Kielder Water Sailing Club Open Meeting

The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the wind was a shifty westerly F5 with unnecessarily large gusts for the 47 boats which took part in Kielder Water Sailing Club’s open meeting. Lasers visited for the Laser Lakeland Grand Prix and Ospreys for their open , along with slow and fast handicap classes and a good turnout from the home fleet.

This year KWSC received Volvo Champion Club status for its junior Topper Squad training programme. Undaunted by the conditions, Anna Baker, Oliver Brooks, Edward Brooks and Robbie Langford completed all three back-to-back races on Saturday although many of the adults found it a bit much and retired. Advisory note: do not sell you spinnaker ratchet blocks on ebay! On Sunday the wind dropped to a kinder F3-4 for the remaining 2 races, with 1 discard available.

Amongst the 11 Ospreys the top places were hotly contested – and the overall result might well have been different if Paddy Lewis had not been taking part in the Great North Run on Sunday. KWSC’s Rob Shaw and Ian Little took first place, followed by Blithfield SC’s John Batt and Nick Broomhall, and Ian McDonald and John Gibbon.

In the 18 strong Laser fleet, Dan Trotter beat his father Ian into second place overall, and Helen Armstrong (all Derwent Reservoir SC) won the Ladies and Radial and came 2nd in the Youth category. Connor Graham (S Shields SC) won the Juniors.

The Fast fleet was dominated by Michael Matthew’s Musto Skiff (Sunderland YC) with 4 firsts. 2 Javelins came from Carsington SC (3rd place for Chris Davies), and Geoff Brown (KWSC) found that the weather conditions were not entirely helpful for the first time out in the brand new Javelin which he has been secretly building in his garage.

The Slow fleet (PY >1000) had Gary Ruther ford and Daniel Rooney (RS 200, Sunderland YC) as the most consistent sailors, in first place.

6 of the Kielder juniors make up the Junior fleet, with Oliver Brooks taking first place, Anna Baker second and Robbie Langford third – a very commendable achievement given the weather conditions.

Race Officer Peter Hawkin and his team – and the patrol boats – kept everyone right (and the right way up) and enabled excellent racing in trying conditions. The galley team provided the essential food and drink to warm up some very cold and tired people.

Overall Results:

Laser Grand Prix
1st Dan Trotter (Derwent Reservoir SC)
2nd Ian Trotter (DRSC
3rd Stuart Keegan (DRS)
1st Master, Ian Trotter (DRSC)
1st Junior, Connor Graham (South Shields SC)
1st Youth, Dan Trotter (DRSC)
1st Ladies and 1st Radial, Helen Armstrong (DRSC)

Osprey Open Meeting
1st Rob Shaw and Ian Little (KWSC)
2nd: John Batt and Nick Broomhall (Blithfield SC)
3rd: Ian McDonald and John Gibbon (Blithfield SC)

Fast fleet
1st Michael Matthew, Musto Skiff (Sunderland YC)
2nd Ernie and Dorothy Bennett, Flying Fifteen (KWSC)
3rd Chris Davies, Javelin (Carsington SC)

Slow fleet
1st Gary Rutherford and Daniel Rooney, RS200 (Sunderland YC)
2nd Nicola Bell and Chris Baker, Miracle (KWSC)
3rd David Matthews, Blaze (Sunderland YC)

Juniors
1st Oliver Brooks, Topper (KWSC)
2nd Anna Baker, Topper (KWSC)
3rd Robbie Langford, Topper (KWSC)