Solo Northern Area Championship at Carsington Sailing Club

Solo Northern Championship at Carsington © N Arron

Sponsors: Sailing Chandlery for the Midlands Circuit & Winder boats for the Northern Circuit

Over the winter the Solo Area Reps Nigel Davies (Midlands) and Philip Barnes (North) working with John Webster at Carsington came up with a new format for the Northern Area Championships. Saturday and Sunday counted as 2 separate Northern area open meetings, Sunday was a joint open with the Midlands area and the combined weekend results counted for the overall Northern Championship.

Despite a light wind forecast, the formula attracted top sailors from the extremities of both regions for some fantastically competitive action on the water.

Arriving on Saturday morning the ominous sight of just 2 of the 5 wind turbines gently rotating did not bode well. The OOD announced a 2 hour postponement in the hope of wind arriving at lunch time, John Webster reassured us there is always some wind at Carsington and luckily he was right. By 1pm a southerly F2 had established and racing was on to the relief of everyone.

Carsington's superb setting, clubhouse and large beach kept everyone happy in the wait for wind tweaking and comparing rigs, or just sitting on the large terrace with coffee and cake enjoying the spectacular views. Jo Catterall's dog showed everyone that despite being a small dog, she was in charge, ambushing any other dog that was politely walking past much to everyone's amusement.

The OOD set off to lay a windward leeward course with gate leeward mark options and battle commenced. Conditions were certainly challenging with 20 to 30deg shifts as localised streaks of wind came at random down the course. There were a few holes in the wind to catch out the unlucky ones but the skill of Adam Savage and Innes Armstrong who are experts sailing on small northern lakes of Elton and Burwain took the top 2 places. Ewan Birkin-Wells was third who, as it turned out, had the most consistent success with every result over the weekend in the top 10.

The OOD had the biggest challenge trying to pick a mean wind direction and get the starts away between the shifts which resulted in a few abandoned starts when at the last minute the bias shifted so far that he pulled the plug. The shifting wind added to the challenge of picking the favoured gate mark which produced big gains for those who picked the best side.

In Race 2 with reasonably steady pressure and plenty of shifts it was Alistair Banks in his new grey Solo who took the win from Adam in 2nd and Martin Honnor in 3rd By race 3 the wind was dropping so the race course was moved down the lake to find better breeze and right at the start almost dropped below the minimum 4kts but just about held up to successfully get the 3rd race in. This time it was Ewan who took the lead being chased by Steve Dennison and Martin Honnor.

Ashore for a rapid pack up and shower, many of the sailors met at the Knockerdown Pub for a fleet meal and social kindly organised by Jo Catterall.

On Sunday the fleet was greeted with full sunshine and fairly steady pressure all day – but with some even bigger wind shifts and a few sneaky holes to catch people out. This made the OOD's job particularly challenging with the first 2 starts abandoned following big left shifts which made it difficult to cross the line on starboard.

Sunday was the joint Midlands/Northern open and in race 4 it was Ian Hopwood who had the lead enjoying the stronger breeze. However coming to the finish, Ian rounded the leeward mark heading back on the beat not seeing the blue finish flag flying, nor hearing the yells from the fleet; "Ian FINISH!" This allowed Chris Brown to take the win, Ewan was 2nd followed by Nigel Davies with the top 3 results going to the Midlands area.

For races 5 and 6 the windward mark was very close to the northwest shore adding a new dimension to the tactics of the last 50m of the beat with big gains and losses approaching the mark. The pressure tended to be stronger on the right of the beat and Martin Honnor, Ewan Birkin-Wells, Oliver Davenport, Ian Capenek, Adam Savage and Tim Sadler proved their skill in the shifty conditions taking the top 3 positions in these races.

Ewan Birkin-Wells is the 2018 Northern Area Champion, winning the newly awarded perpetual trophy presented by the National Solo Class Association. Congratulations to Ewan.

Prize winners in the Solo Northern Championship at Carsington - photo © N Arron

Overall Results: