Graduate Northern Championship at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club
by Alistair Roaf 8 Aug 2018 08:25 BST
4-5 August 2018
Graduate Northerns at Bassenthwaite © Peter Mackin
There were six Graduates at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club for the annual Northern Championships during the weekend of 4th and 5th August. As always the scenery was stunning and the racing was exciting with all the races being held at the northern end of the lake as a result of the westerly wind. It was also dry and T-shirt weather which was great.
Race 1 was greeted by a shift of the wind to the right just before the start favouring those closest to the committee boat. It soon became a battle between Parkers, Flitcrofts as to who would take the lead. Positions were changing but the lightweight team of Chris and Chloe Parker took first, and Andy and Sue Flitcroft were second, and Ben and Gabe Hill were a close third.
Race 2 was run in a similar vein with positions changing throughout the race. It was the final beat that decided this race. Again it was the Parkers who won followed by the Hills and then Liz Stockdale and Helen Phillips who took third by banging the left hand corner of the beat and overtaking two boats.
Race 3, on the Sunday, was postponed a couple of hours while the wind filled in. This was to be the Hill's race after a close light wind tactical race.
Race 4 was to be the decider between Hills and Parkers. Knowing this, Ben Hill used his recently learned university team racing skills to take Chris Parker head to wind on the line when the gun sounded before powering away. Liz and Helen went right on the first beat and were second around the windward mark after the Hill brothers. The Flitcrofts recovered from a poor start and worked themselves up to second place behind Hills.
Overall Graduate Northern Championship winners were Ben and Gabe Hill.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 3018 | Ben Hill | Gabe Hill | -3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 2839 | Chris Parker | Chloe Parker | 1 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 4 |
| 3 | 3001 | Andy Flitcroft | Sue Flitcroft | 2 | -5 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| 4 | 1718 | Liz Stockdale | Helen Phillips | -6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 2901 | Hamilton Roaf | Alistair Roaf | 4 | 4 | 4 | -6 | 12 |
| 6 | 3007 | Paul Clark | Emily Clark | 5 | -6 | 6 | 5 | 16 |