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