Supernova Open Meeting at Bolton Sailing Club

Supernova Open Meeting at Bolton 2014 © Keith Roberts

On the 19th July Bolton Sailing Club hosted day one of the Supernova Northern open events with day two taking place at Scammonden reservoir on the following day.

Saturday morning dawned damp and grey and the breeze had settled to a south easterly Force 2-3, with frequent shifty gusts. By 09:30 the registration desk was extremely busy with the club turning out 17 boats and 12 visiting boats from several clubs in the UK. Due to the direction of the wind the race officer decided to use several of the marks and all of the lake ensuring that there were at least 3 good beats in each lap.

In race 1, after a clean start Mike Critchley (Bolton) arrived at the 1st mark ahead of the pack followed closely by Mike Gibson (Bartley) and Tony Critchley (Bolton). However, by the end of lap one Mike Gibson had taken the lead in a battle with the Critchley brothers and Andy Flitcroft (Bolton).

Mike Gibson (Bartley) pulled clear of Andy and after 3 laps the OOD shortened course and Mike took the win followed by Tony and Andy and Peter Mackin (Bolton), one of our juniors coming a very creditable fourth.

After lunch race 2 the wind had moved a few degrees further to the south so the OOD decided that a minor course change was required to maximize the beats. From the start the race was tightly contested and after the 3rd mark it was Mike Critchley followed closely by Steve Hawley (Bartley) and Mike Gibson. Lap 2 and Mike C was still holding the lead with Mike Gibson, Peter Mackin and Paul Earnshaw (Haversham) now getting involved in the battle at the front of the fleet.

At the back of this group Ian Moodie was still contesting his place in the Silver fleet. Mike Gibson eventually got past Mike C and at the end of the race the order of finishing was Mike G, Mike C and Peter Mackin.

Race 3 was run immediately after race 2 was finished. The wind had dropped off to a Force 1-2 and brightening skies. Mike Critchley had a great start and a battle ensued with Peter Mackin and Tony Critchley. However it was Peter who was in 1st place on lap 2 followed by Tony and Andy Flitcroft battling for position.

In lap 3 the positions changed again with Tony Critchley getting into the lead followed by Peter and Mike. Tony passed the wrong side of the last mark letting Peter regain 1st place, Tony quickly re rounded the mark and the finish order was Peter Mackin, followed by Mike Critchley and Tony Critchley.

Overall Results: