2022 Bartley Beast Round 2 - "The Beast gets Angry"

2022 Bartley Beast Round 2 © Andrea Hardiman

Bartley SC was once again pleased to welcome visiting sailors on Saturday 3rd December to round 2 of the 2022 Bartley Beast.

Based on the established format of four races in the day, with alternate double hander and single handers races run back-to-back the chilly winter morning but with forecast 12-20 knots north easterly winds brought 43 entries. With a look round the briefing to see some illustrious figures including former World, European, and National Champions amongst and a smattering of current National champions all present providing the opportunity for some competitive sailing and some great company over the course of the day, but more of that later.

The race management team led by Sam Knight and John Ling ably supported by willing members including a cohort from Birmingham University sailing team got racing under way at 11 with the first double hander race. The lake was bathed in Winter sun so it was a good job the sunglasses where in the car! The NE direction allowed the use of the full length of the lake and a challenging windward leeward course saw a fleet of 17 boats including four Merlin's, four Albacore's and RS 4 / 200's, a Scorpion, a GP and a Gradate get under way. A competitive start saw Julian Harms and George Bender in the Merlin round the windward mark first followed by Matt Biggs and Mark Fowler, who were demonstrating again how tough Albacores are to beat in these conditions. Both held on to take line honours with Nigel and Freya Hudson 3rd in their Merlin.

The start of their second race brought the strongest winds of the day and the use again of the extent of the lake led to dynamic changes in positions although the left side of the beat was generally favoured all day. A more aggressive start saw a couple of boats over at the start, and later found Howard Eales in the bar lamenting the missed opportunity having mistakenly restarted following the recall. Chris Martin was competitive all day in his scorpion with his Bartley crew Josh Oates working the strings in the front. Nick Eaves and Kouros Korbaschi pushed hard in the RS400 with the Albacores of Mark Reddington / Lewis Fowler and Phil Smith / Bill Calthorpe always present. Julian and George in the Merlin won on the line, with Nigel and Freya in the second Merlin, followed by Matt and Mark in 3rd. On adjusted time 2nd to 8th place were separated by 20 seconds, so a real exhibition of the merits of the approach in these types of events.

2022 Bartley Beast Round 2 - photo © Andrea Hardiman

The single handers fleet had a competitive day as anticipated with wind holding for the two races. It was an impressive sight to see the fleet head upwind with Phantoms leading the way, a fleet of 5 OK's, 6 Supernova, and collection of ILCA / Lasers, Solos & K1s. The racing made great viewing for the double handers crews to watch from the shore, a master class from Nick Craig and Andy Davis in the OK's was exciting to watch, particularly with a guest appearance from Jim Hunt to keep them honest. The quicker Laser and Supernova fleets were struggling to stay in touch at times much to their frustration. Line honours in race one went to Andy Couch in his Phantom followed Richard Adams' RS300 and Chris Bownes in a Phantom. While in race 2, line honours again to Andy Couch followed by Rob Kennagh's RS300 and Chris Bownes' Phantom in 3rd.

The overall results saw Matt Biggs and Mark Fowler lead the way in the double hander races, a great sail from Andy and Ciara Gill in their RS200 for 2nd with the Merlin of Julian Harms and George Bender in 3rd. In the single handers Andy Couch dominated impressively with Bartley's own Chris Bownes and Mike Gibson 2nd and 3rd in a Phantom and Supernova respectively ahead of the trio of OKs with Andy Davis, Nick Craig and Jim Hunt.

Full results can be found on the website under results for open meetings. Congratulations to our leaders with 2 rounds to go it is all in play as we look forward. It was great to see Midlands clubs represented and particular note to the Albacore of Phil Smith and Bill Calthorpe from West Kirby and Tony Woods from Glossop down for the day, good effort!

A big thank you must be said to the race management team for setting great courses and the shore duty crew as well as Tilly's galley for keeping us all fed during the day. Thanks also to the work behind the scenes of all the people who have made this event possible.

Bartley SC look forward to opening the gates and welcoming the fleets again on 7th January and 4th February 2023 for the third and fourth instalment of Bartley Beast, entries are open now on the Bartley SC website here.

Overall Results: