GP14 Northern Bell Circuit at Budworth Sailing Club

GP14s at Budworth © Keith Foster

A high point in the Northern Bell circuit, Budworth is always eagerly awaited by the GP14 fleet. This year did not disappoint, although wind consistency was not the order of the day... Hey it's Budworth, and yet again the sun shone and the wind blew (a little).

A 20 boat fleet turned up, with a strong showing from Budworth and a reasonable number of visitors given the clash with other events. The PRO Russell Cormack yet again had his work cut out, and alluded to the fact during his briefing that last year we were all in dry suits in F4 gusting F5, so at least we had the sunshine. Whilst the first race was slightly delayed waiting for wind, when it did fill in the fleet showed their eagerness by generating the AP on the line, but come on Russell the line length was a little challenging.

The wind went through what would become a pretty predictable cycle that would continue most of the day, so we waited 10 minutes and back it came.

Second time away and the fleet jumped out of the starting blocks. The beat switched as we rounded the windward creating a beat to the Gybe mark, and then switched again as we rounded the "gybe mark." Now starting the 3rd leg of the course, and still beating we all started to wonder if we were ever to get the colourful sails out. As we attempted to make our way up the course, the wind died away leaving a get away group of Matt Birks with Crew Alan Jones, Bill Kenyon with Chris Hill and Nick Devereux with Sam Platt. This select few were at the leeward mark with another small group mid pack and the vast majority of the fleet still down at the gybe mark. The wind then filled in nicely for the back of the pack and those of us sat in the middle had that awful sinking feeling as we saw them sailing down on us. Ray and Jackie Bailey coming from last place to about 7th by sailing the long way round.

The race continued with Bill and Chris leading until the start of the 2nd lap, where Nick and Sam managed to squeak past.. Then ensued the most prolonged tacking and covering battle that has been seen at Budworth for a while as young whipper snapper Devereux, ensured that he made it stick to the bitter end, finishing only fractions of a second ahead of Kenyon on the line. Birks and Jones finishing 3rd a short while later.

So in for lunch served by Budworth's renowned Alison and the crew and then back out for two races back to back. Race 2 started cleanly, the wind providing the top of a F2 at times but then sinking into a big zero at others. The lead pack this time included Chris Hearn and Ejay Mann, rounding the windward first, but the top pack of Kenyon, N Devereux, Birks and joining them Martin and Sian Joesbury. But race one winner Devereux soon established a lead having fought through the pack and maintained it to the end of the race, finishing ahead of Birks in 2nd and the Joesbury' in 3rd.

Mention must be made of Budworth's fleet captain Caroline Cawood for the "scream of the day" as she went to hike out in the biggest gust of the day only to miss the toestraps, she claimed afterwards that she was getting a little warm. All credit to her helm Bernice Hulme for keeping the boat upright.

Bronze fleet winner Peter Guest, out there and still competing at 76... did a fantastic job of finding the biggest wind hole in the lake during the 2nd race, and still maintained his composure, although crew Sheila may have a different story to tell.

The 3rd race saw Birks and Jones round first followed by Hearn and Mann. Having secured the competition in two races, the pressure was off Devereux and Platt and whilst they pushed hard they couldn't catch Kenyon and Hill after they set off and maintained the lead.

The day was a proper sunny day with temperatures into the mid 20's reminding one or two of us of Barbados for the prize giving on the lawn. Bill Kenyon spoke eloquently on the history of the Open, going back to the days of Manchester Cruising association and that since Budworth SC had formed only one Budworth member had won the trophy and it gave him great pleasure, through gritted teeth to present the Budworth Plate to Nick Devereux, all be it that it needed a member of the Platt clan (Sam) to help him do it.

The silver fleet was won by Chris Hearn and Ejay Mann who commented that they had only ever won the booby prize before.

Full results can be found at budworthsc.org.uk/racing/race-results