By Simon Bullingham
A record number of fourteen boats descended on the Avon Sailing Club for the annual open weekend, all looking forward to enjoying the club’s now legendary hospitality. Most of the 50+ guests were camping, although some of the more experienced campaigners retired to the quieter setting of the Tewkesbury Hilton. A true mix of youth and experience was on display on the water (and on the dance floor!) over the weekend.
On the Friday evening, to ensure fair play, the majority of the boats were weighed. This was an interesting exercise when the boats minimum weight is 204kg (equivalent to 7.3 Aeros)!
The forecast early in the week was for torrential rain over the weekend but luckily this arrived overnight on Friday leaving behind a fresh South Westerly breeze. This resulted in some excellent racing.
The ASC has a stunning clubhouse on bank of the River Severn between Tewkesbury and Gloucester, and boasts and extremely long sailing area. It is however, not as wide as it is long! Due to the number of boats, they were split into four flights which provided ample space on the start line for all.
A general recall in flight two however made for an interesting restart with the first flight making it’s way through the start line just as the second flight was getting ready to go!
The top half of the fleet made it through to the Cup competition and the rest fought it out for the Silver Bowl. The smart money is always on the Blewett/Hewitt axis at this event, and in the morning session their pedigree shone through. The Cup and Bowl counted for double points so there was everything to play for in the afternoon.
By lunchtime it was clear that there were two new boats vying for the cup. Matt Straker who won the Bowl competition last year, from the Royal Southern, and the local ASC youth contingent Jacob and John who made the cut (and their voices heard around the course!) with two second places.
Round Robin Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R1 | R2 | R2 | R3 | R3 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 669 | Hewitt P | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 2 | 647 | Blewett | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 639 | Hewitt A | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 4 | 648 | Jacob | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 621 | Straker | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||
| 6 | 676 | Hewitt J | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||
| 7 | 678 | Hewitt M | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | |||
| 8 | 629 | Crang | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | |||
| 9 | 619 | Miller | 4 | 3 | 6 | 7 | |||
| 10 | 634 | Kay | 4 | 6 | 4 | 8 | |||
| 11 | 677 | Bullingham | 5 | 4 | 6 | 9 | |||
| 12 | 629 | Gent | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | |||
| 13 | 535 | Davies | 8 | 7 | 6 | 13 | |||
| 14 | 631 | Wylie | 6 | 8 | 13 |
After lunch the Cup contenders led the way and with several changes of lead throughout the medal race, it was eventually won by Andy Hewitt with Alfie a local ASC member as crew. In second place was Colin Blewett crewed throughout the day by daughters Chrissy and Jenny. In third place was Mike Hewitt. Whilst Andy was a new winner of the top competition, there still only remain Hewitt and Blewett surnames on the cup.
Fighting it out with the ASC youth was James Hewitt, hot off his victory in the Bosham open. He was taking no prisoners and showed no mercy to the young contenders. James was pulling off manoeuvres reminiscent of Britannia in Barcelona ’24, schooling the young crews in how to luff, much like a Jedi master teaching an unsuspecting student. The young guns narrowly lost out by one place and one point overall to gain a very creditable 5th place. This was especially impressive considering the helm normally sails a laser.
In the Bowl competition, Peter Kay and Annette led for the bulk of the race and were unlucky to be pipped to the post by Simon and Georgie Bullingham, closely followed by Nick and Rebecca Crang. With only a point separating each of the top 3 places showing just how close the racing was. The sight of 14 YWDB’s on this stretch of the river really is a stunning sight.
Overall Results:
| Sail No | Helm | Cup Race | Points | Position | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 639 | Hewitt A | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 647 | Blewett | 3 | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| 678 | Hewitt M | 2 | 10 | 3 | 3 |
| 676 | Hewitt J | 4 | 13 | 4 | 4 |
| 648 | Jacob | 5 | 14 | 5 | 5 |
| 621 | Straker | 6 | 17 | 6 | 6 |
| 669 | Hewitt P | DNS | 18 | 7 | 7 |
| Sail No | Helm | Bowl Race | Points | Position | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 677 | Bullingham | 1 | 11 | 1 | 8 |
| 634 | Kay | 2 | 12 | 2 | 9 |
| 629 | Crang | 3 | 13 | 3 | 10 |
| 619 | Miller | 4 | 15 | 4 | 11 |
| 629 | Gent | 6 | 18 | 5 | 12 |
| 631 | Wylie | 5 | 23 | 6 | 13 |
| 535 | Davies | 7 | 27 | 7 | 14 |
A great BBQ in the evening with delicious home-made salads was followed by a cracking disco until the small hours.
On the Sunday, there was a more leisurely cruise to the Lower Lode pub for a very pleasant lunch in the garden.
Many thanks to the competitors for both buying into the club spirit and travelling from as far afield as Gravesend and Poole. Thanks to the race officers Jon and Felix for doing a great job getting the flights away on time, and doing the maths! Thanks also, to all the amazing club members who worked so hard to make the weekend run so smoothly especially Rear Commodore (House) Sarah Adams.
The YW Day Boaters are already looking forward to repeating the fun next year. Hopefully next time we might get a different surname on the cup!
To see the article as published in YachtsandYachting please see here