Streaker Open at Yeadon Sailing Club

In a brief respite from the miserable wet autumn weather, the Streaker fleet assembled at Yeadon Sailing Club on a warm sunny October Saturday with a steady breeze.

Sailors travelled from Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria, Teeside and Lincolnshire to join the local fleet. The open meeting at Yeadon was the final event in the Yorkshire mini-series, and the penultimate event in the North Sails sponsored Northern Paddle Series. It is also the only event in the Northern Paddle series with an ice cream van right at the top of the slipway.

Race 1 was sailed in the strongest breeze of the day, with fast planing down the reaches meaning the other side of the tarn was reached very quickly on the downwind legs. Steve Blackburn (West Lancs S.C.) set the pace straight from the start with the rest of the fleet in pursuit. A few capsizes shuffled the order around in the mid fleet, but Steve led through to the finish, with Rob Cocking (Delph S.C.) finishing in 2nd and Neil Dyer (Hykeham S.C.) in third.

After a break for lunch, the fleet headed back out for two further races which were sailed back to back. Race 2 was sailed in a little less wind than race 1. Steve Blackburn again led from the start, and along with Lucy Priest (Ripon S.C.) were able to break away from the rest of the fleet who were left jostling for 3rd position. The first two places remained the same through until the finish, with Guy Wheeler (South Windermere S.C.) finding his way to the front of the chasing pack to take 3rd.

Race 3 was again sailed in a little less wind than race 2. Steve Blackburn completed his domination of the event with his third win of the day, with Neil Dyer in 2nd and Lucy Priest in 3rd.

With all races now complete, in the overall standings, Steve Blackburn was 1st, Lucy Priest 2nd and Neil Dyer 3rd.

At the prize giving, the prizes were also awarded for the Yorkshire mini-series. This was a series of 6 open meetings held across Yorkshire through the year, with events at Ripon, Hornsea, Pennine, Scaling Dam, Welton and Yeadon. A total of 48 different sailors competed in winds varying from 3 to 30 knots. Rob Cocking took the overall series prize, Neil Dyer 2nd place and Kevin Holmes (Halifax S.C.) in third.

Full results for the Yorkshire Series can be found here.

With just 1 event remaining in the North Sails Northern Paddle series, this series has gone down to the wire with just 5 points separating the top three boats. Current series leader Phil Manning is just one point ahead of national champion Martin Penty. With three wins at Yeadon, Steve Blackburn has now raced up the leader board and is now also in contention should he win most of the races this coming weekend at Elton.

However with a large local fleet, and many of the top sailors planning to attend this end-of-season event, this will be a difficult open meeting to win.

The interim series results for the North Sails Northern Paddle Series can be found here.