Solo Open at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

by John Reekie 20 May 2024 17:53 BST 18-19 May 2024

Sponsored by Impact Marine & Winder Boats

17 helms made the trip to Bassenthwaite Sailing Club at the weekend for the Solo open. They were greeted with sun and panorama that only Bassenthwaite can offer up. The wind was looking a bit light, but into the first day we ventured our hearts filled with hope.

The fleet set off on the first race and snakes and ladders would become a feature of the weekend. Innes drew first blood with the win after he escaped with Richard Instone but there were some traps to be had. Once those traps had been tripped Richard got taken over by Stephen Denison to take 3rd and 2nd respectively.

Licking his wounds from a relatively easy 4th to 9th ladders session in the first race it was John Reekie's time to shine with a rather handsome lead. Queue a few traps later and it was getting a bit tense at the front as the ever consistent Denison was grinding away at that leader to no avail.

After the pie and peas on Saturday night the day dawned bright but rather windless. This lasted close to midday when a couple of nippers weighing 70 kilos between them were making it look windy in a 29er. This got the attention of the race officer so he headed out for a double check. This was a shrewd move and shortly after the fleet were called out to play.

The first race of the day (race 3) was a tense affair with nobody making a killer blow with a rather tricky top reach compressing the fleet. But a break there was and it was John Reekie getting the gap to the finish to take the third race with Denison in third.

At the end of the race 3 there was a fairly significant switch to the right which necessitated a course reconfiguration and we got away before the time limit came in. It was a tight battle between John and Innes with Innes just able to make the break when it counted. It was swinging all the way to the line with Stuart Norris pressuring Innes. If Stuart took the race then John would be the winner but Innes got the final race win when it counted and took the open on countback. The ever consistent Denison was third just one point back counting 3 second places.

Thanks must go to the race officer and his team who made the best of the conditions to get 4 races on the board in very challenging conditions.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail_No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	5813	Innes Armstrong	Burwain	1	3	‑4	1	5
2nd	5407	John Reekie	Bassenthwaite SC	‑9	1	1	3	5
3rd	6073	Stephen Denison	RYA	2	2	2	‑4	6
4th	6076	Richard Instone	Chase Sailing Club	3	‑5	3	5	11
5th	5312	Stuart Norris	Shropshire SC	‑11	10	7	2	19
6th	4715	Justine Davenport	Burwain	‑10	6	5	8	19
7th	5837	Linda Instone	Chase Sailing Club	6	7	6	‑11	19
8th	5109	Rory Yardley	Bassenthwaite SC	4	9	‑11	7	20
9th	5408	Tony King	Derwent	‑14	4	8	9	21
10th	5617	Stephen Restall	Elton SC	8	‑12	9	6	23
11th	5131	Rich Critchley	Bass/Wish SC	5	8	(DNC)	DNC	32
12th	6084	Ian Hopwood	Bassenthwaite SC	7	15	10	(DNC)	32
13th	4993	Ian Hall	Bassenthwaite SC	‑15	14	12	10	36
14th	5203	Mike Cowan	Bassenthwaite SC	13	11	(DNC)	DNC	43
15th	5360	Cliff English	Bass and South Shields SC	12	16	(DNC)	DNC	47
16th	4518	Hugh Godfrey	Bassenthwaite SC	17	13	(DNC)	DNC	49
17th	4232	Richard Broughton	Bassenthwaite SC	16	17	(DNC)	DNC	52
18th	5979	John Colegrave	Yorkshire Dales SC	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	57