5 teams were present to challenge for the Royal Naval Reserve Volunteer team racing trophy on the 9th of May at South Staffs, for the re-launch of this famous Firefly team racing event. Birmingham University were the only visiting club, with two of their smart new Fireflys. The home club fielded no less than 4 teams, with representatives from the Lark, GP14, Firefly and Youth classes. Several round robins got under way in strong and gusty southerly winds. We had the luxury of the whole lake to play in , and with the pre-start taking place feet from the jetties, the spectators were right in the thick of the action. Umpire Bill Brockbank kindly ran a team-racing development seminar during the lunch break, and energised by this the teams took to the water to find the finalists.
The quality of the team racing in the final was first class. The GP team were looking strong in the first race until one of their number was forced into a capsize on the run They then eventually established a 1-2 against a strong Firefly team in the second race. In the third race while defending a narrow 1-2 on the top reach team GP’s Justin Jones had a disaster when the rudder pin separated from the bottom gudgeon. While he struggled to secure the wayward foil his team mate Mike Senior skillfully picked off one of the opposing team and held him back while Justin started to sail the downwind leg rudderless. Unfortunately this proved too much of a challenge given the speed of the opposition and team GP were destined for last place and to lose the final in most unfortunate circumstances. Well done Team Firefly! If anyone has seen the RNVR Trophy please get in touch with the NFA as an unidentified previous winner has not returned it!
A super sequence of shots from the event can be found at http://www.southstaffssailingclub.org.uk/gallery.htm including the final rudderless race! A selection is available at the normal Firefly galleries
Winners: South Staffs Firefly: John and Sue Billington, Keith and Alistair Macauley
Runners up: South Staffs General Purpose: Mike Senior and Chris Warburton, Justin Jones and Liz Pugh.