The Shenfield event marked the last BFCC casting competition of the year and was the venue for the AGM.  At the meeting there were a number of changes to the club agreed, one of which was that the authorship of these reports would be rotated – so here goes for my first one!

 The day started with a masterclass on T38 casting given by John Reynolds, supplemented by advice from Mike Heritage.  John went on to win the T38 event in tough conditions to underline his ‘master’ status.

The attendees requiring tuition then split into groups led by Mark Surtees, Sekhar Bahadur, Mike Marshall and Trevor Hayman ably assisted by Keith Jones.  Many thanks to all for your efforts on the day and for supporting the BFCC throughout the year (along with our other instructors) – there’s a lot of people who are casting better, and hopefully enjoying their fly-fishing more, as a result of your instruction.

The competition events were hard fought and of a high standard, demonstrated by no fewer than seven casters in the #7 exceeding 40 yards!  One of those going over the 40 yard mark was Meinrad Rohrs, a visiting CI from Germany – great to meet you.  Competition highlights included Kei Okamoto taking his first ever event win with the T120 outfit (the first time he had cast it!).  Kei also went on to win the #5 event, really well done.  John added wins in the #7 and accuracy events to his T38 first, and would have won the overall event if it wasn’t for his #5 result.  As it was James Evans won the overall title through consistency, with John second and Steve Parkes in third.

Mick Copeman took his last B110 win with some great casting in the full line events, including extending his V70 record in the #5 (he also extended his record in the ST27).  Mick has now become the first member to start in the B100 class and be promoted through to the open category, showing what can be achieved with regular instruction and practice.  Well done Mick – I’m sure you’ll be slaying the bonefish in a few weeks time.  Dan Shillabeer also deserves a mention for his continued progress, the 40 yard mark is getting ever closer.

It was also great to see some juniors entering the competition, with Nicholas Surtees and Hannah Okamoto taking part.  Hannah was awarded the B100 medal to go along with her gymnastics trophies, hopefully it will be the first of many.  This is probably a good place to note that the committee agreed to make junior membership of the BFCC absolutely free, so hopefully we’ll see more juniors in the future.

 Many thanks to Steve Roach and his team at Shenfield Cricket Club for supplying a continuous supply of drinks and sandwiches during the day and for hosting the meeting.

 A number of changes to the club were agreed which will be communicated in due course, so please keep an eye on our Facebook page and here for details.

 So that’s it for the 2015 competitions.  The BFCC will, however, have a presence at the iFish show on the 22^nd November in Ardingly so if you’re planning on attending please pop by and say hello.  Here’s to 2016…

Tracy

Calm, cold, dense air greeted the casters in the morning, hence a decision was made to run the accuracy competition first in the hope that the forecast easterly breeze would arrive.  As the day warmed up some breeze did materialise but it seemed to be blowing in a different direction depending on which end of the measuring tape you were stood at.

Distances are in feet and inches:

#5F – Kei Okamoto 116.02; James Evans 115.09; Steve Parkes 114.07; Lee Martell 112.09; Trevor Hayman 112.01; Meinrad Rohrs 112.01; Mick Copeman 110.08; Andrew Bagshaw 106.50; Dan Shillabeer 103.07; John Reynolds 100.09; Tracy Thomas 97.02; Sekhar Bahadur 95.07; David Fisher 94.02; Nicholas Surtees (junior) 62.08; Hannah Okamoto (junior) 45.08

#7F – John Reynolds 132.00; James Evans 128.06; Steve Parkes 124.09; Trevor Hayman 124.06; Meinrad Rohrs 123.09; Mick Copeman 122.07; Andrew Bagshaw 120.08; Kei Okamoto 117.00; Dan Shillabeer 116.00; Lee Martell 113.04; Tracy Thomas 112.05; Sekhar Bahadur 103.07; David Fisher 99.07; Nicholas Surtees (junior) 66.11; Hannah Okamoto (junior) 44.07

B110 (#5 + #7) – Mick Copeman 233.03; Lee Martell 226.01; Dan Shillabeer 219.07; Tracy Thomas 209.07; Sekhar Bahadur 199.02; David Fisher 193.09

ST27 – James Evans 148.07; John Reynolds 145.10; Kei Okamoto 141.10; Mick Copeman 137.06; Trevor Hayman 131.05; Steve Parkes 130.06; Sekhar Bahadur 128.06; Andrew Bagshaw 127.03; Dan Shillabeer 123.00; Lee Martell 117.00; Tracy Thomas 115.08; David Fisher 110.00

T38 – John Reynolds 159.03; James Evans 158.02; Steve Parkes 137.08; Kei Okamoto 136.00; Andrew Bagshaw 129.05; Dan Shillabeer 126.03; Mick Copeman 118.06; Lee Martell 118.05; Trevor Hayman 113.09; David Fisher 112.01

T120 – Kei Okamoto 192.04; Steve Parkes 191.05; James Evans 175.10; Trevor Hayman 160.10; John Reynolds 159.11; Andrew Bagshaw 151.00; Lee Martell 149.07; Tracy Thomas 139.03; David Fisher 121.00

Accuracy (points) – John Reynolds 37; Trevor Hayman 34; James Evans 33; Steve Parkes 21; Meinrad Rohrs 20; Dan Shillabeer 19; Lee Martell 19; Tracy Thomas 19; Andrew Bagshaw 18; Kei Okamoto 13; David Fisher 5

Overall Position (points) – James Evans 13; John Reynolds 20, Steve Parkes 21; Kei Okamoto 27; Trevor Hayman 29; Andrew Bagshaw 43; Lee Martell 45; Mick Copeman 46; Meinrad Rohrs 49; Dan Shillabeer 49; Tracy Thomas 58; Sekhar Bahadur 64; David Fisher 68; Nicholas Surtees (junior) 74; Hannah Okamoto (junior) 76.

Records – Mick Copeman extended his V70 records in the #5F and ST27 events – well done Mick.  Sekhar Bahadur also got his name in the record tables by beating the S50 best in the ST27 event – very well done!

Young Hannah Okamoto was awarded the B100 trophy for her first attempt in a fly casting competition.