Craftinsure Supernova Northern Travellers' Series at Bolton Sailing Club

by Chris Caton & Chris Hawley 4 Oct 2023 19:35 BST 30 September 2023

Saturday 30 September saw the Supernova fleet taking their annual outing to Bolton Sailing Club for the Craftinsure Northern Travellers event.

Bolton is home to one of the strongest Supernova fleets in the country and despite the overcast morning eight visiting boats (from as far away as Girton, the Cotswolds and others from Glossop, Delph and Bartley) attended to challenge the eleven home boats. With some of the Bolton regulars unable to attend it was a wide open event.

As the foggy start cleared the fleet was greeted with light to moderate winds for the first two races then strong and gusty for the final race.

Race 1 - It was all down the start - as throughout the race positions hardly changed with the first six boats keeping the same positions for all 3 laps. It was local hero Tony Critchley that dominated winning the race decisively. Alex Reeve from Cotswold coming home in second and Bolton's Andy Flitcroft in third.

Race 2 - This race was a contrast to the first with positions throughout the fleet changing regularly. It was visiting boat (and Northern Travellers series winner) Steve Hawley from Bartley who led through the race, but was reeled in by Tony on the last run to take line honours. Andy taking third again.

As the wind increased 2 boats retired.

Race 3 - This was the most exciting race with strong, gusty winds which resulted in positions changing regularly. There were several capsizes across the fleet, at one stage there were two boats capsized and locked together. A number of boats were caught head to wind in the gusts and had to demonstrate the backwards sailing technique.

Steve was in sixth position at the first mark but managed to avoid the mayhem and showed great boat speed to take the win. Chris Aubrey steered his Mark1 well to take second and for the third time it was Andy in third.

Final Positions - Tony Critchley first, Steve Hawley second and a tie for third position with three sailors on 6 points. On count-back Chris Aubrey got the nod.

Thanks to Bolton for hosting and to the sailors who took part.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	1246	Tony Crithley	Bolton Sc	1	1	(DNF)	2
2nd	1263	Steve Hawley	Bartley SC	‑5	2	1	3
3rd	709	Chris Aubrey	Bolton SC	4	‑5	2	6
4th	1280	Alex Reeve	Cotswold SC	2	‑4	4	6
5th	1264	Andy Flitcroft	Bolton SC	‑3	3	3	6
6th	1125	Corin Bamford	Bolton SC	‑6	6	5	11
7th	1106	lan Thompson	Bolton SC	8	‑12	6	14
8th	1322	Dave Morris	Glossop SC	7	7	‑8	14
9th	1156	Matt Watkiss	Bolton SC	10	‑11	7	17
10th	1146	Noah Khawar	Bolton SC	‑12	8	10	18
11th	1127	Phil North	Girton SC	9	‑15	13	22
12th	1115	Kevin Band	Bolton SC	11	‑13	12	23
13th	1256	Paul Burton	Girton SC	15	‑16	9	24
14th	1254	Tony Bleasdale	Girton SC	14	10	(DNF)	24
15th	1301	Paul Mercer	Bolton SC	13	‑14	11	24
16th	479	Roger Prince	Bolton SC	16	9	(DNF)	25
17th	576	Billy Stonecliffe	Bolton SC	19	17	(DNS)	36
18th	1242	Gary Stephenson	Delph SC	17	(DNF)	DNS	37
19th	1183	Mike Lilley	Glossop SC	18	(DNF)	DNS	38