Streaker P&B Northern Paddle Series at Ripon Sailing Club

Streaker P&B Northern Paddle Series at Ripon © Gail Jackson

Four visitors and ten home sailors competed in the Streaker Open Meeting at Ripon Sailing Club on Saturday 15th April with cloudy skies and a very light NNE breeze.

OOD Bernard Clark set a course to suit the lack of wind and proposed a back-to back 2nd race as the wind was dropping (as forecast). Alan Gillard (Sheffield Viking, 1551) was first to the windward mark closely followed by Mike Eggleston (Ripon SC, 2117) with Ian Priest (Ripon SC, 2106) in third place. During the short race, Alan remained leader with Ian moving into 2nd place and Mike close behind. Andy Hague (Ripon SC, 2153) in his shiny new Hartley Streaker began to contend moving into 4th place. The final result saw Alan maintaining his lead with Ian in second place, Mike in third place and Andy in fourth place with Peter Kitchen (Tees and Hartlepool, 1914) in fifth place.

Streaker P&B Northern Paddle Series at Ripon - photo © Tony Dallimore

After a change to the course, race two quickly began with Alan first to the windward mark followed by Phil Priestley (Yorkshire Dales SC, 1700) and Lucy Priest Ripon SC, 1933) in third place. With shifty light winds Mike caught up and attempted to pass Alan to windward resulting in a luffing battle, giving Tim Coleman (Ripon SC, 1821) who had overtaken Phil and Lucy, the opportunity to catch the leaders. The order at the front of the race remained the same with the three lead boats comfortably pulling away from the rest of the fleet who were battling closely in the distance. The race ended with Mike comfortably finishing in first place with Tim edging closer to Alan when a wind shift demanded a tack away from the bank. Alan held his line while Tim tacked again and sneaked over the line to finish in second place. Phil followed in fourth place and Lucy in fifth place.

Lunch followed with a flat calm on the water and no sign of a breeze, so Bernard abandoned race 3.

Mike Eggleston was overall winner with 4 points, Alan Gillard took second place with 4 points also, Tim Coleman took third place, Ian Priest in forth place and Peter Kitchen fifth.

Many thanks to Ripon Sailing Club and all the volunteers for hosting this event in the Streaker P&B Northern Paddle Competition. Next up in that series is the Beaver SC Streaker Open on 29 April - and further afield, the Rooster Super Series Southern Area Championships at Bough Beech on 22 April.

Overall Results: