A good breeze brought great racing on the bank holiday weekend for the Enterprise Open Meeting 5/6/06

In a welcome interlude of fine weather over the bank holiday weekend, 28-29 May, a strong fleet of top visiting and local Enterprise sailors met to contest the Thames Valley Bowl and Blue Jib trophy in the newly combined areas’ series, again sponsored by Fullers London Pride.

The fleet of 13 dinghies – seven visitors and six local sailors – included reigning Thames Valley Bowl champion David Beaney and past TVB champion helms Peter Bennett and Ann Jackson.

In a gradually strengthening north west 12kt wind, the fleet completed three five-lap courses of the lake, with the leaders and mid-fleet exchanging positions well into each race. Consistency was established late in race one by Dave and Alex Beaney with Nick and Rachel Jackson in close pursuit, followed by Ann Jackson in third place. Having won the event with a similar performance in race two, Beaney switched helm for the final race which enabled Nick Jackson to win over Pete and Alicia Bennett, and resurgent Paul and Jonathan Engelmann who both pipped locals Adam Wickenden and Andrea Goldsack into a consistent fourth place.

Strong performances from the Silver Wing fleet underlined the club’s strength and depth in the Enterprise class, making this event a must-attend benchmark race for the Area pecking order.

Overall results after one discard:

Pos – Points – Helm – Crew – Club

1, 2, Dave Beaney, Alex Beaney, Broadwater SC
2, 3, Nick Jackson, Rachel Jackson, Burghfield SC
3, 5, Pete Bennett, Alicia Bennett, Datchet Water SC
4, 8, Adam Wickenden, Andrea Goldsack, Silver Wing SC
5, 9, Ann Jackson, Alan Skeens, Burghfield SC
6, 10, Martin Davies, Laurence Davies, Rugby SC
7, 13, Paul Engelmann, Katy Engelmann, Silver Wing SC
8, 13, Martin Weston, Celia Hamblin, Silver Wing SC
9, 15, Steve Collins, Kathy Collins, Minima YC
10, 15, David Ackroyd, Claire Ackroyd, Silver Wing SC
11, 16, Ray Kirkham, Julie Sturgess, Silver Wing SC
12, 21, Graham Lawson, Tom Lawson, Bewl Valley SC
13, 23, Chris Nokes, Laura Nokes, Silver Wing SC