Bartley Beast 2023/24 - Week 1

Bartley SC was once again pleased to welcome visiting sailors on Saturday 11th November for the start of the 2023 Bartley Beast series. Based on the established format of four races in the day, with alternate double hander and single handers races run back-to-back through four consecutive months from November to February of each year.

The chilly winter morning in November brought a 6 knot westerly, likely to decrease over the day, better than the very light wind forecast that had put off some important visitors. The 54 entrants included Bartley members and visitors looking for the opportunity for some competitive sailing and some great company over the course of the day, but more of that later.

The race management team led by Mark Reddington supported with a guest appearance from Phil Scott and willing members including a cohort form Birmingham University sailing team, got racing under way at 11 with the first double hander race. The westerly direction meant some shifty conditions.... a fleet of boats including Merlins, Albacores and RS 400 / 200, a Scorpion, a GP and a Graduate got under way.

A competitive start saw Richard Adams crewed by Sean Anderson in the Merlin round the windward mark first followed by the Merlin of Rob Kennaugh and Andy Prosser.

The breeze continued to be fickle, which lead to the fleet being well spread out behind the leaders with the Albacore, Scorpion and the 505 ending up in the front five.

The start of their second race presented the same challenges to the race management...The Midland SC Merlin fleet were in the mix all day.... Chris Martin and Josh Oates in the scorpion were competitive all day. Nick Eaves and Kouros Korbaschi pushed hard in the RS400 with the RS200 of Caroline Whitehouse and daughter Sophie always present.

Special mention must be made of Paul Keeling crewed by his daughter Isobel in their National 12 who managed to finish second on the water to the 505 of Charlie Chandler and Ollie Mills ending up winning the race by a margin of one and a quarter minutes!

The single handers fleet had a more difficult day, their first race brought the best winds of the day. The fleet headed upwind on the first leg with Phantoms leading the way, Supernova, and a collection of ILCA / Lasers, Solos, OK, K1s. Line honours in race one went to Adam Froggatt in his Phantom followed by Andy Davis in his OK our eventual winner.

With the wind dropping away to nothing just before their second race leaving the fleet with a drift back for tea and cake as racing was abandoned for the day.

The overall results saw Rob Kennaugh lead the way in the double hander races, and Andy Davis In the single handers.

Congratulations to our leaders with 3 rounds to go it is all in play as we look forward. It was great to see Midlands clubs represented.

A big thank you must be said to the race management team for setting great courses and the shore duty crew as well as Tilly's galley for keeping us all fed during the day. Thanks also to the work behind the scenes of all the people who have made this event possible.

Bartley SC look forward to opening the gates and welcoming the fleets again on 9th December and 13th January and 10th February 2024 for the remaining instalments of "Bartley Beast", entries are open now on www.bartleysailingclub.com and entry on the day is available.

Doublehanded Fleet Results after day 1:

Singlehanded Fleet Results after day 1: