North West Junior Traveller Trophy at Redesmere Sailing Club

by Peter Baldwin 2 Sep 2013 12:53 BST 31 August 2013

North West Junior Travellers at Redesmere © David Wallwork

A great day's sailing

A good turnout of 31 competitors consisting of 9 home boats and 22 visitors arrived at Redesmere for round 8 of this years North West Junior Traveller Trophy series. Early arrivals at the club were disappointed to see that there was little or no sign of any breeze on the mere. However, they need not have worried as the forecasts turned out to be true and a breeze filled in by the time of the briefing and the sun shone.

Racing started soon after 11:00 with the Youth and Handicap fleets starting together and 7 knots of breeze plus some sharp and shifty12 knot gusts. In the Youth fleet, Gareth Staples-Jones started well and established an early lead, although he lost it during the second lap to Oliver Davenport. This pair then had a close duel throughout the 6 laps, with Davenport finishing up as victor by five seconds, with Sam Clarke in a another Radial third.

In the handicap fleet, Mitchell Kneale in a Laser Radial started well and kept up with the Youth fleet followed closely by Tom Wallwork in a Feva and, with his younger sister Isabel in a Topper. As the race proceeded, Wallwork lost out on the water to the faster Radial of Will Rushforth and Adam Miles in a Laser Standard, with the Toppers of Anya Haji-Michael and Rebecca Barry overtaking Isabel Wallwork to take first and second on corrected time with Kneale in third.

In the Optimist fleet, Bobby Hewitt led from start to finish with a close race between Harvey Leigh and Olivia Cuthbert, although by the end of the race, Cuthbert took the second place from Leigh in third.

After the usual Redesmere BBQ lunch, race 2 got started with a change in the course,as the wind had swung to a more westerly direction and picked up a little in strength with gusts of 14 knots and a few capsizes. In the Youth fleet Davenport led from start to finish and although Staples-Jones and Clarke were having their own race, Davenport got clear away to lead by two minutes at the end, but only one second separated Clarke from Staples-Jones in a photo finish.

In the handicap fleet, Kneale had a very strong start and led the youth fleet around the first lap. He was closely followed by Miles and Tom Wallwork, with the Toppers of Barry and Haji-Michael in contention. However, by the end of the race, the Topper of Sam Cooper had got close to Wallworks' Feva and took second place to Kneale, with Barry in third on corrected time.

Most of the Optimists lost their way a little in race 2 and forgot that there had been a change of course. This allowed Noe Peckham to lead at the end of the first lap and although Cuthbert briefly held the lead after two laps, it was Hewitt who took line honours, with Cuthbert second and Lewis Coop third.

There was time to enjoy a drink and free cakes in the normal Redesmere tradition, before Race 3 started with a wind that had increased even more with some brief gusts of 18 knots leading to even more capsizes, keeping the safety crews busy. The Youth fleet was again dominated by Davenport, with Staples-Jones briefly taking the lead during lap 2. By the end Davenport had a commanding lead, with Clarke passing Staples-Jones to take second on the last lap. This gave Davenport first overall, Clarke second and Staples-Jones third.

The handicap fleet was led around once again by the Radial of Kneale, with Wallworks' Feva not too far behind. However, the Toppers of Haji-Michael and Barry kept in contention to take first and second place on handicap with Kneale third. This second win gave Haji-Michael first place overall and Kneale second on count-back over Barry in third.

In the Optimist fleet, Hewitt started well and led around the first lap with Leigh second and Cuthbert third. However, Cuthbert passed Hewitt on lap 2 and held onto the lead until the finish, with Hewitt second and Coop third. The final placings were Hewitt first with two wins, Cuthbert second with one and Coop third.

Overall Results:

Pos	Division	Class	Sail No	Club	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st		Topper	46023	Redesmere	Anya Haji‑Michael		1	‑5	1	2
2nd		Laser Radial	172356	Chester	Mitchell Kneale		‑3	1	3	4
3rd		Topper	45440	Chester	Rebecca Barry		2	‑3	2	4
4th	U14	Topper	43694	West Lancs	Sam Cooper		‑5	2	5	7
5th		RS Feva	3724	Redesmere	Thomas Wallwork	All Roberts	4	‑6	6	10
6th	U14	Topper	46785	West Lancs	Molly Nixon		‑7	4	7	11
7th		Mirror	70675	West Lancs	Ben Hill	Gabe Hill	‑8	8	4	12
8th		Topper	45356	Chester	James Wynn‑Edwards		6	‑15	8	14
9th	U14	Topper	18277	Elton	Lucy Knights		‑14	7	9	16
10th		Laser Standard	133290	Redesmere	Adam Miles		‑17	9	10	19
11th		RS Feva	4987	West Kirby	Hebe Hemming	Saskia Inman	10	10	‑14	20
12th		Laser Radial	195987	Chester	Will Rushforth		9	(DNC)	13	22
13th	U14	Topper	47393	Chester	George Williams		12	‑13	11	23
14th	U14	Topper	44471	Redesmere	Isabel Wallwork		11	‑18	12	23
15th	U14	Topper	45497	Redesmere	LLoyd Roberts		13	12	‑15	25
16th		Topper	47394	Chester	Andrew Jason Shortfall		‑19	11	16	27
17th	U14	Topper	46699	West Lancs	Rebecca Wilson		15	14	‑20	29
18th	U14	Topper	37112	Ribble	Oliver Wilkinson‑Grey		16	16	‑17	32
19th	U14	Topper	40418	West Lancs	Alexander Clayton		‑20	17	19	36
20th	U14	Topper	45160	Chester	Gwilym Jack Harris		18	‑19	18	36
21st	U14	RS Feva	2093	Redesmere	Lelia Peckham	Emily Topliss	22	20	(DNF)	42
22nd	U14	Topper	27593	Redesmere	George Dickinson		21	(DNC)	DNC	44
Optimist Fleet
1st		Optimist	5667	Leigh and Lowton SC	Bobby Hewitt		1	1	‑2	2
2nd		Optimist	6091	Leigh & Lowton	Olivia Cuthbert		‑2	2	1	3
3rd		Optimist	5735	Leigh and Lowton SC	Lewis Coop		‑4	3	3	6
4th		Optimist	5414	Leigh & Lowton	Harvey Leigh		3	‑4	4	7
5th		Optimist	4850	Redesmere	Noe Peckham		‑5	5	5	10
Youth Fleet
1st		Laser Radial	195817	Redesmere	Oliver Davenport		‑1	1	1	2
2nd		Laser Radial	162888	Winsford Flash	Sam Clarke		‑3	2	2	4
3rd		Laser Radial	162829	Leigh & Lowton	Gareth Staples‑Jones		2	‑3	3	5
4th		Laser 4.7	185246	Bolton SC	Harriet Critchley		‑4	4	4	8

The next event in the North West Junior Traveller series is on Saturday 14th September at Elton SC, with the final event at Bolton SC on Saturday October 19th.