Great Northern Asymmetric Challenge at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

Great North Asymmetric Challenge 2016 © William Carruthers

Great North Asymmetric Challenge 2016 © William Carruthers

This year's GNAC attracted thirty boats from six asymmetric fleets and representing eleven clubs. As is the norm for this event all competitors raced on PY as one fleet. Eight races were scheduled to be held on 23/24 April.

Saturday's four races were held in dry but chilly conditions. Winds were generally force 2 to 3 but were extremely patchy and direction changes made it difficult for the race officer to set reliable windward – leeward courses.

The RS400 of Delph's Chris Pickles / Matt Sharman mastered the conditions taking three wins to lead overnight from the RS200 of Bass' Phil & Naomi Smith who included the fourth race win in their score. The 400s of Paul Allen / Phil Hodgkins from Leigh & Lowton, Mark Somerville / Joe Roberts from Bass and Hamish Gledhill / Simon Dowse from West Riding SC filled the next three places overnight.

Sunday dawned wet and windless. Although it dried up and the sun broke through, the wind stubbornly refused to appear. After a delay of over two hours where an early lunch was taken the lightest of breezes filled in. In Race 5 it was again variable and the fleet split and, depending on the side of the course taken, gained or lost out massively. The Smiths chose correctly and took the win while Pickles / Sharman could only manage a sixth which brought them equal on points with one discard.

The next race would be the final one and Pickles / Sharman made sure of the Challenge Cup with another first, the Smiths coming third behind Gledhill / Dowse who took their second consecutive runner up position and third overall. The 200 of Martin & Barbara Smith from Delph moved up to fourth overall and the 400 of Dave Exley / Paul Heath from Leigh & Lowton were fifth with Somerville / Roberts completing the top six places.

Overall Results: