Leader Open at Hickling Broad Sailing Club

Leaders sandwich a Wayfarer & Solo at Hickling Broad © James Savage

Overcast grey skies greeted 7 Leaders for their open over 9/10 June at Hickling Broad with passage races on Saturday to Potter Heigham and fleet racing on Sunday. The first race started with a committee boat on the Broad in a force 4 northerly. The first boat round the windward mark was Andy Hobson chased by Chris Wharmby. The rest of the fleet followed and the race consisted of a long run to Martham with some spinnaker work and then a reach through the bungalows with Andy winning from Mike Sherwen. The return involved a tight start in the river and then a lot of upwind work to Hickling. John Parker led out of the bungalows and up the river but was overhauled later by Andy, Mike and Chris who eventually finished in that order.

On Sunday the fleet was joined by another father and child team, Ben and Megan Rickards. The racing was close with many place changes. Andy prevailed with crew Robbie and some interesting kite hoisting in the first race and fought back from a last place in the second to snatch second from Ben and Roger Morse. This put Andy in an unassailable lead at lunch but he crowned the weekend with another win from Ben and Mike in the final race. The final race gave second overall to Ben and third to Chris.

Overall Results: