three there was a big pile-up, which resulted in Bob Ingram being pushed way down the fleet and allowed Doug Starr and Chris Gibson to slip into 3^rd and 4^th places.
     The wind occasionally pushed the 10 knots mark in Race Three and boards were railing nicely upwind. As it was the last race of the day the Race Officer allowed it to go on for an extra lap. Rob took command fairly early on and Doug nevertheless held on to his second place, forcing Annette into third.
     At the end Rob Kent was the clear winner but there were three sailors on 5 points. This tie was split in favour of Bob Ingram because of his 1^st place in Race One.
     In the Juniors Andrew, Conor, Henry and Jessica finished in that order in every race, making the final results an easy calculation.
     We’re looking forward to the first event of the 2009 Summer Season which takes places at Bough Beech near Sevenoaks on Sat 21 March. This event usually kicks off with a bang, so we hope to see loads of LWA sailors out on the water. Possibly by then there will be some production models of the new Tushingham Race sail in the fleet, together with the latest Phantom boards and maybe, just maybe, a Mistral Equipe III to give the Raceboard fleet the feeling that staying faithful to the Class over the years has all been worthwhile.

• Click here for loads more photos

RESULTS: (overal positions in brackets)

Raceboard:
1st: Rob Kent (1); 2: Doug Starr (3); 3: Annette Kent (also 1st Lady) (4)
Unlimited:
1st: Bob Ingram (2); 2: Nick Kidd (5); 3: Paul Robinson (8)
Techno 7.8:
1st: Andrew Robinson (15); 2: Conor Wells (16); 3: Jessica Plant (18)
Techno 5.5:
1st: Henry Bloodworth (17)

LWA Melting Pot Sat 21 Feb 2009: R1: R2: R3: Dis: Total: 1 919 Robert Kent RRM 2 1 1 2 2 2 164 Bob Ingram RUM 1 7 4 7 5 3 267 Douglas Starr RRM 3 3 2 3 5 4 918 Annette Kent RRW 7 2 3 7 5 5 133 Nick Kidd RUV 4 5 6 6 9 6 0 Chris Gibson RRV 6 4 13 13 10 7 9383 Andy Lacy RRV 5 6 5 6 10 8 353 Paul Robinson RUV 8 9 7 9 15 9 537 Rod Davis RRV 10 8 9 10 17 10 416 Alan Jackson RRV 12 10 8 12 18 11 1311 David Kinnerley RIV 9 11 10 11 19 12 634 Trudi Lloyd-Williams RRW 11 13 11 13 22 13 557 Graham Horsley RRV 14 12 12 14 24 14 538 Janet Pain RRW 13 14 14 14 27 15 343 Andrew Robinson TCU 15 15 15 15 30 16 9640 Connor Wells TCU 16 16 16 16 32 17 852 Henry Bloodworth JAU 17 17 17 17 34 18 475 Jessica Plant TBJ 18 18 18 18 36