Traveller, Filey Regatta, 12-13 July 2003

The 5th TT event was held at Filey S.C. on 12th/13th July in brilliant sunshine and force 2-3 sea breezes. 13 competitors sailed out to the start with an off-shore wind, but half way there, a sea breeze kicked in, and the inverse 'P' course had to be re-laid, delaying proceedings by almost an hour.

Race one saw the Grafham trio of Bob and George Carter with Alastair Dean, and the Beaver trio of Paul and Matt Smith with Austin Flather all in contention. Paul Smith led the way after the first lap, but George Carter had overtaken him by the final beat. However, Austin Flather in 4th place rightly gambled on the opposite side of the beat, and powered through to win comfortably from Carter, Paul Smith and Bob Carter.

The second race saw the same 6 boats in close combat after the windward mark, but after much duelling, the final victor was George Carter from Paul Smith, who had again eased past Bob Carter on the final beat, 4th 5th & 6th places being taken by Matt Smith, Flather and Dean.

Sunday brought a little more breeze, and promised to provide some livelier racing. The start line was heavily port-biased, and several boats came unstuck whilst risking a port tack start, Bob Carter being one having to do turns, and fell well behind his usual pace.

Paul Smith played safe on starboard at the pin end, and began to pull out a reasonable lead on George Carter up the left side of the beat, only to mistake the wing mark for the windward one, and ended up reaching in to the windward mark after realising his mistake, losing much ground in the process. Austin Flather initially led the pack round for a lap, but Matt Smith then eased through on the second reach with impressive boat speed, and also held off a late challenge from George Carter, to win his first TT race. 4th 5th & 6th places this time were taken by Alastair Dean, Paul Smith and Bob Carter.

Due to an unusually high Spring tide, leaving no beach, and a force 6 forecast for later, coupled with the fact that a restored fishing cobble was being used as a committee boat that needed to be safely returned to shore, it was decided to abandon the last race, which then also allowed the travellers to pack up their boats on the beach and get an early start for home again. Consequently this meant that all three races sailed were to count, thereby leaving George Carter the overall winner with 2 seconds and a 1st.

Possibly a disappointing end for some who would have liked the chance to redeem themselves in the increasing breeze and glorious sunshine, but with hindsight, probably a wise decision taken by experienced Race Officer Peter Crooks, in light of the overall circumstances, and our thanks go to him and his team for providing a well managed event and regatta, as they do each and every year.

Paul Smith.

For the full results, checkout the results for the series so far.