Solution Travellers Series at Delph Sailing Club

The first open meeting of the 2015 Solution calendar was at Delph © Paul Hargreaves

The first open meeting of the 2015 Solution calendar was at Delph © Paul Hargreaves

For the first open meeting of the Solution calendar, the home boats and visitors arrived at Delph to a dark sky and April showers, however a quick brew and natter in the club house and this blew over to leave a dry and bright spring day.

We had the water to ourselves apart from the Phantoms who had the first start and generally kept out of our way! Kevin Clark revelled in the F4 south westerly breeze and took the lead in race 1 with Martin Tubb leading the chasing pack.

The second upwind leg was in the lee of the trees in the south west corner, leading to very light and fickle conditions. In the contrasting conditions the pond sailors came to the fore, catching and passing Kevin. The lead changed minute by minute with most of the fleet having a go at the front.

At the final leeward mark, newcomer Roger Postbeschild from West Oxfordshire rounded first with Martin on his transom. Roger went left up the final beat, towards the club house while Martin stayed right and managed to get the win by a few boat lengths and Kathryn Hayfield taking a solid third place.

Race 2 was after lunch, and the wind has swung slightly to the west, giving more consistent conditions. Kathryn, Roger and Martin were leading on the first downwind leg, before Martin went for a swim after letting off too much kicker with a raised centreboard.

This left Martin at the back behind Kevin, with Peter Fisk and Mark Crowther battling for mid fleet places. Peter has recently swapped from the full to flat cut sail and was slowly adjusting to differences in the trim.

Roger capsized at the gybe mark, and the slightly increased wind strength allowed Kevin to take the bullet. Martin pulled back from his earlier mistake and just pipped Kathryn to second by less than half a boat length.

Afternoon tea and cake were served in the clubhouse and after 2 long races this was well received by all the sailors.

With a win each, and one discard, the third and final race was to be the decider between Martin and Kevin. Martin got a good start and sailed a blinder of a first beat to have a sizeable lead. Kevin was always ready to take advantage of any mistakes but Martin held onto the lead with Kevin having to settle for second place, and Peter taking third place.

Thanks to the race team and galley at Delph for an excellent day, and to Paul Hargreaves for the photos. The Solutions next open is at South Shields at the end of May.

Overall Results: