By Trevor Card and Sam Pygall
The Craftinsure Wayfarer National Circuit Series continued on the weekend of the 13/14 May at the fantastic venue of Parkstone Yacht Club, the third event of the 8 strong series of races across the country and the first salt water event after visits to Datchet Water and West Oxfordshire Sailing club.
See Dave Hardings’ Sailing Scenes photos
A strong home fleet of 8 boats was joined by 6 visitors including currently reigning International, European and National Champions Michael McNamara and Simon Townsend, winner of two of the last three open meetings John Clementson and Mel Titmus and regular fleet front-runners, Andrew and Martin Wilson. Recent Travellers Open winners Nigel and Belinda O’Donnell also made the journey down from the Midlands. Fleet insurer and travellers event sponsor Mark Lee made his first appearance of the season and the strong local fleet was led by recent multiple Poole Week winners Jackie Dobson and Will Keats (at 17, the youngest member of the fleet).
Following a training session with class legend Michael McNamara on the Friday, the racing got underway in the harbour on the Saturday in excellent conditions with moderate, slightly shifty breeze from NE. The water level was a little low during the early stages thanks to the high pressure but soon rectified itself in the flood tide. John and Mel set the pace for the first race of the weekend by taking line honours, followed by Team Wilson and McNamara and Townsend making the top 3. Mark Lee, making his first appearance on the circuit this season, crewed by George Buxton, came home 4th.
McNamara and Townsend worked up the rankings in race 2 but John and Mel continued to show their strong recent form in the Craftinsure Travellers events to take a second bullet of the weekend and establish the platform for a strong showing overall position. Local boat Jackie Dobson and Will Keats put in an excellent performance coming 3rd.
The final race of the day had McNamara and Townsend take the bullet from the Lee/Buxton team who took an excellent second. John and Mel closed out day one with a 3rd and the overnight lead.
The fleet retired for the day for well earnt cake and a well-attended curry night in the excellent club facilities.
Day 2 dawned with difficult wind conditions forecast and two races scheduled to be completed. The race officer, Bruce Gridley did an excellent job patiently waiting for the wind to fill in after lunch and optimized our race opportunity to perfection, keeping the patrol boat crews busy flying around re-laying marks to match the wind shifts! John and Mel took line honours and a firm grip on the overall event in race 4. McNamara and Townsend took second with another excellent result from Dobson/Mitchell in 3rd pushing them up the rankings. The final race of the event saw another victory for John and Mel, followed by Team Wilson and McNamara and Townsend. Local boat Ian Fyfe and Emma Whalley showed some speed to take an excellent 4th and push themselves up the overall standings.
Overall, John and Mel continued their excellent from recent events at Bough Beech and Datchet although this was a first triumph with McNamara and Townsend in attendance. Team Wilson took the final step on the podium in 3rd and Jackie and David were the first home boat, coming in 4th overall. Mark Lee and George Buxton came a creditable 5th overall in their first outing of the season in a new boat.
After an absence of a few years from the main circuit, many thanks to the Parkstone Yacht club team who pulled together an excellent event which was enjoyed by all the competitors. We would like to thank our sponsors, Craftinsure, Hartley Boats and Quay West Chandley at PYC for donating the many excellent prizes for the weekend.
Final results
| Rank | Sail Number | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Total | Nett |
| 1st | 11101 | John Clementson | Melanie Titmus | Chipstead SC | 1.0 | 1.0 | (3.0) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 4.0 |
| 2nd | 11321 | Michael Mcnamara | Simon Townsend | RBSC | (3.0) | 2.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 11.0 | 8.0 |
| 3rd | 11093 | Andrew Wilson | Martin Wilson | Datchet Water SC | 2.0 | 4.0 | (5.0) | 5.0 | 2.0 | 18.0 | 13.0 |
| 4th | 11420 | Jackie Dobson | Will Keats | Parkstone | 7.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 3.0 | (8.0) | 25.0 | 17.0 |
| 5th | 11441 | Mark Lee | George Buxton | MYC | 4.0 | (10.0) | 2.0 | 7.0 | 5.0 | 28.0 | 18.0 |
| 6th | 11074 | Ian Fyfe | Emma Whalley | Parkstone YC | 8.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | (10.0) | 4.0 | 36.0 | 26.0 |
| 7th | 11406 | Ian Sargeant | Marc Bell | PYC | 6.0 | 5.0 | 8.0 | (12.0) | 7.0 | 38.0 | 26.0 |
| 8th | 11282 | Nigel ODonnell | Belinda ODonnell | Swarkestone | 5.0 | (9.0) | 9.0 | 6.0 | 9.0 | 38.0 | 29.0 |
| 9th | 10866 | Alan Wylie | Alistair Scott | PYC | 10.0 | 6.0 | 11.0 | 4.0 | (12.0) | 43.0 | 31.0 |
| 10th | 11234 | David Moss | Tom Dudfield | Parkstone YC | (13.0) | 8.0 | 10.0 | 9.0 | 6.0 | 46.0 | 33.0 |
| 11th | 11012 | Tim Townsend | Jacqueline Townsend | Medway Yacht Club | 9.0 | (12.0) | 6.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 45.0 | 33.0 |
| 12th | 11010 | Richard Spencer | Chris Wright | PYC | 12.0 | 13.0 | (14.0) | 11.0 | 11.0 | 61.0 | 47.0 |
| 13th | 10916 | Phil Powell | Mike Board | Parkstone YC | 11.0 | (14.0) | 13.0 | 13.0 | 13.0 | 64.0 | 50.0 |
| 14th | 11327 | Trevor Card | David Littler | Parkstone YC | (14.0) | 11.0 | 12.0 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 65.0 | 51.0 |
Top 3 of the Craftinsure Wayfarer Westerns (C)
What’s coming up?
The UKWA Craftinsure National Series circuit continues with upcoming
Easterns at Medway Yacht Club on the 17/18 June followed by the
National Championships at Dabchicks on the 30th June/2nd July.
In addition, there are upcoming open meetings at Banbury (3rd June) and Aldeburgh (3-4th June).
It is the 75th anniversary of Poole Week this year 20-25th August so there is another opportunity to race at the fantastic Parkstone YC with a usual Wayfarer fleet. Entries can be made at www.pooleweek.org