Eastern Area Championship 1995

The Mirror Eastern Area Championship supported by CATS Chandlery was held at Dabchicks Sailing Club for the second year in succession over the weekend of the 20th and 21st May. Twenty six competitors sailed four races in moderate breezes on the testing tidal waters of the Blackwater Estuary. The event was the penultimate qualifier for the British team for the 1995 World Championships to be held at Milford Haven in August. The Sunday races incorporated the Dabchicks Open which is part of the East Anglian Travellers Trophy series.

Howard Tear took a early lead in RACE ONE but was soon passed by Guy Wilkins and Ian Campbell who made the best use of the tide on the downwind legs. Wilkins was later disqualified after an incident at the leeward mark and so the final order was Campbell first, Lee Goodey second, Howard Tear third and Phil Goodwin fourth. In order to spread the glory a bit further down the fleet in thirteenth place were Mark and Paul Dell from Thorpe Bay YC.

RACE TWO was held in similar conditions with an ever-increasing tidal strength. Six boats broke away from the fleet and after the lead had changed hands several times Campbell got away to record his second win of the day followed by Tear, Matt Greenhill and in fourth place Barnaby Smith. Thirteenth were Douglas and Alex Powell from Portchester SC.

Saturday nights entertainment consisted of Mirror videos (with music!!) being shown by Alan Bennett and speculation on the outcome of the protests - the latter being enlivened by the incident having been caught on camera.

RACE THREE on Sunday was held in a slightly stronger breeze and less tidal flow. A group of four boats soon established a clear lead over the pack. Goodey led at the first mark but was passed by Smith on the second beat. Goodwin took the lead for a short time on the third lap but eventually Smith got away to win with Goodwin second and Campbell coming through to take third place which gave him the Championship with a race to spare. The famous thirteenth place in this race was taken by the famous Roy Platford and Suzanne Toman from Wigan SC.

At the start of the FOURTH RACE Wilkins crossed the entire fleet on port tack but did not capitalize on this advantage as the remainder of the race was led by Goodey who thus ensured second place overall. Smith, Campbell and Goodwin chased hard but were unable to close the gap. Thirteenth in this race were Emma Youngs and Ian Wills of Brightlingsea SC.

The prizegiving was delayed while a request for redress was sorted out with the time being used to show videos of the days racing, eat cake and hold the non-winners prize raffle. Brightlingsea SC could not maintain last year’s form only winning one prize. Richard O’Shea wanted to win a prize but don’t tell him that his ticket only went into the bag halfway through the draw.

Overall Results:(Provisional), 4 races, 3 to count.

Dabchicks Open
1st Barnaby Smith and James Newton
2nd Lee Goodey and Paul Wright
3rd Ian & Patrick Campbell
4th Philip Goodwin and Toby Heppell
5th Matthew Greenhill and Martin Boatman

Editors Note: This article is from Reflections No. 105 Summer 1995, page 8. It has been captured by OCR, so typos & errors are possible.