Lightning368 Northern Championships at Manor Park - Preview
by Lee Bratley 6 Jun 2014 08:58 BST
7 June 2014
This coming Saturday (7th June) sees the Lightning368 class head North to, um, Staffordshire for the 2014 Northern Championships at Manor Park Sailing Club.
Richard Palmer (Cookham Reach) currently heads the series after three events, but with youngster Alex Baxter (West Oxford) nipping at his transom following a superb event win last time out at Broxbourne, can Richard keep his lead? With last year's series champion Paul White (Draycote) set to put in an appearance this weekend it could prove to be something of a clash of the titans championship as all the regular big hitters have their entries in and set to establish themselves on the 2014 Grand Prix series table.
Within that top group it really does look like 'sort the men from the boys' time.
Manor Park SC is a popular venue for the class with great water for the boats, superbly sociable atmosphere and within easy reach for most helms.
First race should be around 10:45/11am - weather depending - with three scheduled for the day, as well as a general invite for the Lightning visitors to join in with club racing on Sunday (as well as a dinner table booked at our favourite local pub on Saturday).
So, all to play for with the Lightnings this weekend and we promise Jason Gallagher that this years starting signals will be rather more 'traditional' than last year!
Details about Manor Park can be found here: manorparksailingclub.wordpress.com
The Lightning368 class website here: www.lightning368.org/lnwp