Bartley Burn Out at Bartley Sailing Club

A light northerly shifting breeze made for tough sailing for handicap racing sponsored by Speed Sails, 2 races were sailed with the fleet split into Fast and Slow fleet starts.

In the first race the 3 Merlin Rockets and the Phantom of Mike Tustin romped ahead leaving the Slow Fleet trailing far behind as the breeze died. Matt Biggs crewed by Ben Hollis in his Merlin established a 3 minute lead over Andy Davis and Richie Adams whilst Richard Dee and Chris Gould duelled with Mike Tustin in his Phantom. The Albacore of Neville Herbert finished 4th on handicap.

The slow fleet had a closer tussle between the Bartley Streaker of Debbie Degge leading the Solo’s of Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson over the line.

The second race started in a reasonable breeze and Matt Biggs tussled with Andy Davis enjoyed another Merlin benefit with a very close finish and Richard Dee followed in 3rd place. The Albacore again came through on handicap in 4th place.

The slow fleet slide further back as the wind faded after Fast Fleet leaders finished their race. This led to more mixed results in the fleet with Solo’s leading the way on handicap with Dave Brand winning race 2 from Trevor Thomas but Debbie Degge scraped in to win overall from Brian Stammers and Graham Robinson.

Mike Biggs won overall with 2 first places after a very good display of light weather sailing.

The Junior Fleet was led home by Crispin Beaumont and Nick Wilson sailing a Feva whose race included 2 Feva’s starting on an advantageous port tack on a busy start line in the first race and nearly succeeding in clearing the fleet in a slower boat. Crispin and Nick finished a creditable 8th overall.

Overall Results:

Slow Fleet

Fast Fleet