GP14 Midland Bell travellers at Chelmarsh Sailing Club

Midland Bell travellers’ circuit in the heart of Shropshire © Matthew Thursfield

Midland Bell travellers’ circuit in the heart of Shropshire © Matthew Thursfield

What an excellent racing day! On 11th October, Chelmarsh Sailing Club in the heart of Shropshire welcomed the Midland Areas GP14 fleet for the penultimate round of the Midland Bell travellers’ circuit.

OOD John Dickenson was given some pretty tricky weather to play with, certainly for the first two races. His first course sent the 21 strong fleet up to a windward mark that proved to be tough to get to in the light SW breeze. Leading the fleet round were the current leaders of the Midland Bell, Carl Jeffs & Jim Toothill from Trimpley. They read the shifts, avoided the holes and found the breeze much better than the rest of the fleet, pulling away to a comfortable victory. In their wake were local Fireball specialists, Jonathan Carter crewed by Gary Hodkinson taking second from Nick Eaves & Dave Prosser from Bartley.

After a cracking lunch and a brief postponement whilst the fleet literally watched the wind veer through 90 degrees, the second race got underway on a much shorter, more compact race track. First out the blocks were Michelle Williams & Adam Froggatt from Chase SC. With the breeze starting to build, the fleet soon spread out, as boat handling skills were tested with spinnakers expected to be raised, gybed and lowered every couple of minutes in the gusty conditions. Williams & Froggatt comfortably held their lead to the line, Carter/Hodkinson again in second, third this race being taken by John Salomonson & Sarah Froggatt (South Staffs).

The inconsistent results from the first two races meant that any four boats were in with a shout of taking the open, although the by now 15 knot breeze certainly favoured the heavier crews. This was how it turned out to be, Jeffs and Toothill showed the fleet the way round, followed by a number of different pursuers. For the latter part of the race, chief chasers were Matt Thursfield & Sally Fowler ( Chelmarsh SC ) and Eaves & Prosser. These two knew that whoever took second in the race were in the chocolates at Prizegiving, Jeffs by this point was long gone. Nip and tuck to the end, Thursfield pipped Eaves to the line, followed over by early pace setters in the race, Salomonson & Froggatt.

Overall Results: