April 29th 2006
A warm welcome, bright sunshine and fickle winds greeted the 17 classic boats taking part in the first CVRDA traveller series event of the year at Baltic Wharf , Bristol .
The first race was a long distance marathon up to the top of the harbour, past the SS Great Britain and the Industrial museum. As the winds shifted and puffed, big leads were gained and lost, and intense concentration was the key. The Finn of Peter Vinton took a commanding lead once it had seen off Alan Williams’ Finn, only to fall into a hole, which allowed Rupert Whelan’s British Moth, Chris and Lois Barlow’s cotton sailed Merlin and Alan Price’s OK to close up enough to deny handicap victory.
The second race was a slalom round many buoys, where the OK took a big lead, only so see it evaporate, then Peter Vinton took the lead, but was unable to shake off the British Moth by enough to take victory.
The third race, a pursuit, had the Mirror starting first. The British Moth, starting second, dominated the race, and Nigel Osbourne in his Firefly held off the Barlow Merlin, with Peter Vinton having a titanic battle with Ed Bremner and Stu Budden in their Fairey Mk1 International 14, in which he just came out on top.