Mirror Northern Travellers at Ripon Sailing Club

One of the shiftiest venues I've ever sailed in with 180 degree wind shifts common, which just added to the competitive environment and increased frustration when the wind didn't play in your favour.

However, the race officer did an amazing job setting some great courses making it as fair as possible with the wind shifts and we had an extremely enjoyable day. A great turnout of 15 boats and it was nice to see some of the local boats turning up and lots of new young faces that we'll hopefully see more of in the future.

Race 1 started and saw Emma and Ben along with Henry and Jamie take amazing starts flying away from the fleet in clean wind leaving a group of around 5 boats tangled in a knot at the committee boat, this included Reg and George who crossed the line last after discussing whether weeping angels had babies until 14 seconds to go, oops! However, particularly fluky wind shifts had a major role up the first beat changing the positions enormously leaving Emma in 1st but bringing Reg and George up from almost last to 5th round the windward mark. Emma stormed ahead taking a lead that, at any other club would've been unbeatable but was stopped in a wind hole giving plenty of time for her attackers to catch up, hot on her tails. Emma kept the lead right until the last few seconds when a misplaced tack let Henry and Jamie slip past, just pipping her to first place. A similar battle occurred between Dave and Sebastion Shilling and Reg where they only just beat them to 3rd place leaving the Shillings in 4th. The competitors throughout the race were also entertained by the sea shanties coming from Sarah Clayton's boat!

Race 2 saw Henry and Jamie and Reg and George get good starts as they tacked on a header allowing them to cross the fleet on port and tack back, banking their gain (Dave would've been proud!). After some close tussles throughout the race Reg and George pulled ahead taking first with Emma and Ben in 2nd.

Going into the final race, the top 3 boats were tied on scores of 4 points meaning that the winner of the final race out of those boats would be the winner of the day. Tense competition and high excitement resulted in some cover tacking and dirty tactics before Reg and George managed to pull away leaving Emma and Ben and Henry and Jamie to scrap for 2nd place overall. However, 2nd in the race was confidently held by Emma and Faye who had taken the lead from the start and had pulled away with Reg to maintain their second. Henry and Jamie sailed excellently showing their skills especially in shifty light winds and making neat work of Emma allowing them to take 2nd overall.

Overall Results:

1st Reg and George
2nd Henry and Jamie
3rd Emma and Ben

Northern Traveller Series wrap-up

What a wonderful Northern Traveller Series we have had this year! A range of clubs across the North of the UK hosted brilliant traveller events for us to attend. Ullswater, Otley, Hollingworth, Bassenthwaite, Dee, Filey, Pennine, Beaver and Ripon, welcomed us all dutifully as we plagued the water with our red sails.

We had a brilliant turnout this year, and the weather played on our side for the majority of the weekends. We saw single handers, double handers, masters and children all competing this year and battling it out for the final trophy. It was great to see so many of the squad boats, past and present, taking part and showing everyone how taking part in a squad can develop and improve your sailing as we saw people come from no racing experience at all, to pushing all the experienced sailors aside and showing us that there is fresh meat coming up through the system.

The nine events were spaced out throughout the year and were sailed fairly and there were hardly any protests or disputes which goes to show what a disciplined class the mirror has become and proves that it is the perfect class of boat for people who are new to racing. This year we had many experienced sailors giving out sound advice and tips with regards to rigging and set up which really boosted the confidence of the fresher sailors.

Massive thanks has to go to Matt Grayson for organising the events and keeping his spread sheet (or should I say 'back of an old letter') with the results for each event on. Also thanks to Sarah Richards for also helping to organise these events, most of our Northern success would not be possible without her input and organisation. Special thanks go to Ripon Sailing Club for hosting the final event for the Traveller Series and conducting the final prize giving.

Northern Travellers' Series Results: (top five)

1st Emma Grayson and Ben Settle
2nd Rachel Grayson and George Stainforth
3rd Tom Dean and Ellie Benn
4th Emma Clayton and Faye Caswell
5th George Richards and Alexander Baird