Lark Inland Championship at South Staffordshire Sailing Club
by Ed Bradburn 10 Apr 2019 12:43 BST
23-24 March 2019
Lark Inlands at South Staffs © Harriet Temple
The weekend of the 23rd and 24th of March saw South Staffs host the Lark Inland Championship. The fleet was made up of both regular Lark sailors and a few who had borrowed a boat for the event.
Saturday was fairly light and unusually quite shifty for South Staffs but after a short postponement whilst the PRO waited for the sea breeze to fill in the racing got under way. The first race was won by Ed Bradburn and Holly Evans from South Staffs with Stuart Hydon and Ann Biglin from Shustoke SC in second with Mick Senior and Nic White (also South Staffs) pulling through to third. The second was again won by Ed and Holly with Mick and Nic second with locals John Billington and Liz Senior in third. The final race of the day saw a close battle upfront between Mick and Nic and Ed and Holly which was all but decided when Ed and Holly sailed to the wrong mark. After 3 races it was Ed and Holly in 1st with Mick and Nic in 2nd and Stuart and Ann in 3rd.
In the evening the sailors were catered for with a BBQ by the lean mean grilling machine that is Dave Young followed by the return of Scouting for Salmon, The House Banned and the MOBO nominated, DJ StomPzy.
Sunday dawned with considerably more breeze and racing got straight under way albeit under black flag conditions. Mick and Nic took an early lead in the first race and could not be caught with Ed and Holly 2nd and Stuart and Ann 3rd. The second race saw a much closer affair and after a bit of tussling and a few unfortunate wind shifts it was Stuart and Ann with the win followed by Ed and Holly and Mick and Nic. This meant that into the last race it was between Mick and Nic and Ed and Holly with Mick and Nic needing a win to take the event. Round the first mark it was Stuart and Ann in the Lead followed by Ed and Holly with Mick and Nic a bit further back. As the race went on Mick and Nic closed in on the leading two boats resulting in Ed and Holly covering Mick and Nic. Whilst covering them both boats managed to sail through Stuart into 1st and 2nd respectively which were the positions that remained to the finish.
Final results therefore were Ed and Holly 1st, Mick and Nic 2nd with Stuart and Ann 3rd. A Great weekends racing was had by all and thanks must go to all at South Staffs for hosting and organising and also The House Banned, Scouting for Salmon and StomPzy for the evening entertainment.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 2526 | Bradburn E | Evans H | SSSC | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| 2nd | 2533 | Senior M | White N | SSSC | ‑3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 3rd | 2495 | Hydon S | Biggin | Shustoke | 2 | ‑4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 4th | 2525 | Billington J | Senior L | SSSC | ‑5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 22 |
| 5th | 2507 | Young D | Burch L | SSSC | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | (DNF) | 22 |
| 6th | 2468 | Bailey S | Young S | SSSC | ‑6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 28 |
| 7th | 2499 | Nichols M | Waymont C | SSSC | 7 | (DNF) | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 39 |
| 8th | 2537 | Firth N | Firth S | Banbury | 10 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 7 | (DNS) | 43 |
| 9th | 2532 | Hotchkiss T | Green K | SSSC | 8 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 9 | (DNS) | 43 |
| 10th | 2465 | Morgan D | Morgan F | SSSC | 11 | 11 | 10 | ‑12 | 11 | 6 | 49 |
| 11th | 25 | Goodhead O | Harman J | SSSC/Papercourt | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | (DNF) | DNS | 51 |
| 12th | 2524 | Owen M | Hartness L | SSSC | ‑14 | 10 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 54 |
| 13th | 2493 | Aleaxander R | Dawson C | SSSC | 12 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 10 | (DNS) | 58 |
| 14th | 2442 | Alexander K | Merritt K | SSSC | 13 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 12 | (DNS) | 65 |