Streaker Northern Paddle at Tamworth Sailing Club

12 Streakers arrived on a sunny April morning for the first Sail Register Northern Paddle event of the year in association with Sail Register. Results from this event would also count toward the Southern Paddle, being sponsored this year by Rooster Sailing. The fleet consisted of five home boats and 7 visitors who were greeted with a very dismal early morning wind.

By the time race one got underway at 11am, the wind had filled in to a reasonable force 2. John Burgoine got away fasted and was first at the windward mark, closely followed by Alan Gillard and Paul Burgoine with the rest of the fleet close behind. By the third mark Paul, with some good judgement and a bit of luck, had opened out a reasonable lead. Alan was not too far behind with the rest of the fleet fairly bunched up thanks to a tricky leg to third mark. After an impressive result at the Bough Beech the previous fortnight, Veronica Falat found her way past John for third and remained there till the end of the race. Racing in the rest of the fleet remained relatively close. Having caught and passed Paul, Alan looked set for the win, but some clever tactics involving a slower Laser, Paul found a way back past to take the win, followed by Alan and Veronica.

Race two got underway soon after lunch and saw Paul leading at the first mark, followed by Matt Whitfield in second and Ian Whitfield in a close third. By the fourth mark, poor judgement had seen Matt drop down to seventh in a tightly packed fleet with Veronica and Alan fighting it out for second and third. With Paul never really looking back the rest of the fleet remained close with any one of five boats in contention for second place. Paul took a convincing win to take a second consecutive open win at Tamworth, with Alan in second and Veronica in third.

Race three again got underway in similar conditions, with the second and third marks moved to avoid the worst area of wind. Paul and Alan spent the race battling for the lead with rest of the fleet tightly packed. There were two other significant battles that continued throughout the race. Ian Whitfield, John Burgoine and Veronica Falat fighting over third, and Nick Lovell, Matt Whitfield and Ian Parish for sixth. By the end of the race, Alan had bested Paul to take the final win of the day and secure second overall. John got the better of Veronica to take third in the race, with Ian Whitfield just beating Nick to fifth closely followed by Matt who had pulled away from Ian Parish.

At the end of the day Paul Burgoine had taken a convincing first overall with Alan Gillard in second and Veronica Falat in third.

Tamworth Sailing Club and the Streaker Class Owners Association would like to thank everyone who attended and those who organised and ran the event, for putting on a good days racing.

The next Streaker event is the Northern Area Championships to be held at Hornsea Sailing Club on Saturday the 16th of April, we hope to see you there. The SCOA would also like to remind all members that everytime they enter an open this year they will be entered into a draw to win a free sail from the sponsor of each series, Sail Register for the north and Rooster for the south. The more opens you attend the better your chance of winning.

Overall Results: