ISO Open - Weirwood SC (1st & 2nd April 2000)
Mick Whitmore and Sarah Smith finally brought the Burridge/Speller run of success to an end, winning in defiant form the ISO open meeting held at Weirwood reservoir on April 1st/2nd. With a string of 3 firsts and a second to count, Mick and Sarah always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, judging the shifts to perfection to produce commanding leads.
The conditions put a premium on crew work, as the wind shifted every thirty seconds to such an alarming extent that you had to tack or gybe as the wind dictated. Rob Burridge and Mike Speller seemed to struggle in the light and shifty conditions, often leaving themselves with too much work to do to catch up the leaders. Nevertheless, in the final three races they staged some major comebacks, winning race 3 outright.
In the fourth race, 'Team RWO', comprised of Alistair Clarke and Pete Lindley, got caught in the lee of a group of Fireballs sharing the course, allowing Rob and Mike to pip them on the line. The final race saw Andrew Gould and Vicky Lewis lead round the first mark, but they were soon overtaken by Mick and Sarah who went on to win. Rob and Mike again staged a late comeback, spotting a gust to the left of the course to climb to second place. In the end, Rob and Mike had done enough to finish second overall in the series, followed by Alistair Clarke and Pete Lindley in third and Andrew Gould and Vicky Lewis in fourth.
With typical modesty, Mick Whitmore claimed to be 'very surprised' at his first ever win in an ISO open meeting, while Sarah Smith put their success down to keeping calm in a crisis, for once.
