ILCA Northern Grand Prix Round 3 at West Riding Sailing Club

ILCA Northern Grand Prix at West Riding © Stuart Gurside / GoPro

ILCA Northern Grand Prix at West Riding © Stuart Gurside / GoPro

Five visitors joined six WRSC boats for round 3 of the Laser / ILCA Northern Grand Prix on Saturday 29th April. The home fleet was bolstered by the return of Tim Keighley, driven back to his home series by the soaring price of petrol. The sailors were greeted by a light but sailable Northerly breeze on arrival which unfortunately disappeared shortly before the event briefing.

Despite there being no visible sign of any wind, PRO Soeren Vonsild showed great faith in the Met Office and set a course reflecting the latest forecast. He then showed incredible powers of persuasion to convince 9 boats to follow him across the mirror like surface to the start line at the allotted time for the first race.

The fleet got away at the first time of asking which was not surprising as most of them were not moving. Ian Jones of Dovestone rounded the windward(ish) mark first followed by Tim Keighley, David Doyle of Glossop and Gordon Riddel of Delph. The top four somehow managed to pull away from the fleet despite appearing to be somewhat unstable. The fleet drifted forlornly around the first lap before the wind made a welcome return and the sailing could begin. Ian and Tim pulled away to finish first and second with Gordon coming through to take third.

Following a well-received lunch, which did nothing for the power to weight ratios of the sailors the fleet took to the water again for the final two back to back races. The wind had held up sufficiently for Paul Heath and Andrew Fox from Leigh & Lowton to join in all the fun.

In the second race Tim and Ian looked to have got away well and set off up the first bear. WRSC's Matt Cook went off to the left and was rewarded with a shift which carried him around the windward mark in first place, Ian followed him in second place with Stuart Garside of WRSC in third. Tim had slipped back to fifth. Ian manged to get past Matt on the second beat and was never headed. Tim moved up through the fleet overtaking Matt at the end of the second lap to take second place and closing in on Ian. However a slight increase in the strength of the wind saw Ian demonstrate astonishing boat speed and pull well clear of the fleet. Tim finished second and Matt held on to third under pressure from Paul.

With two bullets, Ian had won the WRSC Laser open meeting for the 400th time in succession, but still took to the start line for the third race. The start was notable for half the fleet either being over the line or attached to the committee boat. Ian and Tim, as ever, pulled away at the front with Tim briefly taking the lead at the end of the second lap, only for Ian to quickly regain the place. Tim finished 2nd to take that position overall and Paul, having sat out the first race came in 3rd overall.

Prizes were presented on the clubhouse decking as soon as the boats returned to shore. Ian looked like he wanted to thank the club for hosting the event, had WRSC Commodore Alistair Banks given him the opportunity!