Report by David Downs and photographs courtesy and copyright ©  Nick Dallimore

Thirteen Ospreys attended the season opener Midland and Welsh Championship at Tata Steel Sailing Club on the weekend of April 12th and 13th.

Saturday was always going to be difficult for Race Officer Mike Radford as the Easterly winds that had brought all the good weather was due to be replaced by a Westerly and the potential of rain later in the day.

The first race was held in a shifty South Easterly. Daughter and farther team Alex and Nick Willis started off as they had finished last year with a clear win. For the afternoon the breeze dropped considerably and swung to the South. An attempt at a start resulted in a general recall and then a half hour postponement as a flat calm descended. By 15:00 a new breeze from the West arrived and following a major course realignment the second race got underway. Shortly after the start a further shift to the North, meant that those who started at the committee boat end were lifted up to the windward mark while those at the pin end found themselves on the wrong side of the shift. Richard Marshall and Antony Shaw sailing Antony’s beautiful “Whitestar” 1296 led throughout while there were many place changes in the main body of the fleet. Alex and Nick finished second to give them the overnight lead.

On Sunday a stronger and more consistent North Westerly made for much more Osprey friendly conditions. The fleet were keen to get going - too keen in fact and two general recalls later Mike dusted off his black flag and got race three underway. Apologies to the Solo fleet who had to wait! Simon Brewer and Alistair Ramsden took an early lead but were reeled in by father and son team Roger and Jamie Blake who won. The latter showing no sign of pre-nuptial nerves despite our attempts at making Saturday his unofficial stag night.

Races four and five followed back to back in an increasing breeze favouring the bigger teams while the light weights were starting to rake.

Terry Curtis and Peter Greig showed that they were the masters of these conditions with a second and two firsts on Sunday to become the Osprey Midland & Welsh Champions. Roger and Jamie finished second. In third place we were pleased to welcome Ian Cadwallader to the fleet and Mike Cox back to the fleet after several years absence. The pair improving throughout the event as they got to grips with their Mark 4 Osprey.

The Osprey fleet would like to thank Tata Steel SC for putting on a great event and getting five races in difficult conditions.

The next event is at Mounts Bay SC 3rd & 4th May, for which Peter Greig promised us sunshine, Force 4 and big waves - ideal Osprey stuff.

2025 Osprey Welsh & Midlands Championship Tata Steel Sailing Club 12th & 13th April 2025

Results as of 9:32 on April 16, 2025

Overall

Sailed: 5, Discards: 1, To count: 4, Entries: 13, Scoring system: Appendix A

Scoring codes used

Sailwave Scoring Software 2.38.01
www.sailwave.com