Solo Northern Travellers series at Budworth Sailing Club

Why is it that high pressure in the South has to give us in the North difficulties? That was the case on Saturday 17th October when the Solo Northern Travellers met at Budworth for their final meeting of the season and the series prizegiving. At least we had some wind but it was variable to say the least.

19 visitors and 13 Budworth boats made for a good competitive fleet of 32 boats. The PRO for the day Russell Cormack correctly forecast that the very light wind was due to shift from NW to NE and so postponed the start by and hour.

However, at the one minute gun the wind shifted 90 degrees and Russell (to his credit) promptly stopped the countdown, relayed the marks and set a new course with two good beats accurately laid. A clean restart followed half an hour later.

Alex Taylor took the honours for the home club Budworth followed by Steve Dennison from Hollingworth and Innes Armstrong, Burwain.

During the lunch break the fickle wind backed to its original NW and so Russell reverted to the original course and set two back to back races to make sure we got three full length races in. Second race was taken by Steve Dennison, followed by Mike Thomas from Notts County and Oliver Whitehead, Hollingworth.

By the third race all were raring to go and so most of the fleet were over the line. A general recall resulted together with the dreaded black flag for the restart which caught Alex Taylor, Mike Johnson and Richard Page out. The final race was again won by Steve Dennison followed by Paddy Hamilton and Lee Tennant both from Burwain.

The final result was a clear win by Steve Dennison, Hollingworth Lake SC but also representing the series sponsors Winder Boats. First prize was a bottle of Champers. Second was home club sailor Alex Taylor taking a bottle of Prosecco, third for a bottle of Cava was Lee Tennant, Burwain and fourth for a mere bottle of wine Oliver Whitehead from Hollingworth. The Northern Travellers Series prizegiving followed and the overall series results are on the Solo website.

Thanks to dry weather, a degree of wind, competent on the water race management and excellent catering we all had a good final afternoon sailing in glorious Cheshire countryside.

Budworth Open Meeting Results: