West Kirby Sailing Club turns out record numbers for the President's Race
by Liz Potter 27 Jul 2020 15:30 BST
19 July 2020
Launching for the West Kirby SC President's Race © Alan Jenkins & Catherine Hartley
A week after running the Club's first race of the season, West Kirby ran their President's Race, which was supported by 52 boats of all classes and sizes, from International Canoe to Optimist.
Once again, social distancing was a theme which was followed in the boat park, on the slipway and in the club after the event.
Race Officer Jonathan Atkinson set a large quadrilateral course and got the huge fleet off on a mass start with no recalls. The wind blew a gusty Force 4, which was challenging for some of the newcomers to sailing, who have been keenly practicing on the tide since lockdown was released for sailing. Nevertheless, there were 45 finishers, with results calculated on average laps.
Most of the boats completed their laps in ninety minutes and the clear winner was the New Rules International Canoe of Gareth Caldwell.
In second place and newcomers this season to the 420 class, were George Creasy and David Bromilow, who were separated from the 4th placed 420 of Freya Sewell, by the aged experience and wisdom of Albacore sailor Mike Hartley, crewed by his petite 12 year old daughter Hannah. The young lady showed great competency and tough spirit to help her dad to a third place.
I finished in fifth place in my Contender, beating sixth placed International Canoe of Tony Marston by 2 seconds on corrected time. More importantly, I beat 7th placed International Canoe, sailed by my husband Andrew Potter, by 31 seconds after he put in a careless capsize in the surf on the bank.
Fortunately for him, there was no formal prize-giving as per the Club's Covid policy, but the sun came out, the club bar was open and many competitors and spectators enjoyed a socially distanced drink outdoors on the club patio whilst the results were read out.
WKSC continues to see enhanced daily sailing numbers and the new racing formats seem to appeal to more sailors than before. With more events to come on the amended calendar and the Regatta 3-day event postponed to 18th -20th September, there really is a lot to look forward to.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Type | Helm (& Crew) |
|---|
| 1 | 335 | Int Canoe | Gareth Caldwell |
| 2 | 54379 | Int.420 | George Creasy & David Bromilow |
| 3 | 8187 | Albacore | Mike & Hannah Hartley |
| 4 | 52062 | Int.420 | Freya Sewell |
| 5 | 2533 | Contender | Liz Potter |
| 6 | 333 | Int Canoe | Tony Marston |
| 7 | 257 | Int Canoe | Andrew Potter |