Halfway YC (Thorpe Bay) Mirror Open 1976

I feel sorely tempted to give up running open meetings. Early, middle, or late season? We’ve tried the lot over the last three years and not yet been able to run the full number of races. Gale force winds, fog, and no wind at all. You name it, we’ve had it.

On the Saturday we sat on the Committee boat, rolling and pitching, hoping the wind and sea would abate a little. Instead both increased, so reluctantly we had to cancel the practice race. ‘Give it another hour or so,’ they said, ‘and see if we can get the first race in.’ O.K., but take me off first, I’ll watch the wind and sea from the comfort of the shore. The weather didn’t abate one little bit, and even the disappointed competitors saw the sense in calling it off for the day. By Sunday things had improved quite considerably and we managed to get in three races. They were all quite hairy but no serious damage was reported.

The first race was led home by Dave Sherwin, from Leigh-on-Sea S.C. followed by Harry Prangnell of Fishers Green and Dennis Bristow of Thorpe Bay. The second race showed the same three in contention with Dennis pipping Dave and Neil Green, of the host club, coming through to take third place. Everyone was pretty tired by this time, but still 12 stalwarts crossed the line for the start of the third race, The wind stayed strong, and once more Dave shot into the lead, closely followed by Harry and Dennis and then Ken Turner of the Island Y.C. who if nothing else, was consistent— he was fourth in every race.

Overall then it was Dave Sherwin first, Dennis Bristow second, and Harry Prangnell, the only entrant from outside the Southend area, third:
and in spite of having to cram three races into one tide I think everyone enjoyed themselves, at least they said they did.

Results

Fred Rudkin — Fleet Captain.

Editors Note: This article is from Reflections No. 26 October 1976, page 18. It has been captured by OCR, so typos & errors are possible.