Wanderer Open at Datchet Water Sailing Club

Leonie heads for the win in race 1 during the Datchet Water Wanderer Open © D Bardwell

Richard and Adam enjoying Saturday's gentle breeze during the Datchet Water Wanderer Open © DWSC

W 1004 about to pull away as Ian and Dave deploy the spinnaker during the Datchet Water Wanderer Open © DWSC

We were a bit depleted at just four boats for the first Wanderer open of the year.

This was a two day event at Datchet Water SC, shared with the Flying Fifteens and Wayfarers.

Saturday

The mild end to February had led us to a false sense of security, and I am certain there was frost on the ground when I got up in the morning. We were however lucky on the Saturday to have had Friday's gale blow through, so although cold, it was sunny and with a nice force 3 blowing.

Three back-to-back races each day. The race team on Saturday set a triangle sausage course of 4 laps. The Fifteens were away first, with the Wayfarers four minutes later, and then us. This did produce a few moments of concern, the leeward mark being just above the start line - would we get away before the Fifteens arrived heading in the other direction, looking to round their mark. Being used to Fifteens at my home club of Queen Mary I had forewarned my helm -if you thought you were on the lay line when one tacks on top of you- you're not any more!!

The wind was also rather shifty, very unsporting for a large, high up, and thankfully full of water reservoir like Datchet. Watching the fleets in front of us did not really help, it was for the entirety of Saturday a case of 'pick a side and hope' Race 1 started with the line going to very port biased in the final minute, so much so that although at the correct pin end of the line, Richard Maltby in 1561 was too low and could not lay the pin. He thus had to tack and duck the rest of the fleet on port. This forced him off to the right side of the course while the rest went left.

Right did not work well, the wind filled in from the left, and it was Leonie Milliner and James Ashworth in 1800 who rounded in first, followed by Ian Simpson and Dave Bardwell in 1004, then Richard Maltby and Adam Wickenden in 1561. Richard Elliott and Doug Hughes followed in 718, they chose not to fly a spinnaker, but instead sported a nice crinkly new set of Edge Sails.

Shifty winds on the second beat allowed Richard and Adam in 1561 to pass 1004 with a nice lift on the port lay line. From then on it was difficult to change places. Leonie and James went hard left to the port lay line on the third beat and were able to control and hold their lead in a lifting gust. Despite not using their spinnaker they had gained enough lead here not to be hauled in on the subsequent two reaches.

The RO ended race 1 for us with a shortened course after three laps. This made sense as the Fifteens had just finished and the Wayfarers were finishing, so to send us around again would have kept everyone waiting.

Leonie and James in 1800 won from Richard and Adam in 1561, Ian and Dave in 1004 were third with Richard Elliott and Doug forth in 718.

Race 2 was started pretty much as soon as the last boat had finished. As before the oscillating wind meant watching the fleets that had started ahead did not gain you much, as everything had changed in the 3 minutes before your start. This time the line was pretty much unbiased. Leonie and James won the start with Ian and Dave in 1004 clear ahead and to leeward. Richard and Adam in 1561 were not in quite as good a position as they were stuck to leeward of Leonie and behind Ian and Dave. They were spat out the back and forced to tack off and head right on port, along with Richard Elliott and Doug in 718. For the first beat left paid. Ian and Dave rounded first, Leonie and James second and Richard Maltby. and Adam third.

Leonie and James hoisted the spinnaker, which they had kept in the chute for their first race win. Richard Maltby. and Adam in 1561 were however able to take their wind and roll over the top of them on the first reach. The second reach was very tight as the wind had gone right, and Ian and Dave were only just able to carry their spinnaker to the mark. The next two boats went high early on seeing this, which enabled them to gain some ground back, but not much.

This time a right shift dominated. The technique now was to head almost to the starboard lay line and tack. You wouldn't quite get to the mark, but going left and hoping for pressure on the port side did not work. Richard and Adam in 1561 tacked early in hope and a desire not to bang corners, and as a result didn't get as big a lift as Ian and Dave.

This is pretty much how it stayed. As before the RO shortened after 3 laps so as not to keep the earlier fleets waiting.

Ian and Dave in 1004 won that one, followed by Richard and Adam in 1561, then Leonie and James with Richard and Doug bringing up the rear in 718.

Race 3. This was again a slightly biased to port start. Richard Maltby in 1561 started near the pin, but was trapped ahead and to leeward of Leonie Milliner in 1800. This meant he could not tack off. Ian and David in 1004 and Richard and Doug in 718 both tacked off to go right. Initially it looked like going left would pay, there was much less pressure on the right and the two who had tacked off looked very slow. Fortunately a header had allowed 1561 to pull clear ahead of Leonie in 1800 and Richard was able to tack onto port. Leonie carried on far left looking for the port lay line. With all looking good heading to the mark on port the wind filled in from the right. Ian and Dave in 1004 and Richard Elliott and Doug in 718 were now in a lift and pressure, heading for the mark on starboard. Richard Maltby in 1561 had gone from looking he would nicely cross these two to being somewhat stuffed. Leonie was now out on a limb and about to encounter the front of the Fifteen fleet catching us up.

We rounded with Ian and Dave in 1004 first, Richard Elliott. and Doug in 718 second and Richard Maltby in 1561 third. The first reach was a bit close. 1004 and 1561 hoisted spinnakers, which allowed 1561 to overtake Richard and Doug in 718.

The first reach was rather close, but manageable. By the end of the second reach it was Ian and Dave in 1004 from Richard in 1561 and Leonie and James in 1800 having passed 718.

And this as they say is where it all went wrong. Looking back as we sailed up the beat we could see someone in the water, and Leonie in 1800 gybing back on her own to do a 'man overboard' pickup. All while Richard and Doug serenely sailed past them and back into third. We are not sure of the reason. Did he jump or was he pushed? Do Crew's Union Rules forbid spinnaker use after only 1 hour sailing together? All Leonie would say was 'one minute he was dropping the spinnaker, next minute - splash'. I can sympathise, I have a helm with similar aquatic tendencies. Still, she got him back in the boat pretty quickly.

As had been apparent from the first beat, going right was now the preferred option. You would then hook into a nice lift on starboard that looked like it would take you to the mark, but always, you just wouldn't quite manage it. Ian and David tacked to starboard first with Richard in 1561 holding on a little longer. This initially paid as once we were near the mark 1561 was able to cross 1004 with the latter ducking on port. Richard then chose to carry on to the port lay line. This was a mistake, Ian and Dave hooked into a gust with a lift on starboard and were able to cross back ahead.

The run was a gybe onto port and then hoist the spinnaker. From there on there was not much opportunity for place changing, though Leonie had gone some way to drying out her crew and was able to pass Richard and Doug in 718. As before, the RO shortened the course at 3 laps for us, with the positions being: 1004 in first with Richard Maltby in 1561 second, Leonie and James in 1800 third and Richard Elliott. and Doug fourth.

Sunday

Sunday dawned somewhat differently. When we all turned up at 9:30 it was breezy but pleasant, sunny but cold. This was not due to last, with gusts over 25kts forecast by midday. In fact, the Datchet Water Windguru trace recorded 27kts at one point. This time we were to sail a trapezium course. Three laps were posted on the back of the committee boat. We shared it with Datchet's club fleet of Lasers, a Contender, and some rather nice looking K1s which seemed to revel in the conditions.

I'm not sure if we made a gentleman's agreement not to carry spinnakers, or if it was seeing none of the Wayfarers and Fifteens carrying theirs on the first lap, but none of the Wanderers flew a spinnaker at all.

We did however all make it out for race 4. It was windy enough that the crew had to keep a firm hold on the jib, ready to release in a gust to stop it knocking the boat over. Everyone headed left up the first beat, more to reduce the amount of tacks that for any tactical gain. Ian and Dave in 1004 rounded ahead of Richard and Adam in 1561. For a long while on the first beat Richard and Doug in 718 were ahead of Leonie and James in 1800, but these positions swapped at the first mark.

The first gybe was at the second mark where we had to gybe onto the run. To gybe or to play it safe and tack round was the decision. No use basing this on the Fifteens, they have a nice lump of lead to dampen things out. I'm not sure what happened to Ian and David in 1004, but they were seen going round in circles at the mark. Apparently Ian lost control and hit it, resulting in a penalty turn. By this time in 1561 we had decided not to gybe and tacked round instead. One of the Fifteens put their spinnaker up for the short run as they passed us, but were then seen to be struggling on the second reach. I can only assume the other two Wanderers did not gybe either.

The second beat was a bit of a struggle, one tack to the mark, and stay out of the way of the Fifteen fleet which was by now lapping us. By now Richard in 1561 was complaining that the chop was at least as bad as that he experienced at Whitstable. It probably was, but from a crew's perspective fortunately didn't taste as salty.

As with Saturday, we finished two laps at about the same time the Fifteens finished three, so we were relieved to be shortened to two. Ian and Dave in 1004 won from Adam and Richard in 1561, then Leonie and James in 1800 and Richard and Doug bringing up the rear. Richard and Doug had by now decided enough was enough, so they went in for an early lunch.

Now we have discovered that a Wanderer will heave-to very nicely if you furl about 1/3 of the jib away. Leave it all out and it's too big, and chafes on the mast. As the wind increased further the question was asked - let's leave it 1/3 furled for the whole race. Works well on a cruising yacht. You don't get tell tales to look at, but the crew nagging 'head up' or 'bear away' works well on a beat. Both 1561 and Leonie in 1800 tried this in race 5.

Race 5 was started after some course re-jigging. 1561 started near the pin with Ian and Dave in 1004 just behind. This didn't last long, and we looked back to see then tied to a rescue boat with some boat fixing in progress. The mainsheet had fallen off the end of the boom so they took no further part in that race.

Race 5 was thus just 1561 and 1800, both with partially furled jibs. They set better than I had expected, with none of the bagginess you can see in yacht sails, and only a slight loss of pointing. 1561 led at the first mark followed by Leonie and James in 1800. From now on it was just survival sailing. The reaches were fast, but the chop could unsettle the Wanderer with its chines and rocker. No-one gybed at any mark. We looked back at the end of the first lap to see Leonie and James struggling at the start of the run. I'm not sure what transpired, they finished one lap and then retired and went in.

For Richard and Adam in 1561 it was now a case of just surviving to the end. Very relieved to see the shorten course up at the end of the second lap and just hung on a very broachy reach to finish.

1561 then headed it, not keen to do the final race. 1004 however had fixed their boat and were intending to start. Having had a RTD in race 5 they needed a finish to win the event. We left them to it. Dave Baerwell recounts their experience:

Having retired from race 5 with gear failure ten seconds after the starting gun, and with Maltby/Wickenden taking the bullet then heading to the clubhouse, Simpson/Bardwell knew that they just had to get round race 6 in one piece to secure the Open. With the board part raised, the pair played both main and jib on the beats to let the sails flog in the worst "knockdown" gusts. After some exhilarating offwind planing legs and with just enough kicker applied to control the roll, Simpson/Bardwell were mighty relieved to see the shorten course flag whilst still vaguely upright!

Thus Ian and David in 1004 won the opening Wanderer splash, with thanks to Datchet Water SC.

David Bardwell and Ian Simpson win the Datchet Water Wanderer Open - photo © DWSC

Overall Results: