2023 Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series at Nantwich and Border Counties Sailing Club

2nd place and series leader Pete Coop - 2023 Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series at Nantwich & Border Counties SC © John Nield

Nantwich and Border Counties Sailing Club hosted the penultimate event for the Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series on Tuesday 5th September. The forecast was for light to moderate winds and clear blue Skies and for once the forecast was correct.

There was a strong fleet of 24 boats with 7 home boats competing. Solos and Supernovas were in the majority with Lasers, Comets and Miracles as well as a Mirror and a Topper making up the rest of the fleet.

Following a short briefing the first race got under way at 1100, this start and the following 2 were competitive but well behaved with no boats over the line in any of the races.

Unfortunately it soon became apparent that the weed which had not been too noticeable the previous Sunday had grown quickly with the recent hot weather and was causing some problems.

The first race was won by Pete Coop in his Supernova followed by Phil Snewin in a Solo and Mark Neild in a Laser.

Was it going to be a repeat of last year with a clean sweep by the Supernovas?

Get those boats flat - 2023 Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series at Nantwich & Border Counties SC - photo © Brian Herring

After lunch it was apparent that there had been a wind shift and a new course was set. Unfortunately the OOD (also the author of this report) made a mess of things, putting the course back to front and only realised when the boats sailed off in a different direction to what he expected. After abandoning the race and restarting with the course correctly displayed things settled down.

The race was won by Phil Snewin with Pete Chambers in a Comet second and Ted Garner in a Solo third.

After a delay as the slower boats finished the course the third race got under way, this time without the problems of the second race start. It soon became apparent that the conditions were suiting the Solos as the first three boats to finish were all Solos.

1st place Phil Snewin (5963) - 2023 Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series at Nantwich & Border Counties SC - photo © Brian Herring

After calculating the results the Solo dominance was confirmed with the win going to Phil Snewin, second to Ted Garner and third to home helm Paul Scott, all in Solos.

Prizes were awarded for the first three places as well as the first double hander and the first local boat.

1st Phil Snewin - Solo (Chester SC)
2nd Pete Coop - Supernova (Winsford Flash SC)
3rd Ted Garner - Solo (Budworth SC)
1st Double Hander - Dave Thomas& Shan Stapley - Miracle (Shotwick Lake SC)
1st Junior Nayth Twiggs - Topper (Winsford Flash SC)
1st Home boat - Paul Scott - Solo

1st Junior Nayth Twiggs - 2023 Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series at Nantwich & Border Counties SC - photo © Brian Herring

Overall Results:

It looks as though we will avoid this year's weed problem by holding the event at the start of the 2024 season.

The next and final event in the series is at Winsford on Tuesday October 3rd see the website for more details.

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