Supernova Open at Bala Sailing Club

by Mike Gibson 2 Jul 2012 19:39 BST 23-24 June 2012

What a fantastic weekend's sailing – two days of good wind, straight down Bala lake! Most of the Supernova fleet missed out on one of the best weekends sailing we've had for a while. Bala SC hosted an excellent event. The weekend was shared with Solutions, Miracles and on the Sunday a fleet of Tinkers.

The race officer used a variety of courses; each one had some cracking reaches, which made up for all the hard work up the beats. There were six races; three Saturday and three on Sunday. Saturday saw the strongest wind.

Race 1 - Unfortunately the conditions meant that one or two competitors didn't make the start line. Those that did got away cleanly and worked their way up the beat. A pattern developed with Mark Hartley pulling away upwind, with Mike Gibson and Paul Undrell following. Downwind Mike Gibson had the better of it. Mark Hartley took an unassailable lead, particularly when those behind went for a swim!

Race 2 followed a similar pattern with Mark Hartley leading with Mike, Paul and Sam Hood following. On a different course with even stronger winds the Supernova was in its element planning at high speed across the lake. The race officer very kindly put in plenty of interesting gybes. Mark Hartley took the second race.

Race 3 - The boats got away again on a different course, with a beat up to the far right hand side of the lake. This time Mike Gibson lead as Mark suffered from a swim after a bit of "rock n roll". Paul Undrell and Mike were left to fight out the lead. Mark Hartley recovered well to finish second behind Mike with Paul again third. Sam Hood again finished in fourth.

Race 4 - Sunday morning saw a slight drop in wind strength. Steve Johnson after his Saturday problems made a good start in the race. Mike Gibson got round the windward mark first but Steve and Mark were having a good tussle to get round second. Paul and Sam were close behind, with Don Appleton quietly in sixth place!

Race 5 - Again a different course, a bit more wind and a similar pattern emerged with Mark having the advantage upwind; probably due to youthful fitness and a good helping of leverage. The problem of different courses meant the leader had to have his wits about him a remember the course. Mark rounded the windward mark ahead but went for the wrong mark allowing Mike to sneak past. Paul, Steve and Sam closed the gap as the fleet flew down the reaches. Mike couldn't hold off Mark up the beats and it was he who again took first, Mike second and Paul third.

This meant that it all would go down to the last race.

Race 6 - This was a close run thing with Mark having the better of it upwind and Mike catching down wind. There were some good tactics going on up the beats but it was Mark who rounded the windward mark first.

In the end the bigger gains were made upwind and Mark took the final race to win overall. Paul who sailed very consistently all weekend finished third with Sam a gallant fourth.

Presentations were made and thanks given to Bala SC for a really good weekends sailing.

Overall Results:

1st Mark Hartley (Staunton Harold SC)
2nd Mike Gibson (Bartley SC)
3rd Paul Undrell (Haversham SC)
4th Sam Hood (Cotswold SC)
5th Steve Johnson (Cotswold SC)
6th Don Appleton (Bolton SC)