TridentUK RS400 Northern Tour, 30/31 March, Leigh and Lowton SC

10 Race Sprint Bonanza!!

14 RS400’s were welcomed at Leigh and Lowton by Race officer Gareth Williams and assistant Jen Williams. Gareth explained that with the approval of the fleet, he would try for 5 x 30min races per day in a sprint format, but that in order to have a chance of completing this, we all had to be very good girls and boys and not have too many general recalls!

Race 1 got away on the second attempt after the enthusiastic fleet were general recalled. Oh, no, were the best laid plans of the Race office in vain?! A southerly F2/3 wind meant a short windward leeward was the order of the day, with each of the marks tucked closely into their respective banks! Ollie Groves and Esther Pankhurst (Bevers SC) lead from start to finish from Hamish Gledhill and Ross Southwell (West Riding SC) and Alistair Coates and son Tom Coates in third (Leigh and Lowton SC) in their vintage 25 year old boat.

Race 2 start and Louise Mckeand and Sean Ratcliffe (Leigh and Lowton) made a premature start at the committee boat end (noteable due to their usual line shy, conservative tactics). Ollie and Esther controlled the race from the first mark with impeccable boat handling in the shifty light conditions, closely followed by Alistair and Tom and then a big gap back to Dave Exley and Nige Hall (Leigh & Lowton SC) in third.

Race 3 followed a similar format. Ollie and Esther took the win, Hamish and Ross 2^nd and Tom and Alistair were 3^rd.

Race 4: Hitting the left hand corner of the first beat paid off for Dave and Nige and Louise and Sean leading at the first mark in that order. Ollie and Esther soon overhauled them both and they finished in that order.

Race 5 and this time Hamish got the pin end and was looking good by the windward mark, however Alistair came off the committee boat end and managed to make better use of the shifting wind and was close on Hamish’s heels. Once again Ollie and Esther showed their class and battled through to take the lead once again finishing in that order.

Wow, 5 races with immense concentration required and into the clubhouse for a well earned beer and watch the sun go down across Costa del Flash – Spring was finally arriving! Evening Entertainment (courtesy of Dave and Charlie Exley) took the form of a 16 to 1 combo eliminator won by, who else but the ultra-competitive Ollie Groves 🙂.

Uber early Sunday start after losing an hour in bed and the fleet were greeted by sunshine and a solid F4 easterly (Leigh and Lowton glamour conditions, straight down the Flash).

Ollie and Esther continued their domination from Saturday and were never challenged in race 6. Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin came to the party with a solid 2^nd place and Tom and Alistair a consistent 3^rd. Hamish took his punishment with the only OCS of the event.

Race 7 got underway in a now strengthening breeze and nip and tuck at the front between Ollie and Esther, Alistair and Tom and Charlie Exley and mum Caroline Exley (Leigh and Lowton SC) snapping at their heels. Charlie and Caroline snook into the lead, but where eventually piped by Ollie and Esther who were taking no prisoners.

Ollie and Esther were now getting into their stride and pulled out a significant lead in race 8. Hamish and Ross and Dave and Nige battled for the scraps, with Dave and Nige just nipping past Hamish and Ross at the last leeward mark to claim the now “best of the rest” prize in second.

A big left hand shift 20 seconds before the start of race 9 caught many out and the fleet drag raced their way on a port fetch to the first mark, before a bias starboard reaching leg back to the leeward mark. Gareth and Jen in the OD boat who were all over the unfair consequences of this event and abandoned the race and rapidly reset the course getting the fleet away for a much fairer race. Jon and Nicky, battled it out in the downwind planning conditions with Hamish and Ross and Ollie and Esther for the glory, but once again it was the Beaver Beasts who took the gun and wrapped up the open with 9 consecutive wins, and a well earned early shower.

Race 10 and the excitement was palpable as all knew that a new race winner was on the table for the “best of the rest” and the wind strength was peaking. The battle for 2^nd was on between Hamish and Ross, Dave and Nige and Alistair and Tom, all within 3 points of each other. Dave and Nige took the lead, but were being hunted by Alistair and Tom. Meanwhile Hamish and Ross took a refreshing dip on a gusty gybe, putting them out of contention at the back of the pack. Alistair and Tom just had to hold onto 2^nd to beat Dave and Nige overall, but on the last leeward mark, a missing snapper caused the spinny downhaul to get trapped under the pole, and prevented them from dropping the kite unluckily allowing most of the fleet to pass them and handing second overall to Dave and Nige.

So Ollie and Esther were worthy winners and kindly thanked Leigh for their great hospitality and Race Management. All agreed that the 10 race format was a breath of fresh air and looked forward to the next event on the Northern Tour at the new venue of Hollingworth Lake on Saturday 13^th April.

Trident Vouchers were won by:

£20.00  Mark Dinsdale & Ness Evans (Leigh and Lowton SC)

£15.00  Hamish Gledhill and Ross Southwell (West Riding SC)        

£10.00  Louise Mckeand and Garry Knott (Leigh and Lowton SC)

Dave Exley