Hamilton Trophy 2001
This new event to the Great Moor calendar saw an early 9:30 briefing for the eight competing teams from GMSC (4 teams), Milton Keynes SC, Stewartby WSC, Banbury SC and Papercourt SC. Despite weather forecasts predicting persistent heavy rain, the day started mild and dry with a light wind from the S/SE.
The competition was held in club Kestrels and Bosuns, each team consisting of 3 boats. Race durations were just one lap of a roughly square course. Teams were divided into two groups. Each team then raced each other team in their group in both the Kestrels and Bosuns making a total of 24 races.
The 2 leading teams from each group then went forward to the semi finals with the winners of group A racing off against the runners up of group B and vice versa.
With the course being set at the opposite side of the lake to the clubhouse the trusty club floating pontoon was called into action to provide a pit stop area close to the start line to speed up boat changeovers.
The teams were easily identified from the shore with one of the Kestrel teams sailing with white jibs and the other with brown. The Bosuns were a little more difficult to spot, one team being marked with large red 'hashes' on the boat sides.
Points were allocated based on the finishing positions i.e. 1 for first, 2 for second, and with 21 points in total per race available 10 points or less in a race would win.
Races 1 - 12
The morning series of races started in a light breeze 1/2 from the SE. Group A started in the Kestrels and Group B in the Bosuns. The first race saw Papercourt (PSC) and Banbury (BSC) away in the Kestrels, with PSC taking a 1/2/6 for a narrow points win, the Banbury lead boat running out of space coming to the line and having to tack, thereby missing the chance to split the 2 lead PSC boats.
The first race in the Bosuns was between MKSC and Stewartby WSC (SWSC). SWSC were away 1/2/5 at the start and although MKSC made up some ground particularly at the leeward mark, SWSC finished 1/3/5 to take the race.
GMSCA against BSC in the Kestrels saw a very close start with all 6 boats across within a couple of boat lengths. Good team racing from both teams with BSC sailing out GMSCA into 6th and subsequently the GMSCA lead boat taking out the BSC lead boat to let through GMSCA 2. An exciting finish saw GMSCA take the race 1/2/5.
GMSCB against SWSC in the Bosuns gave a foretaste of some of the energetic calling to come and a close start resulted in several boats being over and forced to restart. GMSCB came out on top with a 1/2/4.
Back to the Kestrels GMSCA took on PSC in race 5 with PSC showing that they were a force to be reckoned with. Two boats were over at the start, one from each team and fine team racing from PSC forced GMSCA back to give a 1/2/3 finish for PSC.
GMSC B against MKSC then produced GMSC B's second win with a 1/3/4 finish. MKSC made a good start with 1/3/5 over the line and still ahead around the gybe mark, GMSCB snatching the lead on the final leg to the finish.
Race 7 saw the GMSC Youth team (GMSCY) on the water for their first race against PSC. Again boats were over the line at the start, and there was a close tacking duel between the lead GMSC and PSC boats going up the first leg. Several incidents around the course produced 360° turns and excellent team sailing enabled GMSCY to get their third boat up to 5th from 6th and finish with a 1/3/5. PSC lodged a protest concerning the start where they felt not all the GMSCY boats that were over the line at the start restarted correctly.
The next race in the Bosuns involved GMSCC and MKSC with GMSCC taking a 1/2/3 finish in a now decreasing wind.
The next race produced the first all GMSC race with GMSCY racing against their older club-mates in GMSCA. If anything the inter team rivalry increased with GMSCY squeezing home with a 1,3,6 in the closest finish so far.
GMSCC then raced against GMSCB in the Bosuns during which the wind swung almost 90° to the SW. A bunched start saw GMSCB away 1,2,3. By the leeward mark GMSCC were back in the race with a winning position, when an excellent manoeuvre from Mark Savitsky (B) enabled him to get out from under Richard Patrick (C) to give GMSCB a 1/2/5 finish.
Following a short delay for a course change because of the wind shift, the final Kestrel race before lunch involved GMSCY and BSC. GMSCY continued their winning run with a 1/2/5 in slackening wind that resulted in a well spaced out field.
The final morning race was between GMSCC and SWSC with SWSC away 1/2/4 and despite some strong tactical sailing from GMSCC they were unable to improve their position significantly and SWSC ran out with a 1/2/5 win.
With the weather mild and dry, contrary to the forecast, lunch was very much an outdoors affair, although the copious volumes of chicken curry and chilli were well received.
Races 13 - 24
With the wind having dropped from the start of the day, tactical racing became if anything even more important and we saw some excellent demonstrations of the team racing art.
Group B were now racing in the Kestrels, and A were in the Bosuns.
First off were SWSC against GMSCB with GMSCB continuing their strong form with a 1/2/3 at the windward mark which they managed to hold to the finish.
Next off were PSC against GMSCA in the Bosuns with PSC finishing 1/2/5 despite a brave attempt by the third GMSCA boat to sail the final PSC boat out of the course.
Race 15 involved GMSCC against GMSCB with GMSCB repeating their morning win, although only just, with a 1/4/5.
Race 16 involved PSC against GMSCY in a repeat of the incident rich morning race. A close start with one GMSCY boat over produced a 1/2/6 finish for GMSCY but with a further protest from PSC about conduct at the gybe mark. The Youths were certainly not afraid to mix it with the older guys!
Next in the Kestrels were GMSCC and SWSC. SWSC had a good start but a problem at the windward mark left the lead SWSC boat in a debate as to whether it had tacked or not. Accepting a 360° penalty this effectively gave the race to GMSCC but a fine sail by the SWSC third boat to push the third GMSCC boat into 6th. GMSCC scraped home with a 1/3/6.
GMSCY were in hot form in the next race against BSC starting 1/2/3 and continuing in these positions to the finish.
A well spread out start in the next race between MKSC and SWSC meant that in the light airs the positions across the start line were held to the finish with SWSC winning with a 1/2/6.
This was repeated in the next race between BSC and PSC with PSC starting in 1/2/3. PSC 3 was forced to work hard to hold off the BSC team bearing down but did so to record the teams second 1/2/3 win.
With four races to go there was still everything to play for with several teams having similar numbers of wins.
MKSC against GMSCB produced a 1/2/3 for GMSCB.
BSC against GMSCA in the Bosuns produced a good win for Banbury with a 1/2/6, the winning boat leading by a considerable margin at the finish.
The final pair of races pitted MKSC against GMSCC in the Kestrels and GMSCY against GMSCA in the Bosuns.
MKSC had a good start leading to the windward mark, but being overtaken at the first gybe mark. A close duel resulted down to the leeward mark with again good team racing coming in to play as boats higher up the field delayed the opposition to allow lower placed team-mates through. GMSCC eventually took the race 1/2/5.
The final race saw the GMSC youth against the 'A' team again with the Youth coming out clear winners with a 1/2/5 despite a hard fight from their elders!
The crews then took a break whilst the scores were totalled and protests considered.
The result before protests was as follows:
| Team | Number of Wins | Points total |
|---|---|---|
| Group A | ||
| GMSC Y | 6 | |
| Papercourt SC | 4 | |
| GMSC A | 1 | 72 |
| Banbury SC | 1 | 77 |
| Team | Number of Wins | Points total |
|---|---|---|
| Group B | ||
| GMSC B | 6 | |
| GMSC C | 3 | 61 |
| Stewartby SC | 3 | 66 |
| Milton Keynes SC | 0 |
On the basis of number of wins GMSC Y and Papercourt were clear qualifiers from Group A and GMSC were clear winners of Group B. GMSC C and Stewartby WSC were then level on number of wins but GMSC A took second position in the group with a lower total points score. The protests involved teams who qualified clearly for the semis and subsequently these were then waived to enable racing to resume.
The format for the semi finals was that the winner of Group A would race the runner up in Group B, and vice versa. This produced a first semi of GMSC Y against
GMSC C, and a second semi of GMSC B against Papercourt SC.
Racing was to be in the Kestrels with two races per semi, with crews changing boats between races.
First Semi Final (GMSC Y V. GMSC C)
A further wind shift into the west required another course change by which time the wind had died away almost completely. Despite this a shortened course was set and the first leg of the first semi got away. The greater experience of the senior team showed as a starting 1/4/5 was turned into a 1/2/6 finish with some fine tactical gybing downwind forcing errors from the youth team and subsequent 360 turns.
The youth however gained the upper hand in the second race for a 1/2/4 finish, and therefore on points total over the two races won the semi by 19 points to 23.
Second Semi Final (GMSC B V. Papercourt SC)
The second semi final started in the middle of a glorious sunset, by which time it was clear given the very light wind on the lake that it would not be possible to complete the final before the light went completely.
With the boats hardly moving, GMSC B reached the windward mark in 1/3/5 positions but an unusual error by one of their boats caused a contact with a Papercourt boat and a subsequent 360 by the GMSC boat. Despite this setback the GMSC team managed to work together to achieve a 1/2/5 finish and take the race.
With darkness imminent Papercourt SC graciously conceded the semi allowing the GMSC B team to progress to the final and look forward to a head to head clash with the GMSC Youth team.
Whilst it was unfortunate that the final could not be completed on the day, there is now much anticipation of this 'crunch' match that will take place at the GMSC in the near future.
In conclusion all competitors had a great day. The racing was competitive and the rapid turnover of races, and easy identification of the teams made it a very enjoyable spectator sport.
Thanks go to all the visiting teams, and to Joanne Hamilton for donating the wonderful sculptured trophy. Thanks also to John Phillips, Race Officer for the day, who efficiently organised the sometimes bewildering succession of race starts and coped with the various wind shifts throughout the day.
Last but not least special thanks to Richard Patrick, for the foresight and drive to organise a new style of event, which hopefully will become an annual fixture in the club calendar.
Finals (GMSC B v. GMSC Youth)
The finals of the Hamilton Trophy were held at lunchtime in the club Kestrels on Sunday 27th October 2001 between GMSC B captained by Andy Gregory, and GMSC Youth captained by Roger Phillips.
The wind once again conspired against us, dropping to 1-3 knots shortly after the first race had started, and filling in soon after the second and final race finished. However this did not prevent some very close sailing between the two teams with plenty of verbal enthusiasm.
Andy Gregory/Shelia Phillips were OCS for the first race dropping to last by the time they had restarted, and with Roger Phillips/Mike Green and Alec Savitsky/Will Espinar commanding a 1/2 up the first beat and heading towards the second mark at number 10 it was looking good for the youth team.
However the wind played its hand with a big shift leaving Roger/Mike and Alec/Will unable to make the gybe mark without tacking. The race now turned decisively as Andy/Shelia sailed straight through to second, challenging Roger/Mike. The close manoeuvring and dying wind bunched all the competitors together around the mark.
Ian/Malcolm Richards sailed high around everyone moving from 6th to 1st. GMSC B were now in a commanding 1,2,4 lead which they held until mid way up the final beat when Roger/Mike sailed through to 1st. GMSC B won the race with a 2, 3, 4.
The second race started with Alec/Will OCS, dropping them to the back of the fleet once they had restarted. Unfortunately for GMSC Youth the GMSC B team started with a 1/2, which they were able to maintain to the finish. Roge/Mike were pushing hard to close the initial gap, coming in a close 3rd.
In the end GMSC B were undefeated, winning all their races to take the 2001 Hamilton Trophy. Well done to Andy Gregory/Shelia Phillips/Miles Turner, Ian Richards/Malcolm Richards/Colin Urch, and Marc Savitsky/Alison Clark.
The Hamilton Trophy was presented to the victorious GMSC B team by its donator Joanne Hamilton, together with prizes for all the crew of both finalists. Thank you to GMSC, Bicester Army Garrison and Paul Hudson for making the Club Kestrels and Army Bosuns available.
We look forward to inviting this year's visiting teams back for next year's event, and will be practising to defend the Hamilton Trophy from those clubs that have already hinted at winning it next time.
