Mudeford Sailing Club

The Police Nationals at Netley, by Andy Williams

The Police National Dinghy championships have been going since 1975 since the inaugural championships at Hayling Island. It is open to serving and retired officers and Police staff. Numbers attending the event in the last 10 years have been around 35 boats, a little different from the 70's and 80's when up to 71 boats were recorded. Time off for force sport is hard to come by these days and normally involves officers using their own annual leave entitlement to attend.

 The Championships were traditionally held over 2 days, but with the Laser becoming hugely popular, a separate Laser day was added in 1990 to make it a 3 day event.

 This year’s event was held at Netley Sailing Club and hosted by the Metropolitan Police who have had a long affiliation with the club and use the club for their sea sailing. Forces represented included far-flung places like Cleveland, Cheshire and Northumbria. The club have good facilities and a large camping field overlooking the shoreline.

 The Laser day is based on 3 races with 1 discard. Fourteen boats started the first race with winds at a leisurely 2 to 3 but very shifty off the land, not much good for a heavy weight like me!  A bad start saw me struggle in the lighter winds finishing 10th. A break for lunch and fortunately the breeze increased to a perfect force 4 but remaining shifty for the afternoon races. This suited me and my places improved accordingly. An 8th in race 2 and a 7th in race 3 giving me a creditable 8th place overall. BUT....my day still had a (big) sting in the tail when my trolley collapsed pulling it up the beach. Exposing a sharp metal point I was careful not to damage the boat, however after collecting the road trailer and transferring it all seemed OK until muggins finished putting the cover on and walked straight into the trolley and a trip to Lymington A&E for stitches in my leg - Ouch ! ''Rest it and don't get it wet said the nurse, ''Err, OK.....' I said.

 Days 2 and 3 saw me swap boats and bring the Laser 2000 out to play. An eager crew having been recruited at work - fellow Sgt Martin Wilkins press-ganged after the conversation went a bit like this over tea at work one day.

 M - ' Are you doing the sailing again this year?'

A - ' Yes, why, do you fancy it'

M - 'Yes, it would be great - I've done a bit of sailing when I was in the Navy'

A - 'OK, let’s give it a go'.

 Martin then came down to Mudeford for a bit of crewing practice. We managed 2 trips , the first time the rudder downhaul snapped when we hit the sandbank on the exit of the run and the second time the wind dropped to dead calm. During this time a further conversation went like this

 A - 'So what did you sail in the navy then?'

M- 'Sail? I was an engineer! Although I did sail something called a Bosun when I joined at 17 a couple of times.’

 This was going to be fun.....

 Wednesday dawned damp and grey but soon the sun appeared with cracking Force 4 and 28 boats for company. Boats ranged from a Europe to a Merlin Rocket, 49er, Lasers, Phantoms, Comets, Fireballs, RS Vision, 200, 400's and a 700 by our Hampshire colleague Rob Jones. A basic triangular course was set with 3 laps taking around 50 minutes for our boat. We had 5 races to sail with 4 to count.

A combination of looking after my leg, Martin and getting the genny completely tangled on the first reach conspired for a 17th place finish in race 1 - could do better. Over lunch we sorted out the genny and looked forward to the afternoon as the sun shone and the wind increased...!

Race 2 and a good start saw us powering up the beat keeping up with select company of RS 400's and Lasers. With our genny sorted, Martin's enthusiasm to get it flying paid off and up she went, pulling us onto a fantastic planing reach and the first time the boat has been really flying since I have owned her. Exhilarating stuff but the fast reaches and a heavy swell benefited the smaller Phantoms and Lasers but nevertheless a creditable 14th place.

Race 3, another good start and a slight course change helped us. Martin was getting good at hoisting the genny and perhaps more importantly, quick at bringing it down. The rescue boats were busy with a few 'turtle' boats, fortunately our centre board pointed in the right direction throughout. A huge wind shift benefited us on the 2nd beat, allowing us to gain on the leaders and a great 12th place to finish, more importantly we were 5 places in front of the Avon and Somerset Laser 2000 !

 The final day saw 2 races approx an hour each back to back. Another bright and breezy day SW Force 4 gusting 5. We fuelled ourselves with the athletes choice of bacon and egg sandwiches and planned our tactics.....!

 Race 4 - disaster. ! A bad start when I accidentally reset my watch on 1 minute ! Got totally tangled with a Comet trio and then a bizarre dead zone of no wind saw us round the windward mark in 27th place! However, we gradually picked off some of the others and some good pointing up the beats saw a reasonable recovery to 17th place. (discarded!!)

 Race 5 Our best and most eventful race! Cracking start and a good beat saw us 10th round the windward mark and playing with the Lasers on the reaches and the genny flying - this was great! I even got the hang of traversing down to the bottom mark rather than going straight but the wind was increasing all the time and dark clouds were gathering in the distance. Two laps completed and we realised that the committee boat had finished the boats behind us, fearing a turn in the weather. Oh well, we had the pleasure of another lap for us then! Another huge  favourable shift saw us only have to tack once on the final beat but by know  the wind had increased to a strong force 5 . I instructed Martin, who had his fingers poised on the halyard, that the genny was NOT coming out!! A good job to as we planed down the reach, past a capsized phantom and RS 400 , held our breath on the gybe mark, stayed pointing upright (just! ) leaving us a stomach churning dead run to the finish. Diving from one side of the boat to the other like some out of control roller coaster, we managed to keep her upright, grimacing as 3 Lasers death rolled in front of us; we shot over the line finishing in a very pleasing 12th place.

 We reached the beach as the thunder crackled over head and the heavens opened but happy in the knowledge we had achieved a creditable 15th place overall out of 28 boats.

 Three excellent days racing, if not a little painful!

 Next year, the Nationals are at Chew Valley in Avon and Somerset, meanwhile next for me is the Dorset Police Open on July 8th

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