Northern Area Solo Open at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

by John Reekie 11 Jul 2023 07:02 BST 8 July 2023

Sponsored by Impact Marine and Winder Boats

Saturday dawned with a decent forecast of breeze and some very nice weather forecast for the twelve Solos entered for the Solo northern open.

The event was shared with Teras and ILCA/Lasers and there were a couple of kids questioning if they would make it through in the Tera fleet. And there were also some nervous looks by the older statesmen of the Solo class such was the force of the breeze.

We all got launched on time for the first race of the day and Andy Carter sailed an excellent first beat to lead the fleet by a good margin which he held till the second beat where things were getting interesting. At this point there was a bit of a change in the conditions and the second windward mark took some effort to get round. Andy held on in the new breeze to the finish under some pressure from behind to take first blood of the event.

After an early lunch to let the conditions settle it was time for a windward leeward course with John Reekie and Innes Armstrong off to a healthy lead and two lap ding dong match race ensued, of which Innes was the victor. Andy Carter pulled back through the fleet to score a recovery third place to make it a three way race for the overall victory in the last race.

By this point the conditions were trying to give the race officer some grey hairs but we got away to a first beat with some serious snakes and ladders. Rory Yardley was the man of the moment with his entrance from the port layline to take the lead. At this point it became a very congested one sided course making it difficult for Innes, Andy and John to make a serious challenge to Rory. Innes dropped back with his low stance on the second beat and Andy lost second to John on the third beat - using the term "beat" loosely. In the end John could not get past Rory and with it the scores were settled with Andy in first followed by John and Rory in second and third respectively.

Final results of the day were Andy Carter 1st, John Reekie 2nd and Rory Yardley in 3rd.

Whilst the wind was not the glamour SE we were hoping for, the sunshine, banter and scenery did its best to sooth the souls of the sailors. Thanks to Bassenthwaite Sailing Club for hosting the event and all the volunteers who gave their time to support the event.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	5615	Andy Carter	Leigh & Lowton	1	‑3	3	4
2nd	5407	John Reekie	Bassenthwaite SC	‑2	2	2	4
3rd	5109	Rory Yardley	Bassenthwaite SC	4	‑7	1	5
4th	5813	Innes Armstrong	Burwain SC	5	1	(DNF)	6
5th	5408	Tony King	Derwent Reservoir	3	4	(DNF)	7
6th	4715	Justine Davenport	Burwain SC	‑10	5	4	9
7th	4110	Loz Young	Derwent Reservoir	7	‑8	5	12
8th	5979	John Colegrave	Yorkshire Dales SC	‑9	6	6	12
9th	4993	Ian Hall	Bassenthwaite SC	8	‑9	7	15
10th	5203	Mike Cowan	Bassenthwaite SC	6	10	(DNF)	16
11th	4232	Richard Broughton	Bassenthwaite SC	‑11	11	8	19
12th	5783	Mike Cave	Bassenthwaite SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	26