GP14 Midland Bell Series Round 3 at Midland Sailing Club
by Chris Martin 9 May 2022 10:21 BST
8 May 2022
GP14 Midland Bell Series Round 3 at Midland Sailing Club © Oliver Mason
Seven GPs gathered at Midland SC to contest the third round of the Midland Bell series. It was good to see several visitors boosting a home fleet diminished by holidays and events elsewhere.
The light south easterly was likely to prove challenging for the competitors and race team alike. The first race got away cleanly with Chris Winters and Matthew Edward taking the lead at the windward mark only to be taken by Darrel Sleep and Charles Saunders on the broad reach down to mark 7. The very short beat from 7 to 1 proved the most taxing leg with Chris/Matthew retaking the lead in what looked to be a commanding manner.
South easterly at Midland is easily the worst wind direction and the wind band that Chris and Matthew were in pushed them to a very low line on what should have been a beam reach. They got about a third of the way down the leg when the others rounded 1 in breeze and proceeded to run down the reach and overtake. Keith Budden and Ben Roberts held the lead fir much of this leg before the gods rolled the dice again at number 5 allowing Mark McKeever and Evan Base to round in the lead and there they stayed. Chris and Matthew had work to do and managed to climb to 2nd while Keith and Ben charged past Darrel/Charles in the last 5 boat lengths to take 3rd. I’m fairly sure that Keith and Ben had occupied first and last place at various points in this race!
Race two again got underway cleanly after a short postponement and change of course. The fitful breeze meant keeping things simple, but this course set in hurry proved less good for place changing despite two beats. Mark and Evan did have to fight their way to the front after an indifferent start and first beat Once there they did a bit of a horizon job helped somewhat by the rapidly dying wind. Darrel and Charles held second, again by some margin, with Chris and Matthew in third. By the time the last boats finished the mirror like lake surface was starting to ripple again and what seemed an unlikely third race was on!
The incoming breeze did need several minutes and associated course changes to settle down. Once It settled it behaved and this was the best race of the event for breeze with all of the lake having wind for most of there time. This time it was Chris and Matthews turn to deliver a result that looked so promising for much of race 1 and they led from start to finish. Darrel and Charles held second with Peter John and Susan Webb coming in third.
Overall this gave the event to Mark McKeever and Evan Base from Midland SC, Chris Winters and Matthew Edward were second, also from Midland SC and Darrel Sleep and Charles Saunders were third from Staunton Harold SC.
Overall Results:
1st 14208, Mark McKeever & Evan Base (Midland SC) GOLD, 1/1/DNC, 2pts
2nd 13176, Chris Winters & Matthew Edward (Midland SC) GOLD, 2/3/1, 3pts
3rd 14072, Darrell Sleep & Charles Saunders (Staunton Harold SC) SILVER, 4/2/2, 4pts
4th 13263, Keith Budden & Ben Roberts (Trimpley SC) SILVER, 3/4/4, 7pts
5th 13377, Peter John & Susan Webb (Trimpley SC) BRONZE, 7/5/3, 8pts
6th 12170, Lesley Freeman & Nick Harrison (Trimpley SC) BRONZE, 5/6/5, 10pts
7th 13662, Lawrence Bowbanks & Stuart Jones (Midland SC) BRONZE, 6/7/6, 12pts