Border Counties Midweek Sailing at Winsford Flash Sailing Club

by Pete Coop 29 Sep 2022 18:38 BST 27 September 2022

Despite a forecast of potential stormy winds and driving rain, 19 boats turned up to find a wind ranging from 5 to 12 knots and initially no rain!

Pete Coop had already secured the outright series win, but the other podium places were all up for grabs from 4 boats as discards would start to kick in throughout the day.

Race officer John Close and his team got the first race away on time - Pete Coop (Supernova), after a brief duel With Eric Haselden (Supernova) extended his lead to win the race, with Eric 2nd and the Solo of Ted Garner 3rd after handicaps and average laps were calculated.

Following a short lunch break the rain came down! Race 2 got under way and following a very tight start with a square line Pete Coop was first to the windward mark and extended his lead throughout the race. Eric recorded another 2nd while Dave Turtle (Comet) started his move up the overall leader board with a 3rd place.

Race 3 got promptly under way with frequent showers. This time the line had a slight starboard bias which caught a few sailors out as they were trapped on the left-hand side of the course.

The race was characterised by a significant wind change from Northwest to Northeast on the final lap.

Pete Coop again arrived at the front of the pack and extended out to take the win. This time 2nd and 3rd places went to the 2 solos of Ted Garner and Phil Snewin.

Special mention went to Mel Randall who has only been sailing 6 weeks. This was her first regatta and she finished with 3 boats behind her and was the first Lady helm.

On behalf of the visitors Ted Garner thanked WFSC and highlighted how the culture of the Border Counties series was very positive, friendly, inclusive and proved that a number of different boats can compete and put-up good scores.

Overall Results:

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	SUPERNOVA	1281	Pete Coop		Winsford Flash	1	1	1	2
2nd	SUPERNOVA	1296	Eric Haselden		Winsford Flash	2	2	6	4
3rd	SOLO	5016	Ted Garner		Budworth	3	6	2	5
4th	COMET	852	Dave Turtle		Shustoke	4	3	5	7
5th	SOLO	5154	Bill Webber		Shropshire S C	6	8	4	10
6th	LIGHTNING 368	410	Jeremy Cooper		Shotwick Lake	5	5	7	10
7th	SOLO	5963	Phil Snewin		Chester	11	10	3	13
8th	SUPERNOVA	590	George Coop		Winsford Flash	7	7	DNF	14
9th	COMET	311	Steve Bellamy		Winsford Flash	8	9	10	17
10th	SUPERNOVA	519	Pete Chambers		Winsford Flash	14	4	DNF	18
11th	COMET	705	Martin Loud		Winsford Flash	10	12	8	18
12th	SOLO	5888	Phil Proctor		Chester	9	11	9	18
13th	SUPERNOVA	1041	Steve Vandersteen		Winsford Flash	13	14	11	24
14th	MIRACLE	3520	Simon Dolman	Julie Dolman	Shotwick Lake	16	13	12	25
15th	ENTERPRISE	22688	Dave Thomas	Shan Stapley	Shotwick Lake	12	15	14	26
16th	COMET	739	Mel Randall		Winsford Flash	19	17	13	30
17th	SUPERNOVA	1241	Frank Lafferty		Winsford Flash	15	16	15	30
18th	SUPERNOVA	406	James Stark		Winsford Flash	17	18	16	33
19th	MIRACLE	4116	Ellen Dinelow	Pete Williams	Bala	18	19	DNC	37