Just as I’d regained my composure and re-mounted my steed, ‘torpedo’ fizzed past so I could now follow him properly once again. On the downwind leg I discovered that I needed to tweak my set up to go deep enough downwind to catch ‘anyone’ up, having set up my RS5 too flat for decent downwind performance. I wasn’t the only person labouring on the downwind leg, as I found humour in Tim Gibson’s loud splash and subsequent expletives as he gybed in his own special way. I don’t think it’s a style exclusive to Tim, but it proved a source of inspiration at the time.

After enjoying Tim’s indiscretion, I was once again off at speed, chasing Chris Woods down into the finish line to conclude a rather poor, yet mildly entertaining race. Through the finish, back to the beach for some tweaks then plan to head out for more of the same.

Reality kicks in as I’m back on the beach, I’m seriously knackered, thirsty & hungry. Tweaks will keep, back to the motor and re-fuel the body. Big mistake, changed out of wetsuit so didn’t get a chill, got all relaxed, then missed the next 2 races recovering from the first one. Not a problem, there will be loads more in the afternoon …. Surely.

Apparently not, typical. Having made the effort to get there for the event, and having not missed any action on the Saturday, it all looked so promising for Sunday / Monday for me to secure a reasonable result. Oh well, I’ll just have to do better next time ! After the 3 races that was it for the day, in fact it turned out to be all we got for the weekend for the formula fleets.

While my own racing was bizarrely following some comic script worthy of publication in some glossy mag by a pleasantly humorous, mildly knowledgeable and slightly rotund photo-journalist type, the rest of the competition went ahead in fine form.

Keith Atkinson has shown some fine form this season having trained hard over the winter period, and would be keen to reverse the Marazion result where Nick Dempsey took the honours. Last years winner, Ross Williams was not in Wales this time around so would be unable to defend his title as Keith and Nick set about laying their own claims for Welsh Open honours. Also in the frame would be Xavier Ferlet, Dan Ellis and Jamie Lever, fighting off the competition from the regular formula challengers and also to new crop of ex-IMCO formula racers.

Suffice it to say, I personally saw very little of the ‘top-flight’ action, but I’m sure that Mark Kay may have taken sufficient time off from his very important ‘roof-rack pad’ project to report on the action, much of which appears to have been neatly in his sights as he strategically followed the action around the course.

As a summary Jamie took the fleet win ahead of Keith, then Xav, Dan and Nick making up the top 5 places. Bryony Shaw finished up top female ahead of Lucy Horwood, with Amy Carter 3rd female ahead of Christine Johnston. It looks like a few more girls are starting to get into formula racing, with Jilly Bromley and Phoebe Sneddon signed up to race in the Free-Formula fleet too so this is bound to heap some pressure on the boys to perform.

In the Free-Formula fleet it was Mike Blackgrove showing young Liam Round how the wise and experienced elder statesman royally whips the young pretenders butt, though this may need some editing / re-wording to avoid any potentially ‘wacko’ court cases against anybody called Michael beating youngsters. Liam, I am sure, could fend off any such attentions with sharp use of his subtle back country dialect at a decent range, should it be called upon. The ‘flying doc‘ paid heed to Liam’s intentions to take the win and duly settled for a suitably passive third place over the weekend for his efforts.

The Techno 293 OD is proving to be a popular board for the youngsters, having taken over from the slightly outdated Aloha as the board of choice for aspiring stars of the future. Twenty-one under-15’s battled for honours in this closely contested junior fleet, and also for the separate techno Cup prize being offered for the series winner. Ali Masters & Redmond Scales finished up on equal points after the action had concluded, however on count back Ali was awarded the win, though it probably couldn’t have been much closer.

You’d perhaps be forgiven for thinking that the raceboard fleet would be reducing in numbers as people switch over to formula in preparation for the new RSX Olympic board, however 44 windsurfers preferring length to girth when it comes to their equipment entered to do battle on the welsh waters of Pwllheli. Adam Pepelasis was back, having missed Marazion to the disappointment of a few ‘fantasy windsurfing’ managers, and he was straight back into his winning ways. At the other end of the spectrum, Mick Searle had been away enjoying coaching from top short boarders Dan Ellis & Lucy Horwood and his result may hint that he’s likely to become a slalom expert while forgoing his usually excellent raceboard form.

From what I saw of the event, organisation was as slick as ever. Ceri and Adam ran the office without fuss or bother, Mike Dempsey kept everyone informed of proceedings, Jan Solven found the drinks cabinet in the galley of the posh committee boat, though may have misplaced her lucky wind crystal simultaneously, after securing the 3 races required for the event to count. Sooty recovered from bouts of hysteria to consume a beer or two over the weekend, and the rest of the crew made sterling efforts to make the best of the weekend, given less than ideal conditions.

On the ground, Lucy had neatly delegated all the serious organising to her dad, Pip, who once again did us all proud. The local council support once again showed what a great vehicle our sport can be to promote an area when local councils get behind the events. Indeed, the camp site was full to bursting with tourists taking the opportunity to check out the UKWA racing while enjoying the excellent facilities on site.

Next up on the UKWA race calendar is Whitwell for the Inland Series, then at the end of May we’ve got the British Open Championships at Hove. Lets hope for more top quality action and some decent weather to suit.

Krafty

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 8th, 2005 at 6:28 pm and is filed under Reports.