Blaze 2010 Nationals

A record 54 Blazes gathered for the 2010 national Championships, hosted by Warsash SC, over three relentlessly sunny days in June.  Six Blazes from Shustoke and Chase Sailing Clubs made the trip to Warsash on the mouth of the River Hamble for the Blaze Nationals during the Spring Bank Holiday.  This equated to 75% of the fleet sailing out of Shustoke SC.

Dave and Ben Pickering also made the journey, with Ben sailing his Laser on the days leading up to the event and both of them supporting the racing organizing team.  Dave thought we needed a team name, he proposed the “Shustoke Six”.

It was the first open or national event for the Shustoke Six, and it was the first time that the Blaze class has gathered over 50 competitors together for an event.  There were to be a total of 8 races over the three days, with 2 discards.

Day one saw reasonable winds for the two races.  Our own Martin Saveker recorded the best Shustoke finish of the day, and as it happended the best Shustoke Six result of the event, with a 5th place..  He is not quite sure how he did this, but  well done Martin.

Day two saw lighter winds, but glorious sunshine – you can’t always have it all.  There were three races on this day, with the best Shustoke result going to Martin again with a 9th place.  However I have to mention – purley for accuracy of course – that Martin did pick up 55 points for being “black flagged” whilst lying 7th!!, he was suitably flogged by his team mates for this!  After drifting home in light winds we were entertained with a smashing BBQ sitting in the sunshine with a few beers (cokes for the Hylands).

Sunday was forecast to be the closest to Blaze Breeze that the event was going to see, with 15knots, building to 27 by late afternoon (after racing had finished).  This was what we were waiting for.  These conditions would be challenging, particulalry for the lighter members of the Shustoke six – I think that’s really only Eden Hyland – a mere lath of a lad!

With two minutes to go on the countdown to race six, the prospect of another drifter looked almost certain.   Then, as a group of high-performance Cats approached, heading east along the solent, the impossible happened.   Water to the south began to darken from flat grey in to a rich rippling blue and as the Cats suddenly picked up speed, mono-hulling across above the idle Blaze fleet, a crisp 10 knot southerly breezed in.
 
Once the course was relayed, racing got underway.   By the time race seven was getting underway 15 knots had become a minimum of 20, and a “frustrating” chop had grown into something rather more damaging.   For the final race 20 knots had become 27 and several masts had already been damaged in the punishing chop.  This was very challenging for us “pond” sailors, I think we all capsized that day, except our lightweight, Eden ………. Must be the lead in his boots!  But what fun we had, real edge of your pants sailing, with several feet swells and terrific winds.  The reaches were exhilarating.

These conditions did improve the Shustoke six results with Sam Pickering achieving 11th in race 7 and and 12th in races 6 and 8.  Martin recorded an 8th place in race 7, Josh Hyland recorded a 10th in race 8, and Eden recording a 15th in race 8.  Even myself and Richard Statham recorded our best results in the last, windiest race, coming in 21st and 24th respectively.
 
With a total of 14 points and on only one 1st, Rob Jones became the 2010 Blaze National Champion.   Second place went to Mike Lyons on 16 points and third to Peter Barton on 25.

The final places for the Shutoke six were as follows:

The Golden Rudder (awarded to the last boat to complete all eight races, no easy feat after Sunday) was awarded to our own Richard Statham.   Our 3 under 18 sailors were awarded prizes for the youth category, they being the only sailors competing as youths - quite an achievement.

So we trailed home absoulutely exhausted, but very satisfied with our experience.  I don’t expect any of us could drum up much enthusiam for going back to shifting winds and shorter courses ………. But this is the price one pays for living in the middle of England!

Gareth Hyland
Menagerie Fleet Captain