Spring Regatta and D-Zero Open

The forecast was for a day of very light and variable wind but luckily the forecast was wrong! Competitors were greeted by a steady north-westerly that gradually increased throughout the day to 15 gusting 20mph. Great sailing especially combined with the blue skies and friendly competition.

Disappointingly, there were just two D-Zeros, including a visitor from Scammonden Water, so they joined in the handicap fleet making a total of 14 entries.

Race Officers John Purdie and George Tamm set an excellent course, that was kept all day, and ran 1 race in the morning and 2 races back-to-back in the afternoon.

The first race saw a number of casualties that kept the safety boat team of Geoff Weir and Richard Woodhouse fully occupied. Les Perry suffered a broken haliyard on the way to the start-line. Paul and Gordon in the Omega managed to get their genneker snagged on the spreader and had to capsize to untangle it. The GP14 of Stewart and Richard that was caught by a big gust, capsized, inverted and got its mast stuck on the bottom. Quite eventful considering the forecast!

The racing was quite exciting too. The first race saw visitor Ben Ratcliffe (D-Zero) sail into the distance for a comfortable win on handicap from the Streakers of Dave Turtle and Paul Newman.

The top two positions were reversed in the second race and, unusually, there was a dead-heat for third place between Paul in the Streaker and Jeremy Cooper in the other D-Zero. This left all to play for in the final race.

First off the starting-blocks in the final race was Paul (Streaker) and he was determined not to let Ben and Dave have it all their own way! Unfortunately, Ben suffered gear failure (a broken traveller) which left the two Streakers to battle it out. It was a hard-fought race but in the end Paul held on to a slender lead and took a well-deserved race win. Jeremy finished third just ahead of Joe Sergeant (Laser) who sailed consistently all day.

Overall it was very close with only a point separating the top three boats:

1. Dave (Streaker)

2. Ben (D-Zero) from Scammonden

3. Paul (Streaker)

4. Jeremy (D-Zero)

Full Results Can Be Found Here 

It was a great days sailing and many thanks to the Race Team, Safety Crew and, of course, the Galley for providing the refreshments all day!

Gaz Henshall