Topper NW Traveller at Budworth Sailing Club
by Harry Brown 6 Jul 2005 07:56 BST
2 July 2005
The final NW Traveller was sailed on a lovely sunny day with a warm force 3 from the South. In these parts that always means a capricious breeze and both the sailors and race Committee - Graham Tinsley and Rob Partridge, were well tested, the latter doing an excellent job moving buoys around during races to maintain beats.
For the first start there was a bias changing shift to make sense of. Andrew Brown shot off to establish an early lead, followed by Harry Cheetham. These two sailed away and fought it out to the end with Andrew taking the bullet. Tim Lowe mastered the chasing pack, closely followed by Anna Brooks and Emily Jackson.
Anna Brooks established a good lead in race two but was eventually caught by the hordes. On the final beat they all split off with different tactics in mind and it was impossible for the leading boat to cover as the wind was so shifty! Emily Jackson sailed out to the left and found a channel of wind and friendly lift to take line honours. Ominously, both Harry and Andrew were there, finishing second and third.
The shifty conditions continued through the final race. Andrew again established a lead and was soon joined by brother Stewart. With a temporary truce to deadly sibling rivalry they both sailed away from the other 31 sailors. After a hard fought final beat, Stewart took the bullet but Andrew’s second place was good enough for game set and match on Wimbledon weekend, as he won both the Open Meeting and the NW Travellers Series 2005.
The Traveller Series consists of nine events and racing was extremely competitive this year with 32 qualifiers of which 21 were squaddies of some kind. To win is a tremendous achievement for a 13 year old. Andrew was presented with his trophies by last year’s winner and Topper National Champion – Rob Partridge.
Overall Results:
1st Andrew Brown (Budworth)
2nd Harry Cheetham (Budworth)
3rd Emily Jackson (Elton)
NW Traveller Series Results:
1st Andrew Brown (Budworth)
2nd Tim Lowe (Redesmere)
3rd Stewart Brown (Budworth)