There was a turnout of 20 boats for the 4th event of the Gill series
held at Leigh and Lowton SC. Unfortunately the forecast of light winds
over the weekend turned out to be accurate. Despite this the fleet
enjoyed some very close and competitive racing with three fleet races on
the Saturday and a pursuit race and the final fleet race on the Sunday.
In race 1 Andy McKee and Clare Hunter made the best of the shift up the
first beat taking the early lead, followed by Steve and Joanne Sallis.
On the offwind legs Steve and Joanne pulled through to take the lead,
which they held to the finish. Andy and Clare held second and Graham
Camm and Zoe Ballantyne recovered well after getting on the wrong side
of the first beat to take 3rd.
In race 2 it was again Andy and Clare who got the first beat right,
leading at the windward mark. The chase was led by Andy Bayliss and
Vicky Woods and with these 2 boats breaking clear of the fleet it looked
like a 2 boat race, but Graham and Zoe closed in on the leaders with the
3 boats rounding the last mark virtually overlapped. Andy and Vicky
managed to break through the cover on the final short leg to the finish
to take the race from Andy and Clare with Graham and Zoe taking another
3rd.
Race 3 saw Gavin and Sabrina Willis take the early lead from Steve and
Joanne with Graham and Zoe in hot pursuit. Graham and Zoe used their
downwind speed to get an inside overlap and pass Steve and Joanne to
take second and then repeated the manoeuvre on the next lap to take the
lead from Gavin and Sabrina. Steve and Joanne then copied the move on
the final lap to pass Gavin and Sabrina, while at the same time just
holding off Andy and Vicky.
On Saturday evening the fleet enjoyed the warm weather with drinks on
the lawn until the barbecue was fired up, at which point it inevitably
began to rain. Fortunately this freshened up the oppressive heat and
wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of the campers.
On Sunday morning a pursuit race was held with handicaps based on the
age of the boats, meaning the oldest vintage boats started some 10
minutes ahead of the latest double bottom designs. Alan Mason & Mary
Young in N1607, a 51 year old Procter Mk 4A sailed particularly well in
the pursuit race with their best performance of the weekend to finish
clear winners but only by a small margin! The accuracy of the
handicapping system resulted in almost all the fleet finishing within
minutes, Gareth Williams and Katie Hughes from the home club sailing
N3162 Bicycle Clips moved up to 2nd on the last leg followed by Howard
Chadwick and Helen Nicholson in a 43 year old Starfish and a pack of
double bottomed boats led by Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne only a few
yards behind. The pursuit race has now become an annual event
adding greatly to the fun of the summer regatta.
The winning boat: N1607
In race 4 it was all to play for with any of the leading 4 boats able to
take the meeting. Steve and Joanne picked the right shifts up the first
beat to take the lead closely followed by Graham and Zoe. Down the next
reach Graham and Zoe again found enough speed to get the inside overlap
and take the lead which they never relinquished. Steve and Joanne looked
safe in second until the final full beat when they sailed into a hole in
the wind allowing first Andy and Vicky and then Andy and Clare through.
Steve and Joanne fought back on the final set of downwind legs snatching
back 3rd place back from Andy and Clare just before the final mark
rounding.
Overall Results
1st N3492
Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne Burghfield SC
2nd N3436
Steve and Joanne Sallis
Hykeham SC
3rd N3481
Andy Bayliss and Vicky Woods
Hykeham SC
4th N3466
Andy McKee and Clare Hunter
Burghfield SC
1st AC N3162 Gareth Williams and Katie Hughes
Leigh & Lowton SC.
1st Vintage N2266 Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson Yeadon SC.
Photos courtesy of Kevan Bloor
