17/05/2014
Open

A Flash full of open water swimmers greeted 9 Leigh & Lowton home boats and 7 visitors on Saturday 19th May, for round 2 of the Northern Tour. As the athletic wetsuit wearers headed home for granola the somewhat paunchier 400 teams tucked into bacon and eggs care of the brilliant galley. The Met Office predicted light SW winds, slowly building throughout the day. Spot on, however they didn’t predict a fluctuating breeze which couldn’t make it’s mind up, a race officers nightmare!

The competitive fleet saw lots of place changes and a zephyr here and there put life into spinnakers whilst others watched and drifted. Josh and Patrick Metcalf made sense of the testing conditions to post 2 bullets before the lunch break. Dave Exley and Nigel Hall and Wayne and Deb Fletcher also sailed consistently with top 3 places. Following a lunch of chips and Mexican chicken wraps the fleet launched into a steady (compared to earlier races) SW force 2 with the odd gust allowing crews to remove their legs from the chute. The improved conditions allowed Mike Baldwin (PRO) to set a longer course, utilising the length of the flash and allowing more tactical racing. Paul and Michael Allen won race 3 with Wayne and Deb Fletcher in 2nd and Hamish Gledhill and Simon Dowse in 3rd. The 4th and final race was a showdown. Josh and Patrick had to finish ahead of Wayne and Deb to take the win. Following a general recall the fleet avoided the black flag and set off in hot pursuit of Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman who won the race by some distance. Wayne and Deb Fletcher made the most of the Metcalfs misfortune (broken tiller joint) and finished 2nd, enough to take the win counting 6 points. Josh and Patrick Metcalf claimed 2nd on 6 point. Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman rounded off the top three on 9 points. Only 4 points separated 1st to 5th! Wayne Fletcher thanked Leigh & Lowton for a sunny days sailing and promised to bring his quadcopter to the next event so we can see a birds eye view of how stupidly fast they are in light winds!

The fleet next visit East Lothian YC for the Scottish Championships on 7/8 June. See details at http://www.elyc.org.uk/Default.aspx?pageId=1845545       Cheerio the nou!

More pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/104536170099821426208/RS200_RS400OpenMay2014?authkey=Gv1sRgCOewuvKxjb6oZw#

Sailwave results for RS200 and RS400 Open Meeting - 17th May 2014 at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club 2014