Pevensey Bay Cat Open throws a wild variety of conditions for the sailors

Pevensey Bay cat Open was held over the weekend of 26th-28th May. There were two days of course racing consisting of 6 races, and a long distance race on Bank holiday monday. There were two major fleets, F18’s and a mixed handicap fleet.

Racing on saturday was held in light/medium shifty breezes with race leaders constantly changing. The first race was led most of the way by Rob Garka sailing with Ryan Crawford on a borrowed Infusion, but towards the end of the race they managed to miss the upwind gate and had to sail back for it leaving James Power, Capricorn, to win the race. The 2nd race was lead on the water start to finish by Peter Finlay sailing a Nacra 20, but 1st F18 was Paul Butler Nacra Infusion, who won by a large distance. The 3rd race was won by yet another boat Rob Garka, Nacra Infusion who managed to pick the correct side of most beats.

In The handicap fleet, consisting of Hobie 16’s, some with kites and some without, plus Dart16’s and Dragoons, the Nacra 500 sailed by Luke Butler convincingly won every race by a large margin.

On Sunday, there was a much stronger breeze, hitting 20 knots plus at times, with large waves building by the end of the day. In the first race Grant Piggott and Greg Windle, Nacra Infusion, rounded the top mark first, and lead until the next beat when they also missed the gate and let Stuart Gummer and James Power past them, this race was won by Stuart Gummer. The second race of the day was lead start to finish by James Power, Capricorn, who sailed an excellent race to win with a convincing lead. The 3rd race of the day was held in much stronger wind with a large sea building, lots of boats experiencing launching of the waves upwind. The course became skewed round which meant you could nearly get to the windward mark in one tack, and you could lay the downwind leg without a gybe. Grant Piggott , Nacra Infusion, lead the race from start to finish pushed hard by Stuart Gummer , Capricorn.

In the handicap fleet the racing again was dominated by Luke Butler in the Nacra 500 who won the first 2 races and didn’t need to compete in the last race. The Nacra showed superb pace, particularly downwind, where it matched the speed of theF18’s boat for boat.

F18 results:
1st Stuart Gummer, Helen Forshaw
2nd James Power, Gillian Power
3rd Grant Piggott , Greg Windle

Slow Handicap:
1st Luke Butler Nacra 500

On Bank holiday Monday, Pevensey Bay hold their long distance race, with a forcast of force 8 plus, a short course was set around the Bay, racing started in 25 knots and by the time the race finished there were gusts of 30 or more. Only 4 cats finished with most retiring. Stuart Gummer won by a convincing margin, showing the other cat sailors his superior reaching in strong winds technique.

1st Stuart Gummer F18 capricorn
2nd Chris Sproat Spitfire
3rd Grant Piggott F18 Nacra Infusion.

Many Thanks to all at Pevensey Bay who organised a very enjoyable weekend. The next event is at Worthing on the 15 and 16 June for F18, then Eastbourne at the end of June prior to going out to Italy for the Europeans in the beginning of July.