Streaker Northern & Southern Paddle Open at Tamworth Sailing Club

Sixteen Streaker sailors arrived on a sunny morning at Tamworth SC, greeted by a South-westerly force 3 and the prospect of a good day of competition ahead. With the event counting for both the Sail Register Northern Paddle and P&B Southern Paddle there was plenty to play for.

The first race got underway at 11 am in the typically shifty TSC breeze, with the Streakers following behind a 20 plus strong Laser fleet. Class stalwart Alan Gillard, lead from the front, reaching the windward first. Despite the best attempts of a number of other helms, most noticeably Alan Bennett in his first open meeting, this is how it stayed. Second place was much more hotly contested between Bennett, Scott Bonner, also at his first open, Mike Hobin, Debbie Degge and local helm John Burgoine. Bennett eventually followed Gillard home in 2nd, with Hobin 3rd, Burgoine 4th, Degge 5th and Bonner 6th.

Just before race two got underway, the fleet found themselves dealing with a challenging squall bringing with it stronger winds and rain. A number of helms fell foul before the start, one of whom was 2nd placed Bennett. When the dust settled, Gillard once again took advantage from the off, winning the race to the first mark, this time followed round by Bonner and James Dawes. Local knowledge paid off for Ian Whitfield who, having chosen to take the gap between the islands, rounded in 4th. Gillard, again held out to win the race with Paul Burgoine and Bonner eventually settling in to 2nd and 3rd respectively with Hobin in 4th. Behind them, Matt Whitfield, trying to make amends for a poor first race, Dawes and Degge fought it out for 5th, with Whitfield eventually bringing it home, followed by Dawes in 6th and Degge in 7th.

Race 3 got underway in much the same conditions, albeit with a slightly reduced field, those having fallen foul of the squall in the previous race and Gillard choosing to sit it out having done enough to take the meeting. At the start, local helms M Whitfield and I Whitfield stuck to the committee boat end of the line in order to take the gap between the islands on the way down the beat. They were closely followed by the visiting John Aldhouse who had cottoned on to the advantage to be gained. Dawes, having gone around the outside narrowly made it to the first mark in the lead, closely followed by M Whitfield, Bonner, Aldhouse, I Whitfield and P Burgoine. For the remainder of the race, the lead was closely contested between Dawes, Alhouse and M Whitfield, with P Burgoine alos getting involved. In the end, despite managing to be in the lead at the end of every lap, a Mistake by M Whitfield going into the final lap gave the win to Dawes, with a resurgent Hobin just taking second from Aldhouse on the line. This left M Whitfield in 4th, P Burgoine in 5th and Bonner in 6th.

Once all was said and done, Alan Gillard won the meeting with two bullets, home by Mike Hobin in 2nd and James Dawes in 3rd.

A good day was had by all and TSC would like to extend a thank you to all visitors and members who made the event possible. The next meeting for Streaker sailors is Bough Beech on the 29th of March.