Saturday 7th June saw Burghfield SC host 15 lady helms and respective crews for the now annual RS 200 class ladies day. As promised by the forecast the sailors were greeted with thunder storms and heavy rain, this may have deterred prompt rigging but gave our guest race officer Mr Ian Sharps to deliver an excellent briefing and introduce Dr Chris Catt who was guest class coach/RS 200 guru for the day.

By 11 am the storms had passed, the breeze filled in and racing was underway. The schedule was six short races on a short windward leeward course. First out of the blocks in race 1 to round comfortably ahead was Burghfield local Lottie Harland sailing with Claudia Wilson. Through the course of the race they were overhauled by the more experienced teams. Emma Norris & Mat(ilda) Mee took the win followed by Claire Walsh & Darren(Daria?) McNamara with Ally Martin & Bethan Carden reliving their 420 days to round off the top three after much place changing.

Race 2 saw the breeze drop as the last of the storms rumbled by. Ellie Sharps crewed by Yan(a) Martin shot out of the line only for the race team to abandoned due to the lack of breeze and huge right shift, a bold move but a popular choice as an excellent lunch time postponement saw the sun really come out with a solid 10 knots of breeze to show Burghfield in all it's glory.

The re-run of race 2 and race 3 saw the Stanley sisters rise to the fore, Maria sailing with recent Itchenor open meeting winner Sophie Ormsby and Imogen sailing with Lucy Preston. Maria & Sophie took race 2 but it was Burghfield legends Caroline & Jan Martin who showed the fleet their class in the shifty conditions by winning race 3 and putting themselves in the frame for the title. Notably Kate Jessop & Gemma Long from Middle Nene in their first open event finished an excellent 4th place.

After a general recall race 4 saw Emma & Matilda return from an average start to their afternoon to lead from start to finish. Boats that contained a member of the Martin family proved to be in amongst it but Imogen & Lucy again grabbed 2nd place showing real consistency.

In the final race boats from the left side of the first beat come out strong with Imogen & Lucy leading and Emma & Matilda hot on their heels. By the bottom mark Emma & Matilda had overhauled Imogen & Lucy and these positions remained until the finish with some boats planing down the final run with a gradual increase in breeze. Prosecco conditions!

Overall this meant Emma & Matilda clinched the event by 2 points from Imogen & Lucy with Caroline & Jan pipping Ally & Bethan on count back to take an excellent 3rd place. Further down the fleet it was great to see teams growing in confidence and improving with the practice as the day went on. 

After racing the teams were treated to a glass of fizz and beautifully set out afternoon tea courtesy of the local sailors and club.  Dr Catt and Mr Sharps kindly led the debrief, with contributions and discussion from all those that were sailing.

Thanks to all the sailors for having such enthusiasm, the race team and the club for making this a really special event.  We look forward to seeing even more girly helms next year and hopefully on the circuit in months to come.

Photographs from the fantastic Sportography.tv are available on their website: http://www.sportography.tv