505 Sprints at Burton Sailinng Club
by 505 Class Association of Great Britain 26 Mar 2017 21:39 BST
25-26 March 2017
505 Sprints at Burton © Malcolm Hall
Two weeks after the warm but somewhat lacking of wind class training at Whitstable, Kent the fleet moved to Foremark Reservoir, Derbyshire for the first racing event of the year the Burton Sprints. A new format for an old event with a simple aim for lots of short races over two days.
Saturday started with a relaxed briefing in the club house with PRO John Howlett, with fleet then moving afloat have a short delay the first race got away first time. The line honours taken by the Burton/Hayling team of Turnbull and Nurse but a number of boats noticed the Speed of 9131 Batchelor and Byrd in second. Race two had a similar story with Batchelor and Byrd showing the speed to take the gun.
Race three the fleet made the call that it needed another go at starting twisting Johns arm into a general recall so he reached for the black flag, once again 9131 crossed the line first. Race for had a new name cross the line first with helmsman and local Boy Adam Kenney with Merryfield in the bow.
Races five and six saw 9131 return to form winning both. So was the end of Saturday's sailing with many of the fleet travelling home or in Nathan's case back to the Byrd house to help with ironing. A small group had dinner in Willington, but most of the fleet was in bed early with a 10:00 BST and the clocks going forward overnight.
Sunday was very much a repeat of the Saturday with sunshine, light winds and a prompt start. This time Batchelor and Byrd would show that speed can come in very useful, working the way to the line first in all four races. The fleet made its way ashore at into the club house for lunch and prizes, with the first sailors getting on the road before half one.
The new format proved popular and many of the fleet are looking forward to returning for it next year.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 9131 | Nathan Batchelor | Norman Bird | ‑2 | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 2 | 9126 | Stuart Turnbull | Rich Nurse | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑5 | ‑7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 19 |
| 3 | 8860 | Bobbie Johnson | Pike/New Pike | ‑7 | 3 | ‑6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 24 |
| 4 | 9159 | Mark Weston | Andy Weatherspoon | ‑8 | ‑8 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 38 |
| 5 | 9104 | Adam Kenney | Ian Merryfield | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 6 | ‑8 | (DNF) | 39 |
| 6 | 8780 | Martin Wright | Jeff Powell | 3 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 | (DNS) | 7 | ‑10 | 4 | 39 |
| 7 | 9156 | Mike Pickering | Mike Priddle | ‑9 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 6 | ‑8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 41 |
| 8 | 8511 | S Beard | Neal Smith | 4 | 7 | 9 | 6 | ‑10 | (DNS) | 8 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 55 |
| 9 | 8881 | Neil Rabbitts | S Pechstein | ‑10 | 9 | ‑10 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 65 |
| 10 | 8497 | Chris Jones | R Temple | 6 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 8 | (DNF) | (DNC) | (DNC) | (DNC) | (DNC) | 76 |
| 11 | 8460 | Bill Hooton | Tom Hooton/Tim Bird | ‑11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | (DNS) | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 104 |