North Sails Streaker Northern Paddle Series at Elton Sailing Club

The forecast of rain and no wind was not that good for the Streaker End of Season Event at Elton SC on the 19th October. This was also the final round of the North Sails sponsored Northern Paddle Series with overall positions still to be decided.

The smell of bacon sandwiches filled the car park on arrival for the 22 Streaker sailors taking part. The flat calm lake did not look to encouraging as we rigged. Fortunately, a zephyr of wind materialized before we launched, which steadily increased to a nice force 1-2 for the day, and even though some quite angry looking black clouds threatened the day it stayed dry.

The days racing was one in which most of the Streaker sailors had their moments with a chance to compete at the front of the fleet or certainly in a better position than they would normally expect. This was mainly due to the unreadable wind shifts, which seemed to appear from nowhere in particular, enabling sailors to make significant gains or losses at random. The other major factor became the quantity of weed that attached to sailors' foils. This was most prevalent down a short run close to the shore.

Race 1 was won eventually by Alan Gillard, although Steve Blackburn had led the race for all but the last beat to the finish eventually having to settle for third as both Alan and Martin Penty squeezed across the line to take positions first and second.

Race 2 after lunch was the only race to succumb to a recall as the wind had shifted such that the starboard committee boat end had become more than favorable. Although the RO repositioned the committee boat it still seemed the best end of the line to start. Little did we know that shortly after the start there was a very large shift to the left. Veronica Falat and Neil Firth made best use of this shift as they romped away from the rest of the fleet building up a considerable lead to finish first and second comfortably. Martin Penty, Phil Manning and Steve Blackburn led the chasing group.

Veronica Falat winning this second race also highlighted what an excellent boat the Streaker is for ladies; and so it was very encouraging that a third of the fleet sailing at Elton were ladies and the male Streaker sailors were not getting things all their own way!

Going into race 3 anybody from six boats could win overall such was the closeness of the race results. As it happened Martin Penty made sure winning from Steve Blackburn. Phil Manning claiming third from Wendy Jones who protected fourth from a rapidly gaining Alan Gillard.

On a day where consistency was very difficult to achieve the Streaker fleet had a very enjoyable day's racing. Places easily lost or gained through what appeared to be no fault/skill of the helm. Thank you to Elton sailing club for your excellent hospitality.

Overall Results: