Watermead-Nationals-2009

The above event took place at Watermead lake near Aylesbury on a bright sunny day with near perfect sailing conditions.

I cannot start this report without commenting about the low entry. There must be nearly 600 Fiestas built by now and only eleven booked in, ten being from the Oxford Club. The future of the class is obviously in the Oxford area and will continue

as a Club boat for the foreseeable future. The Championship will continue to be held on an annual basis and I can only hope that the disappointing low entry levels will improve in the future.

Racing started promptly at 10 a.m. and we planned to continue until about 12.15 pm with a 45 minute lunch break and the afternoon session would go on until 3 p.m. Morning and afternoon breaks were taken for refreshments and battery changes if required.

In total we completed 24 races which allowed 4 discards to arrive at the final score. Not surprisingly the King trio featured strongly, however they didn’t always get things their own way and Noel Donaldson pushed them hard with a purple patch at the end of the day, winning three races on the trot. Most 1st places went to Terry King (10) followed by son Greg and Noel (5 apiece) and this proved to be the finishing order. Other wins went to Josh (2), John Cox (1) and Mike (1).

Sailing was generally well disciplined with the occasional crowding on the start line and at the windward mark. The course initially was starboard rounding due to the wind direction, however due to a shift in the afternoon, we were able to adjust the course to port rounding which made for much better sailing.

Thanks go to the Watermead Club for running the event for us and they were suitably awarded with liquid refreshments.

The cup was retained by Terry King with Greg 2nd and Noel 3rd. Medallions were given to all three at the close.

Mike Robinson (Race Secretary)

Fiesta Owners Association National Championship

Sunday 28th June 2009