GP14/Firefly/Laser Open Meeting at West Kirby Sailing Club

The Firefly fleet start at the West Kirby Open © Paul Jenkins

The GP14 fleet reaching at the West Kirby Open © Paul Jenkins

57 Boats converged on West Kirby for the combined GP14/Laser/Firefly Open Meeting.

Visitors came from Burwain, West Lancs YC, Budworth, Hollingworth Lake, South Staffs and the Royal St George.

Racing took place on the River Dee with 2 courses seperating the GP's from the Fireflies and the Lasers. There was to be 3 races on the Saturday and 2 on the Sunday under the watchful eye of Prinicple Race Officer Steve Dransfield.

The GP14 fleet had a general recall on their first race due to the strong tides, when eventually racing got underway the fleet had a short race, but West Kirby members Richard and Anne Orrell took an early lead in the series.

In the 2nd race with the tide easing and the wind increasing Stephen Graham from Burwain took 1st place, which he then repeated in race 3.

The 22 Fireflies got underway on the other course, with lots of the WKSC team racers taking to boats. Race 1 was won by Jim Gaskin of WKSC closely followed by Andrew Cornah of WKSC. Race 2 saw more exciting racing when the wind increased and a Jamie Marston took a 1st place.

The 3rd start of the day for the Fireflies took longer to get away, the fleet underestimating the effect of tide. After the 1st General recall the Laser fleet came through the line and with lots of unidentified boats still over the line another General Recall was sounded and the Black flag rules came in for the final start, with only 1 boat getting caught out. The last race of the day saw Andy Cornah eventually winning and taking the lead in the series overnight.

The Laser Fleet , although slightly smaller than the other fleets still enjoyed excellent conditions. The laser fleet consisted of full rig and radial rig boats. James Smith of West Kirby won the 1st race, but didn't read the flags in the second race, leaving the winning place open to Trevor Jenkins, also of West Kirby.

The traditional hospitality of West Kirby shone through overnight, with live entertainment provided by the group 'Rubber Soul' in the clubhouse.

The second day of racing saw a few more boats, with wins in the GP fleet for Martin Brennan and Andrew Fould. In the Firefly fleet Barney Smith and Andrew Cornah. In the Lasers Jamie Smith.

Overall Martin Brennan and Alistair Knott from Hollingworth Lake won the GP14 fleet. Stan Van Den Berg and Chris Ellis-Toner from West Kirby won the Silver Fleet. Andrew Cornah and Wendy Carlin won the George Jones memorial cup and the Mal Jones Ru dder for 1st under 21. Jamie Smith of West Kirby won the Laser fleet.

The next big event for the GP's at West Kirby will be the GP14 Masters Championships which will be on the 6th & 7th July 2004

Overall Results:

Results generated and submitted using Sailwave sailing scoring software

More Information:

• West Kirby Sailing Club website