Report: Dave Exley

Photos: Gerard van den Hoek

Video: Paul Heather

Fifteen visitors joined the 7 home boats at Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club on 25/26th to make a total of 22 entries for the 2017 Magic Marine RS400 Winter Championships.

On Saturday, a high pressure system sat overhead which put paid to any hope of racing. A trip to the local Ten Pin Bowling alley was quickly arranged, and unofficial line honours were taken by Mike Allen from Bala who tried to reassure the rest of the assembled that he hadn't played any more than 5 times in the last two weeks, but no-one believed him.   The bar was then opened unusually early, meaning a long night for many. The competitive spirit of the weekend continued with a game of "Hit the nail into the tree trunk" (a la Alpine after ski entertainment) - the legendary wheels of Leigh and Lowton social events were then in full flow, eventually leading to an adrenaline filled game "Can we get 8 people standing on a tree trunk?".

Needless to say, an early start on Sunday, saw a few sore heads take to the water. Race officer Gareth Williams stated his intention to run all 6 races in a sprint style format in just the one day, and all launched into a building f2-3 Easterly meaning a windward - leward course was set taking full advantage of the full length of the Flash.

Race 1: Hamish Gledhill and Simon Dowse (West Riding SC) laid down the gauntlet to the rest of the fleet, when they were the first boat to tack on to a lifting port tack and rounded the windward mark first. They extended their lead and won convincingly from Sam Knight and John Knight from Bartley in second and the Barman's favourites Mike Allen and Robin Dawson (Bala SC/Bassenthwaite SC) in third.

Race 2: Hamish and Simon pulled off a very nice pin end start at the now established favoured end of the line to lead up the first beat. They were closely followed by Dave Exley and Nige Hall (Leigh and Lowton SC), who took the lead by the first mark and held it to the first leward mark, hotly in pursuit were Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman (Delph SC) and the Knights. Chris and Matt, eventually overhalled Dave and Nige to win the race, with Dave and Nige in second and the Knights in third.

Race 3: This time it was Chris and Matt who nailed the favoured pin end to show a clean pair of heals to the rest of the fleet on the first beat, but in the shifty conditions they allowed Hamish and Simon and John Heissig and Nicky Griffin (Llangorse SC) to slip though by the first leeward mark. Place changes were plentiful throughout the fleet in the shifty conditions, but it was John and Nicky who held their nerve in the strengthening breeze to take the bullet from Hamish and Simon in second and Chris and Matt in third. Three quick races and 3 different winners – phew!

A quick break for lunch, rehydration and sun-cream application was welcome and once again the galley team of Anne and Helen did us proud serving up mouth watering spicy soup, steak pie and pulled pork sandwiches, but no rest for the wicked as PRO Gareth cracked the whip with 3 more races to run once again in quick succession to enable the visitors from far a field to get on the road at a reasonable hour.

Race 4: With the breeze now a solid f3, gusting 4 John and Nicky started to show their consistent form and were leading at the first downwind mark, closely followed by Sam and John and Dave and Nige. John and Nicky were obviously loving the breeze and working the shifts well, they started to pull away from the fleet. And held their lead to the end. Dave and Nige came through in second, but no hooter, as they were OCS, along with Sam and John who were also OCS. Leaving second to be taken by Josh Metcalfe and Jack Holden (Y Felinheli) and third by consistent as ever Chris and Matt.

Race 5: First to the windward mark this time were Ben Williamson and Edd Wheldon in their fresh out of the wrapper new boat. However, by the bottom mark they had been overhauled by Hamish and Simon, who were now beginning to get their eye in and starting to dominate. Hamish and Simon held this to take their second win. Second was Sam and John and third was Chris and Matt.

Race 6: Now in the strongest wind of the day, John and Nicky were battling hard and lead at the first mark, closely followed by Hamish and Simon. As John and Nicky pulled away from the fleet, there were place changes a plenty behind. Bill Kenyon and Mark Lunn (Budworth / Leigh and Lowton SC) were showing excellent speed and had pulled through to second with Richard Catchpole and Garry Coop (Leigh and Lowton SC) picking their way nicely through the fleet into third. By the finish of the last race, John and Nicky took line honours, followed by Richard and Garry in second with Hamish and Simon pulling their way back to third.

Hamish and Simon were crowned Winter Champions 2017, Hamish thanked all the team at Leigh for a very well run and entertaining event, despite the lack of sailing on the Saturday.

Thanks also to Paul Heath for videoing the day's racing. Videos can be found on L&LSC site at https://www.facebook.com/pg/LeighLowtonSc/videos/?ref=page_internal