Blaze Open at South Windermere Sailing Club

by Chris Spicer 16 May 2012 13:07 BST 5-6 May 2012

So imagine the scene as you arrive at a sailing club. Driving down through the beautiful Fellfoot Park you see steam from the trains rising through the trees on the opposite bank of the lake, the beautiful mountain scenery and the smell of bacon butties.

Put all of that together with a realisation the weather forecast was wrong and that there was sufficient wind to give us some decent racing.

But most important of all we had ten enthusiastic blazers racing in the first event of the North West Travellers Trophy.

I have to admit at this point in the report that I hadn't realised I would be writing it, so the only clear memory I have of any of the races is race 3 which is the only race I have ever competed in where all the boats finished within two boat lengths of each other due mainly to the wind or lack of it filling in from behind and allowing the chasing pack to catch the leading group. I also feel duty bound to acknowledge blatantly plagiarising the notes of Nick Miller and Mark Fearnley for this report, so a big thanks to them.

Anyway back to the report.

The OOD set excellent courses, with true start lines, races were well managed so we got a swift turnaround in the back to back races. The galley team provided great food between races and the shore team should have a very special mention for their help with launching and recovery, especially the Sykes shore team.

It was surprising how close together we all finished. The results do suggest that Nick Miller totally dominated, but that wasn’t the case, Andrew Taylor, Steve Badlam, Mark Fearnley and Chris Spicer all led races at one stage or other.

The fickle wind direction meant that there was a lot more tacking than any of us were used to in a Blaze event, but there was sufficient wind to keep us happy with proper spray everywhere Blaze reaches on occasions.

Andrew, Mark, Nick and Chris all capsized at various points adding to the amusement of the occasion.

There were no protests, but in typical Blaze style there was plenty of shouting at the marks. All together a well organised and successful first event and I must thank all the members of South Windermere SC who helped with this event and all competitors who attended.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	Nick Miller	757	1	1	-6	1	1	-1	4
2	Mark Fearnley	760	2	3	-7	3	-6	2	10
3	Andrew Taylor	1	3	2	-8	2	3	(DNC)	10
4	Steve Baldam	2	-6	4	2	-5	2	4	12
5	Chris Spicer	748	-4.5	-6	3	4	4	3	14
6	David Hodgson	3	4.5	5	1	DNC	(DNC)	(DNC)	21.5
7	David Sykes	4	7	-7	4	-7	5	6	22
8	Pip Warner	6	(DNC)	8	-10	6	8	5	27
9	Chris Bannister	7	(DNC)	-9	5	8	7	7	27
10	Andrew Ackroyd	5	8	-10	9	9	-9	8	34