Stratos National Championships at at Bala Sailing Club

by Ken Hull 24 Jun 2014 07:44 BST 21-22 June 2014

Not a cloud in the sky, and just a hint of the breeze to come, promised a great day's racing for the Stratos fleet for their first National event at Bala. The race officer got the first race started bang on time and a steady force 3 saw the fleet away to do two rounds of a triangle sausage course.

There was a little controversy over whether the windward boat on the start line responded to a call of "Up, Up", but once away the fleet soon settled down into what was going to become fairly consistent positions i.e. Malcolm & Howard Noyce at the front, followed by either Phil and Chris Smith or Andrew Meek and Ash Burton. Races two and three were almost carbon copies of the first, as the wind was shifty enough to make it interesting, but strong enough to provide good speed.

After dinner in the clubhouse the talk in the bar was of whether anyone could possibly catch Malcolm and Howard Noyce, the overall leaders at that point, who with 3 first's looked pretty invincible.

Sunday dawned with clear skies again but this time not a breath of wind, so after a short postponement, all further racing was abandoned and an early prize giving arranged. Malcolm and Howard Noyce were crowned Stratos Champions, with Andrew Meek and Ash Burton second, and locals Phil and Chris Smith third.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Club	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	Malcolm Noyce	Howard Noyce	Seafarers SC	332	‑1	1	1	2
2nd	Andrew Meek	Ash Burton	Manor Park SC	217	‑3	2	2	4
3rd	Phil Smith	Chris Smith	Bala SC	710	2	‑3	3	5
4th	Lynfel Owen	Ian Valentine		1069	‑4	4	4	8
5th	Derek Richards	Peter Wilson	Chelmarsh	256	‑5	5	5	10
6th	Mark Jones	Kevin Edwards	Bala SC	745	(DNF)	6	DNF	13