by Adam Hilton
Mandy Pollard
Bosun Plus 5
The John Dabbs and Linda Spiller Bosun crossed the start line first but well to leeward of the rest of the fleet. Adam Hilton and Jane Anderson, who was crewing to practice for the Enterprise Nationals at Salcombe, crossed close to the windward buoy, pointed higher and took the lead. Brian Pollard with his son Nathan was also able to pass to windward of the Dabbs boat.
The forecast was for winds of force four gusting to force 6 but on the day the wind was much more variable; capable of gusts vicious enough to knock over Robin Spiller’s Streaker, despite its small sail, before the race had even started. Yet at times the breeze dropped almost to nothing. Mostly the winds came from the northwest. From time to time it rained.
For two laps the Bosun order remained the same, the Pollard and Dabbs boats close together, the Hilton/Anderson Bosun comfortably ahead. The main action came from Sue Murray, making up the ‘Plus’ element of the race in her Laser 4.7. She had started last but now made her way through the field to take the lead on lap 3. This lap saw changes in the Bosun order too. After rounding Dam Green the lead Bosun was semi-becalmed and the other two took off on an eddy of wind which took the Dabbs/Spiller boat past the Pollards and the leader. Later in the lap the Pollards got past Adam Hilton’s Bosun as well. This was the order that the Bosuns finished the race in, with Sue Murray’s little 4.7 a couple of minutes ahead of all of them.
Bosuns
- John Dabbs and Linda Spiller (Bosun)
- Brian and Nathan Pollard (Bosun)
- Adam Hilton and Jane Anderson(Bosun)
Plus
Sue Murray (Laser 4.7)
DNS : Robin Spiller (Streaker Wave)
Pursuit 4
Vicki Duncalf started first in her Topper. Nathan Pollard in his full-sailed Laser started last, fourteen minutes later – almost a full Topper lap later. In between, at three minutes after the Topper, came two Bosuns – Brian Pollard’s with Adam Hilton now crewing and John Dabb’s still with Linda Spiller assisting. The Pollard boat took the lead over the other Bosun and was never headed although on each lap the gap between the two radically diminished as they rode the fluky winds coming towards the Dam. Nathan Pollard had a lot of catching up to do but managed to pass Vicki Duncalf two minutes before the end and take third place.
- Brian Pollard and Adam Hilton (Bosun)
- John Dabbs and Linda Spiller (Bosun)
- Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
- Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
Grateful thanks were given to Jane Anderson, Officer of the Day and to Mandy Pollard who took the photographs.