North West Senior Traveller Series at Bolton Sailing Club

Twenty-four boats sailed by the over 50s gathered for round 3 of the North West Senior Traveller Series at Bolton Sailing Club on Tuesday the 21st June. Light and variable winds provided a real challenge for the race management team trying to set good courses in constantly changing conditions. The conditions also provided a real challenge for the sailors who needed eyes in the backs of their heads and a favourable roll of the dice on occasions.

The first race was taken by current series leader Dave Woodhead in his Solo with Dave Turtle (Streaker) and Darren Nield (Solo) taking second and third. Dave Turtle and Darren were destined to be the most consistent sailors on the day.

The second race began with a start line crammed in between the island and far shore which proved to be a rather crowded affair causing a general recall. (It could have been the desire of the sailors to gravitate towards the committee boat end just to get away from the tens of thousands of screeching gulls resident on the island!) After a close fought battle Darren took this race from Mark Cuthbert (Supernova) and very unusually corrected times produced a dead heat between Dave Turtle and Tony Critchley (supernova) for 3rd place.

The third race was going to be the decider with several sailors in contention for the event on the day. A major wind shift made it very difficult to cross the line on Starboard, surprisingly the boats from the least favoured end of the line where favoured with some extra pressure, allowing them to reach at speed towards the windward mark! Tony Critchley took great advantage from this to build up an unassailable lead with Dave Turtle and Darren emerging as leaders in the chasing pack. All this produced a very close finish on the day with nobody knowing who had won until the computer had finished its work. Only one point separated the first four boats!

A delighted Darren Nield took overall honours, having been runner up several times in these events in recent years he was very happy to get his first victory.

For the second event in a row Richard Hemingway took the honours for the first veteran. With 3 events now completed the overall positions in the series are starting to take shape. The top club trophy at the moment looks to be going towards Elton S C but with 4 more events all that can change.

Full details of the series and overall results can be found on the RYA north west region web site. The next meeting is at Hollingworth Lake on Tuesday 5th July.

Overall Results: