Vane 36R Leech Cup at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 8 Jun 2018 17:05 BST
2 June 2018
Vane 36R Leech Cup at Fleetwood © Tony Wilson
Still into the half term school holidays, it was looking like we could be fairly busy up at Fleetwood lakeside. Not to be too greedy for our passion and lake use as some of the youngsters with crabbing lines could be our potential sailing buddies many years ahead down the line.
We had all been enjoying the last couple of weeks with pleasant weather and today was forecast to be dry with a light wind from the far right corner and blowing mainly straight down the lake, so it was looking very favourable for the smallest vane class that we hold.
The Bell family had joined us for the day and had doubled up their visit for a spot of fine tuning on their large A boats in the breaks and after the days session of 36R had concluded. New to their fleet, they had also just picked up a new-to-them 36 boat which would have it's first voyage in their hands in the opening race.
Six guys had boats entered for the club event and all were rigged in the large A sail. With these little boats you don't need to be as sporting fit to keep up with them and it was doubtful whether anyone would need to break out in a jog in the light airs.
Ten legs of the lake would be sailed for five complete heats and six of them had been completed by lunch with Peter Whiteside ahead on points and only dropping two points on a run. Eddie and Tony weren't doing too well with mechanical breakdowns and Peter Jackson found a trawling session had delayed one of his races. Oh well, another crabbing line to his collection.
John Plant was doing pretty good with 14 points so far, just one point behind Peter. The Bell Brothers were still in the infancy trimming stage of their new craft and struggling at this point - but nowhere near as bad as Tony, as he still hadn't got a single point. Tony was hopeful, suddenly thinking he was going to win a beat from John as his boat was now tuned, only to lose it as he poled into him for a disqualification. Adjustments and tips from Rob seemed to have got the boat now on rails but some overhaul repairs are still needed for future events.
The afternoon session had the four remaining legs sailed without any hiccups and Peter Whiteside was the victor only dropping two points the whole day, with John Plant taking a well deserved second place. Rob and Dave had concluded well with winning all four of their last legs putting them into a well deserved third.
The Bell brothers and dad then took to the water again with their dream machines that left folks only drooling. They had a selection of new cast keel weights to try out. Lunch time had the boats sail trimmed perfect to each other and now they had replaced the vanes for a radio pod to do further enhancement testing - boy can they go.
A great day was had by all and we eagerly await the next one on our calendar in three weeks which will be the Woodhouse Trophy and then the big A Class boats event in July.
Thanks for the added assistance from the Pole guys on the far bank.
Results:
1. Peter Whiteside 23 pts
2. John Plant 17 pts
3. Rob and Dave Bell 14 pts