Enterprise Northern and Midlands Series Open at Ogston Sailing Club

On the very last day of April, dawn broke in North East Derbyshire to a warm and bright bank holiday Sunday morning.

With a perfect 12~15 knot from the very favourable Southwest, Principal Race Officer Byron Knott and his assistant race officer Phil Hind were out early to assess the conditions and set a course at the southern reaches of the lake utilising its full length for the initial beat to mark one. Meanwhile back at the clubhouse, Rosie and her excellent team were registering the competitors and organising bacon butties and tea for all. The day was starting well and certainly went on to be a great day! We welcomed 3 visitors who were joined by 12 Ogston home boats for the second event on the Northern Enterprise circuit.

Enterprise Northern and Midlands Series at Ogston - photo © Maureen Shearer

Race 1 got away with a clean start first time, with local Enterprise couple Andy & Janet Gomm bossing the pin end of the slightly biassed starting line. Simon Law and Ogston Vice Commodore Natalie Smith equally flexed their sharp elbows, and together with the Gomm's were the 2 boats making a perfect start. The rest of the fleet then found themselves fighting for space! Shortly into the first beat the traditional Ogston wind shift appeared, as always, allowing Simon/Nat and Andy/Janet to get the windward mark in good first and second places. The rest of the pack was led round by another local, Martin Honnor sailing with his daughter Abigail for the first time in 4 years and leading visitor Jonathan Woodward and Oliver Mason. By the second gybe mark Jon/Oli and Martin/Abi had closed in on the leading two and with a small tête-à-tête between Andy and Simon at mark 3 the race was now between 4 teams.

By the leeward mark Martin/Abi had squeezed a small inside overlap on Andy/Janet, both inside Jon/Oli with Simon/Nat a few boat lengths behind having completed a double Salchow at mark 3. The next beat saw a great battle between these 3 with Martin/Abi leading home from the Gomm team with Jon and Oli in third. Paul Young/Lauren Morgan from Midland SC and Simon at Nat made the top 5 with our up and coming youth sailor Luke Wilshire, with his dad Mike crewing, was the first Junior.

Enterprise Northern and Midlands Series at Ogston - photo © Maureen Shearer

Lunchtime arrived with Andrea putting on a great assortment of filled baguettes and a warming selection of soups, all washed down with a cup of tea and a slice of cake from the very well stocked RNLI Cake table, a tasty array of cakes provided by the Ogston cake clan.

Races 2 & 3 were planned to be back-2-back and it was looking like the course would be similar if not the same. PRO Byron, looking at one mark decided a small change to a gybe mark, that was a little more sheltered, but otherwise chose the same course.

Race 2 got off to another clean start again with a close fought first beat with the Honnor's getting round just in front of the Gomm's, Jon/Oli leading the rest of the pack in 3rd. These 3 teams would continue to do battle, with no one boat ever really getting away. All 3 of these boats finished within boat lengths of each other making for exciting finishes. Martin/Abi took a second bullet and the overall event. Andy/Janet a close 2nd and Jon/Oli 3rd. With Abi's slightly aching legs, Martin decided to take an early bath leaving the battle to commence for 2nd & 3rd overall. The race saw a couple of 'fallers at the first' caught out by some quite strong and shifting gusts, Ken McKenzie and Rosie Wilson (Ogston's Fleet captain this year) suffered a spectacular capsize at a mark but continued to finish, be it last!, regardless. A couple of rescues needed for a home boat seeing the Helm turn a white having suffered a capsize, safety returned him to dry land, retired but able to warm up!

Enterprise Northern and Midlands Series at Ogston - photo © Maureen Shearer

Race 3 again was away cleanly this time with Jon/ Oli hitting the front at mark 1 followed by Andy / Janet and Paul/Lauren. This remained the standings for the first lap until Jon/Oli, who realised just at the last minute they were about to miss the Gate, crash tacked and had the well known 'jib still cleated' capsize and unfortunately had to retire. This promoted Paul/Lauren to a 2nd place, behind a strong first place race finishers and 2nd overall Andy & Janet, and a 3rd overall for Paul and Lauren. Jon/Oli were 4th overall and Simon & Nat made up the top 5 positions with Luke Wilshire in sixth and 1st Junior.

With the RNLI Cake table still open, splendidly manned by Julia MacKenzie, there were many smiling faces enjoying a welcome cup of tea or pint, depending on preference. Natalie and Rosie completed the day with the Top three boats receiving trophies and a prize-giving commenced to recognise the youths, juniors and novices who had entered the event. Paul Young from the Midlands SC gave a few words of thanks to Ogston SC on behalf of all the visitors and everyone eventually made their way home.

An incredible £108 was raised on the day for the amazing organisation that is the RNLI.

Overall Results: