New Year's Day Pursuit Race at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club
by Paul Heath 3 Jan 2016 17:29 GMT
1 January 2016
A bright, breezy but chilly New Year's Day saw 62 boats turn out for the annual pursuit race which was once again ably run by PRO Howard Green and his handpicked team of experts. The north easterly direction of the gradually building breeze allowed for a start area at the western end of the Flash, two staggered beats, two small off wind legs and then a long reach/run from the top, eastern, end all the way to the start area before starting it all again.
With a Force 3 to start in, and a long sail ahead of them, the first boats away were the two Optimists of Johnny Latham and Harvey Leigh (LLSC) With undisturbed air and the water to themselves they both made good use of the conditions. Before we knew it everybody was on the water and racing. The wind picked up across the whole course and it didn't take too long to work out which boats were going to be in contention as stamina and boat handling in the increasing breeze was going to prove important.
Five top quality GP14s graced the water and all five finished in the top 13. Neil Marsden/Derek Hill (BFYC) were flying along and were soon passing the early starters and showing clear intent as they revelled in the conditions. Andy Couch (LLSC) in his Phantom was also blazing a trail through the fleet as were Mark Fearnley (South Windermere SC) in his Blaze and the Fireball of Russ & Ali Cormack (Budworth SC) All the while Sam Cooper (WLYC) in his Topper, and now in the lead, was looking over his shoulder as the clock slowly counted down.
One hour and fifteen minutes after the Optimists started the last boat away was the 29r of Bobby Hewitt/Harvey Martin (LLSC) After three days of intensive RYA 'High Performance Training' at the club they would have been forgiven for taking a rest but such is their enthusiasm this was never going to happen. In a Force 5 breeze, with 61 boats ahead of them and not a lot of time left, they set off and it was a pleasure to watch as they gave us all a lesson in boat speed and handling. All eyes were on them as they stormed through the fleet and, with 5 minutes left to the end of the race, they had caught and overtaken the lead boat which at that time was the GP14 of Marsden/Hill which was also being faultlessly sailed.
As the end of the race was signalled Hewitt/Martin took first place, Marsden/Hill second, Couch third, Cooper fourth and Fearnley fifth. The RS400 of Chris Pickles/Matt Sharman (Delph SC) was sixth, the GP14s of Andy/Michelle Tunnicliffe (Burwain SC) and Greg Thomas/Ben Swainson (Southport SC) seventh and eighth respectively, Cormack & Cormack ninth and rounding off the top 10 was the GP14 of Mark/Sam Platt (Bolton SC)
Full results can be found on the club's Facebook page.