Wanderer Inland Championships at Bewl Valley Yacht Club

Twenty Wanderers, from locations as diverse as Whitstable and Kuwait, descended on Bewl Valley SC on 15th and 16th October for their inland championships.

Conditions were not promising; in fact it was rather hard to locate the lake itself through the fog. The race officer however remained optimistic; and so it was to be. During the post briefing coffee both the wind and the water magically appeared.

The race officer set a classic triangle/sausage course, with the first race getting away just after 11:30. Paul Yeadon and Liz North won, followed by Tim Robertson crewed by his 12 year old daughter, Niamh.

Yeadon was not to so as well in the second race after lunch, finishing eight. Gavin Barr and Mark Skipper won, followed by the local boat of Bob Grainger and Julian Brown. Phil Meadowcroft and Adam Wickenden were third. Mike Hamilton and David Oats were fourth.

The third race was sailed back to back after the second, with a very slight decrease in the wind. Paul Yeadon regained form and won. Gavin Barr was second with Phil Meadowcroft again third. Colin and Sally Gilbert were fourth. Saturday was in fact marked by the grand debut of the Gilbert’s ‘interesting’ new purple (very!!) spinnaker. They did claim that this was not in fact it’s first outing; and that it had been unveiled in their front drive during the previous week for purposed both of training, and of entertaining the neighbours.

The low water level made for some interesting wind shifts during the day. The optimum route up the first beat also provided hazards for a couple of boats, including Phil Meadowcroft. Moral of story – windsurfer standing up on board: OK. Windsurfer standing up, but not on board: tack!

Sunday morning dawned with even more fog than Saturday. The fog cleared, but the wind however was more reluctant. The presence of a stationary hot air balloon to the south of the lake was ominous, implying that there was not much wind to break through once the sun had cleared the inversion layer. Much pessimism abounded. The OD however maintained the air of a mystical sage, and suggested a start of about 12:30 after an early lunch would probably work.

Once again he was proved correct, and had already laid an inverted ‘P’ course across the lake. The fleet got away from a somewhat port biased line, with Paul Yeadon able to clear the fleet on port tack pursued hotly by Hamilton and Oats and team Robertson. Gavin Barr and one or two others were buried, having struggled to lay the line on starboard. Mike Hamilton was able to break through for a short while into the lead, but Paul Yeadon recovered first place by the end. Both Phil Meadowcroft and Gavin Barr were able to work their way through the fleet, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Chris and Vicki Kind finished sixth, despite problems with a trapped spinnaker halyard.

With the wind not looking promising it was decided to call it a day. With 4 races sailed no discard was allowed, making for some interest tie-breaks for a number of boats. Consistency it was found, trumped flashes of brilliance

Overall Results: