GP14 Midland Bell at Midland Sailing Club

GP14 Midland Bell at Midland SC © Kevin Hopkins

GP14 Midland Bell at Midland SC © Siobhan Adams

On Sunday 18th June there was a major sporting event in Edgbaston, no not the cricket, the Midland Bell of course!

Midland SC is one of the oldest established inland sailing clubs in the country with a long and distinguished history (Neville Chamberlain was a past Commodore), but it's also the essence of UK club sailing, a friendly welcome, relaxed atmosphere and very tricky sailing conditions! The canal reservoir is surrounded by trees and buildings - though there has been some demolition recently - and the water is shared with other users including many water fowl. For the first time in a number of years the event was shared with the Enterprise class and this worked well. The wind forecast was modest and thunderstorms were threatened but five Ents and nine GPs turned up to do battle.

The race officer set a course and successfully dispatched the two fleets into the hands of mother nature. Local boat 13662 (Mike and Alex Homer) took an early lead, but visiting teams from Nantwich and Staunton Harold picked the shifts and gradually overhauled them with 13868 (Oliver and Harriet Dumbleton) taking first place, 14072 (Darrell Sleep and Charles Saunders) second, 13813 (Pete Thoms and Dawn Frost) third.

After lunch the plan was to run two races back to back. Race two got away nicely with Oliver & Harriet into their stride, closely pursued by Pete & Dawn and Darrell & Charles and that was the finishing order, with 13780 (Lesley Freeman and Sue Webb) taking a well earned 4th place.

The wind played tricks again, but at least there was some - from a variety of directions. After a couple of false dawns Race three started and then the wind died to imperceptible. The two fleets crept round the course, the Race officer trying to decide where to end the agony or when he wanted his supper. Out of the "exercise in sitting still" Pete & Dawn pipped Oliver & Harriet to first place and local sailors took 3rd and 4th.

As we were paddling back to the clubhouse a sudden squall hit us and for two minutes or so we were hiking out and then it died away again just as suddenly. So with two wins, Oliver and Harriet Dumbleton won the event, Pete and Dawn were second and Darrell & Charles third. The thunderstorm arrived as forecast as we were packing boats up for travelling and the race was on to get metal masts down on to the ground as fast as possible.

At the prize giving Oliver thanked everyone at Midland SC for putting on the event and the other competitors for a great days racing in somewhat trying conditions. The next Midland Bell event is joint with the GP14 Southern Traveller series at South Cerney SC on Saturday 8th July - lets see if the wind turns up!

Overall Results: