GP14 Northern Bell Open at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club

Matt Birks & Alan Jones win the Hollingworth Lake GP14 Open © Martin Stanley

There was some exciting racing to be seen at this Northern Bell event. With strong and gusty winds from the west there were challenges ahead for those setting out. Perhaps the forecast had put entries off at 7 boats, but there was close competition still.

Early in the first race, one boat was seen to retire through gear failure. Steve Crook and Steve Caladine from the host club were the leaders and had taken advantage of the planing conditions on a long reach, until preparing to take the spinnaker down, they suffered a capsize. This gave the visitors an opportunity to battle for the lead. Tim Harper and Paula Fisher looked to build up a good lead only to lose out upwind on a shift which let Matt Birks and Alan Jones into the lead. On the third lap downwind Martin Brennan and Richard Long closed up on the leaders, but were unable to break through. The final beat was very close as Matt Birks just crossed the line ahead of Tim Harper.

After a good lunch, there was a change of course as the wind had moved to the north west. Martin Brennan on starboard looked likely to lead at the first mark, but suffered from a late header where Steve Crook coming on port got ahead. During the second lap, the reverse happened and on the downwind lap Brennan dared to gybe to port and gain from Crook who ran on starboard and found Harper and Birks closing. Approaching the leeward mark was not a good time to lose the spinnaker pole overboard and Crook circled to recover it. Harper and Birks now battled for second place while Brennan raced on. Taking a 'traditional' approach upwind as a local, Brennan lost much of his lead and just managed to keep ahead of Harper on the finish line. So there were three boats on 4 points with the third race to be a decider.

Despite a break of sunshine, 2 boats opted not to sail the third race. Once again the lead was taken by Steve Crook, with Tim Harper on his tail. Matt Birks recovered from a poor start to round the first mark in third place. After a long occasional planing reach, places changed on the following beat. Matt Birks had tacked early onto starboard and gained the lead. Steve Crook did not give up the lead easily and it changed hands several times but Matt Birks got going better downwind and eventually escaped to a clear lead and overall victory.

Overall Results: