GP14 Northern Championships at West Kirby Sailing Club

GP14 Northern Championships at West Kirby © Paul Jenkins and Liam Gardner

GP14 Northern Championships at West Kirby © Paul Jenkins and Liam Gardner

With a long range forecast for very light winds not changing leading up to the championship, it looked worrying if there would be any sailing over the weekend, but the race committee didn't give up hope and was not going to pull the plug on the tide until the last moment.

This year's Northern Championships, part of the Craftinsure Super 6 Series, was set as a 10 race sprint series over the two day. On the Saturday morning, as the competitors arrived and set up their boats, there was hardly a breath of wind and glorious sunshine. 19 boats where assembled to challenge for the title, including Andy Hunter the 2015 winning crew now paired up with Sam Watson looking for their championship title, David Lawson the 2014 champion, now having a turn at crewing for our Association President Duncan Greenhalgh and the current Scottish Champions Gingerboats' Andy Smith and Phil Hodgkins.

There was an inevitable postponement to the first race, and as time and tide wait for no man, the decision was made to run all the races on the lake, once the sea breeze filled in.

A windward leeward course was set, with a short reaching spreader mark at the windward mark, with the aim to get a couple of laps in the "sprint", all marks being taken to starboard so a real likelihood of a few port/starboard traps. The first start line showed how the game was going to be played for the rest of the event, with boats hovering on the line jostling for wind and position, looking to push the windward boats over early while protecting the space to leeward, so 8 out of 10 races had an x flag or general recall or both.

The first race was in very light wind, with the pack stayed close on the beat with the top boats smoother tacking getting to the port rounding mark before the masses poured in on both tacks. Sam and Andy defended their lead around the top on the run back to the finish line, closely followed by Andy and Phil, both keeping out in clean air, while the rest of the pack closed together on the dead run home.

With a single lap taking almost 25 minutes, the course was brought in closer for Race 2, the fleet spread slightly on the beats, but closed again on the dead runs, Andy and Phil rounding first, with Frank Nickless and Steve Parker a few boat lengths behind. Justin Smith and Michelle Evans held off Sam and Andy to the finish but unfortunately had be OCS.

Race 3 saw a couple of big OCS casualties with both Andy and Phil and Frank and Steve not returning to clear the line, which gave the race win to Fergus Barnham and Ellie Devereux, and Mal Jones unfortunately lost a port and starboard protest from Sam to pick up a 30% penalty.

The two afternoon races saw a further increase in the wind, bringing with it closer challenges and raised voices on the windward mark and a bit of rafting and vehement denials of water on the leeward, resulting in a few misses and second attempts. There was a nice lift in the centre of the course and a bit more pressure in the left side running down, read by Fergus and Duncan to get first and second, Frank pushing Sam out to fourth with Andy and Phil picking up another OCS.

The last race of the day, with a clean start and without too many incidents with the pin end being favoured by the leading boats. Sam and Andy took the windward mark first and maintained this at the leeward, but Andy and Phil managed take a higher line up the second beat, followed by Fergus and Ellie, both managing to get through Sam before the run home.

The evening was filled with music, crazy dancing and a good quantity of liquid lubrication continuing into the small hours, which resulted in a morning after the night before look in many of the competitors faces the next day.

Fergus Barnham and Ellie Devereux take third overall at GP14 Northern Championships at West Kirby - photo © Paul Jenkins and Liam Gardner

The weather had changed from sun and light airs to overcast drizzle with a good bit more wind pressure to play with. Justin and Michelle, fresh faced from many jugs of rum cocktail showed their metal by taking the first race of the day, with the rest of the fleet spread across the lake in a closely fought finish.

The next two races saw the wind pick up and shift westerly flattening the beats and bringing more of the fleet looking for a port layline into the windward mark, and difficult spinnaker hoists on a short congested beam reach. Places were swapped regularly through the fleet, with Andy and Phil taking first in race 7 but only a 5th in 8.

The last two races of the day saw the prowess of the Association President come through leading from the start in race 9 ahead of Andy, and chasing him close to the finish line in the final race, with Sam taking the third spot in both races.

The final results meant that Andy and Phil picking up another Championship win and with a 4th in the Inlands this must place them well in the Super 6 Series. Sam and Andy were only 2 points behind, with no counting scores outside of the top three, and Fergus and Ellie only one point behind them.

Thanks to West Kirby Sailing Club for hosting the event and to all the volunteers from the club that helped out throughout the sailing and the activities on shore.

Overall Results: