Poole Week 2006

Eighteen Wayfarers entered the 59th Poole Week, which started blustery but dry. The NW wind proved challenging with the heavyweights proving that Wayfarers can be great fun when planing.
In race one Bruce Gridley spotted the wind swing and started with a brilliant port flyer. "Expeditious", revelling in the conditions chased hard to clear ahead at the windward mark at Hutchins, with four boats hard on her heels. "Devon Pickle" rounded sixth but sailed low on the screaming reach to round Piccadilly fourth, before overhauling two more to chase "Expeditious" once again before a catastrophic rudder failure on the final downwind leg. "Moonshadow" cashed in to claim second place and Tom Lock, helming "Virgina Plain", finished third slot.
In race 2 a similar pattern emerged with another win by Barry French and Mark Fisher. The beat was sorting the boats out and Karena and Shooting Stars were always there showing the way up the beat to just lose out on the reaches. Race two was survival conditions with the long run down the harbour a very rock 'n' roll affair. Lumpy seas and high water slowed boats on the beat, a very different affair for the local boats to cope with. David Veal scored a third place showing his consistency.
In race 3 the conditions seemed just as windy. "Expeditious" clean away again with less competition as the tally system saw two competitors missing the start.
In race 4 "Devon Pickle" got a clean start and led for while before "Expeditious" took the long port tack to clear ahead while Alan Chaplin proved his pedigree chasing in second place with Devon Pickle fighting all the way to Wills. At Ellis Jones and Nat West "Devon Pickle" was second and untouchable with "One for the Road" taking third place after the winding loop back to the last mark and short beat to the finish line. "Blue Jay" helmed by UKWA Commodore Ray Scragg and crewed by wife Jill scored well with a fourth place.
In race 5 "Blue Jay" rounded Wych mark first for the two sail fetch to WH2. "Devon Pickle", "One for the Road" and "Shooting Stars" were close behind. The run to Ellis Jones saw "Devon pickle take the lead on the long run again with the first spinnaker out of the bag, Alan Chaplin helming "One for the Road" was in hot pursuit with "Expeditious" catching up. Merging of several fleets saw a congested beat to Nat West mark. Gridley held on with the visiting duo in "One for the Road" closing in. "Expeditious" also trading places amongst the X boat fleet and Enterprises. Terry Berrett working hard again got the hoist perfect for the run back to Bell and then the duo battled past the X Boat fleet with three sails to round Drake for a final two sail blast across to Haven mark for the final beat and a victory. "Expeditious" sailed low to overhaul "One for the Road" to round Drake in second place.
In the last race the fate of Poole's commercial priorities played havoc with the temperament of the some helms and finishing positions as the first five boats attempted to cross the shipping channel. Shooting Stars benefited with an early decision to go behind. "Virgina Plain" leading and "Devon Pickle" caught a cold. This then led to further frustration as the course believed to be ideal for Wayfarers was a beat run affair four times over. With a fourth place David Veal sailed Moonshadow into second overall, Devon Pickle with just four races to count was down to third and Shooting Stars elevated to fourth with the win.