Comet Open at Crawley Mariners Yacht Club
by Donal Roche 16 Sep 06:52 NZST
14 September 2025
Comets at Crawley Mariners © Donal Roche
The weather forecast was hardly encouraging. We had had days of rain and squalls and now more strong winds were forecast.
However as the day arrived it seemed like we might have a small weather window, maybe just enough to have the four races we planned, two back to back in the morning and again in the afternoon with one discard allowed.
The wind gradually came in from the South, a direction which creates large wind holes on the lake and makes setting a true beat more difficult. Twelve boats signed on for the racing, four visitors and eight home boats.
Race one was a light wind affair. Eddy Pope led from the start followed by Chris Robinson. Race two provided a similar result. Racing resumed after an excellent lunch with Eddy after some lead swapping eventually taking pole again followed by Simon Thompson. By now the wind has increased and there was some very close racing indeed in race four. The three lead boats finishing within five seconds of each other. This time Andy Dale just snatched the lead from Eddy and Chris.
Thank you to all on the race team and to the team in the kitchen for helping to make it such a successful day.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 377 | Eddie Pope | Ogston | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 867 | Chris Robinson | Burghfield | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 3 | 809 | Simon Thompson | CMYC | 2 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 10 |
| 4 | 788 | Andy Dale | Eyott | 5 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 11 |
| 5 | 288 | Dan Gibson | CMYC | 3 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 13 |
| 6 | 872 | Jeff Smith | CMYC | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
| 7 | 532 | John Copenhall | Hunts | 7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
| 8 | 518 | Mike Thompson | CMYC | 8 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 20 |
| 9 | 78 | Duncan Newell | CMYC | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 26 |
| 10 | 504 | Maciej Giersz | CMYC | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 32 |
| 11 | 516 | Ian Burroughs | CMYC | 11 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 32 |
| 12 | 174 | Meg Warren | Chipstead | 10 | RTD | 9 | RTD | 32 |