Blaze Open at Bala Sailing Club

Strong winds for the Blazes at Bala © BSC

Dawn broke on Bala last Saturday 16th May to a relative peace and calm… Little did anyone know that there were a series of 35 knot squalls on the way! 20 Blazes were either already there or on route either from the tranquil winding mountain roads or network of motorways from all corners of the country.

Race 1

Started on time at 13:00 with a relatively modest 18kts, Christian Smart (763) and Nick Miller (757) were up for it off the start line with Smart just getting the edge over Miller and getting to the windward mark first. However Smart & Miller obviously did not have their Tom-Tom’s switched on as they headed for the wrong mark loosing 40m which let local sailor Ken Hull (685) get passed. Hull then managed to get round the 2nd gybe mark effortlessly before the first of the squalls came through, whereas all the other Blazers had to try and gybe at Mac 5, Ken Hull looked over his shoulder to see he was on his own with the rest of the fleet wiped out! Andy Hewitt (760) & Smart recovered quickest to chase Hull but he sailied a good race and never looked like relinquishing his lead. Hewitt learned his lesson and decided that he would not be gybing for the rest of the day, a decision that would work well for him as he managed to stay upright for the rest of the race and came home 2nd followed by Smart with Chris Holman showing good skills in his newly aquired boat (751) to come in 4th.

Race 2

Hewitt had the best start, maintained his clear air and never looked back, continuing with his non-gybing strategy (even though it cost him a round of drinks for the Pembrokeshire boys who would rather die than tack!). Nick Miller again showed his fast upwind pace, overhauling all but Hewitt pushing Holman into 3rd place after a good battle. Gareth Jones (693) came home in 4th place showing good form fending off a challenge from Ken Hull & Pete Barlow (758).

Race 3

Christian Smart managed to get his boat back on the water after a problem in the second race and got to the start line just in time for the 1 minute warning. The fleet was now looking a bit worse for wear with only 7 other Blazers still ‘Up for it’ in these harsh conditions. It was white water all the way now! Smart was out of the blocks first and lead from start to finish. Miller recovered from a slow start and pulled through to 2nd place with Hull back in form with a 3rd and Pete Barlow as dogged as ever and coming home 4th. Chris Holman came in 5th even though his Port wing was damaged, and on coming ashore he was pleased to show all that his GPS had recorded a top speed of 17.8kts and a best 10 second average of 16.4kts, not bad eh!

Race 4

Sunday dawned and what a difference… Anything from 0-10kts and the Sun came out to play also! A few of the sailors that were a bit taken aback by Saturday’s unexpected weather also came out to play. Once the wind had stopped doing circles just to test the Race Officers patience, he laid anchor and got the race underway. Simon Beddows (570), Holman, Hewitt, Smart and Mike Lyons (750) got ahead of the rest with Hewitt making the first break half way round the first lap. Lyons also managed to break away and started to catch Hewitt and after a good battle witht the lead changing at points Hewitt managed to stand his ground a fend off Lyons to take line honours. Nick Miller managed to sneak through the pack in stealth mode and took 3rd place with Beddows getting his best result of the weekend so far in 4th.

Race 5

Going into the last race Hewitt looked pretty safe in current form, but with the very erratic conditions anything could happen! If Smart, Miller or Hull had a good race and Hewitt came in outside of 7th he would be in trouble. Smart was first out the blocks again with a port end flyer but such were the conditions he promptly sailed straight into a hole with all the others sailing round him! But this was the way the whole race would go, no one stayed in the lead for any significant duration and there was a lot of frustration across the fleets. The last run saw all the fleet catch the leaders when the wind filled from behind so it ended up with another drag race when most of the fleet bunched at the penultimate buoy! It was Beddows followed by Holman, Hewitt, Lyons & Smart who rounded the last mark for a beat to the finish. Lyons gambled and tacked off, Smart went for pace with the others going up the middle. It was Lyons who got the gun followed by Smart, Holman, Beddows and Hewitt respectively.

So Andy Hewitt had done enough, and deservedly won the 2nd Blaze Traveller event of 2009 with a total of 9 points. Smart was 2nd with 11, Miller 3rd with 14, Holman 4th with 15, Ken Hull 5th with 16 and Pete Barlow 6th with 22 points.

Special spot prizes were also awarded, one went to Alex Williams (723) from Maldon SC in Essex for longest journey, although slightly exaggerated at 280 miles! Ben Fullalove won the one Bala virgin award for also being his first time in Wales! Chris Holman won the Bala Virgin best place with 5th overall.

The Ben Fullalove Welsh initiation never quite materialised as the Pembrokeshire boys got bored of his snail-like drinking pace and retired to the village for a lock in with the locals… Smart not getting back to the back packers bunk house until 4:30am, whereas Holman was found at 5:30 emerging from Ben’s tent… Maybe he did get his initiation after all as they couldn’t look each other in the eye on Sunday! But the locals have simply put the initiation on hold until the Nationals at PYC in September…

Andy Hewitt thanked all at Bala for another great event and hoped to see all and more at Warsash.

Until next time then… Warsash on the 13/14th June.

Overall Results: