The 2022 Solo Spring Championship hosted by Felpham Sailing Club provided a three-way podium tie, with Tom Gillard claiming the honours.
With three competitors tied on 12 points after three races, Gillard (1,4,7) with a race win in the opening race took the title, with Richard Lovering (2,6,4) taking second and James Goodfellow (4,5,3) third.
The all important race win for Gillard was in the first race where he took the win ahead of Lovering and Steve Ede with Goodfellow in fourth to set a trend of familiar names for the following races.
Race 2 saw Nigel Thomas nail a pin-end start to cross the fleet and lead from start to finish. Guy Mayger finished second, Alex Butler third and Gillard was fourth, Goodfellow fifth and Lovering completing the top six.
On to race 3 of this no-discard series and Gillard held a three point lead from Lovering and a four point lead from Goodfellow and Thomas.
Junior entry Jack Lewis was the early leader, but as the breeze finally increased, Steve Ede moved into the lead which he held to the finish, with Lewis taking second and Goodfellow third.
Behind them the championship title was decided as Lovering took fourth place, but Gillard picked up two places on the final leg, moving from ninth to a seventh place.
Enough to win the 2022 Solo Spring Championship on count-back with his win from the opening race.
Other Champions – Jack Lewis was first junior in 6th with Vince Horey first GM (50+) in 7th. Derek Jackman was first Septimus (60+) and Nigel Thomas first Vet (40+).
2022 Solo Spring Championship – Final after 3 races (49 entries)
1st 6021 Thomas Gillard Sheffield Viking 1 4 7 – – 12 pts
2nd 5831 Richard Lovering Hayling Island 2 6 4 – – 12 pts
3rd 5938 James Goodfellow Ardleigh 4 5 3 – – 12 pts
4th 5780 Nigel Thomas Hill Head 8 1 9 – – 18 pts
5th 5804 Steve Ede Ardleigh 3 15 1 – – 19 pts
6th 602 Jack Lewis RYA 13 7 2 – – 22 pts
7th 6010 Vincent Horey King George 12 10 8 – – 30 pts
8th 5524 Kev Hall Northampton 6 9 16 – – 31 pts
9th 6036 Michael Sims Carsington 7 12 12 – – 31 pts
10th 5691 Guy Mayger Hayling Island 5 2 26 – – 33 pts
11th 5781 Alex Butler Hayling Island 11 3 19 – – 33 pts
12th 6006 Mark Lee Lymington Town 14 21 6 – – 41 pts
13th 6022 Chris Brown Grafham 15 17 11 – – 43 pts
14th 5582 David Mason Silver Wing 18 13 14 – – 45 pts
15th 5836 Mark Harper Dell Quay 20 8 25 – – 53 pts
16th 5597 Jonny Wells Ardleigh 23 23 10 – – 56 pts
17th 5393 Simon Derham Littleton 24 28 5 – – 57 pts
18th 6007 Mark Maskell Black Water 16 26 18 – – 60 pts
19th 5954 Oliver Davenport Northampton 9 30 22 – – 61 pts
20th 5742 Simon Law Frensham Pond 19 18 24 – – 61 pts
