36R Vane Leech Trophy at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 24 May 13:06 BST
11 May 2024
36R Vane Leech Trophy at Fleetwood © Paul Fishwick
The forecast was for light variable winds with lots of sunshine. Being very warm, tends to attract lots of family Seasiders and crabbing folk. You can't win them all.
Four Skippers with a boat each and we kindly had on hand 2 volunteer pole guys and Paul with the score sheet.
The wind now drifting from the South East corner gave the chance for a 2 point win run leg. Three ups and downs to hopefully complete a full round before lunch break. Peter Whiteside, fresh from the 36R National's was hardly dropping a point. Alan Crawford and Peter Guest seemed to be earning the rest between themselves, whereas Tony was always a few yards behind.
Tony seemed to be having problems with his knicker elastic. ( this is tied to the tiller arm to keep in line, with some tension ) .With it eventually coming totally undone, a retie helped the very next leg for a 3 point win just before lunch. This seemed to be his main problem from the start then, as now the vane was steering a little better.
After lunch the wind had swung 180 degrees and was coming from the far steps to the west of the lake. A look up heavenly, you noticed the clouds were still coming from the East, something to do with sheer levels I hear, but strange to admit we were now sailing for the 3 points out. Working like clockwork, we were all able to use our poles in good beat fashion and a nice run back down the lake on return. A few of us were managing to get up the lake in 3 beats or even less for Peter W.
The last race of this second round flummoxed us all. Two boats set off and returned eventually to the very start. From the 2 boats that set off earlier, even our Peter, (local champion) sailed at least half way up the lake and also returned to the start bank.The wind then died to virtually nothing and we had a limp home return leg before retiring for the day.
A good day sailing and just short of 10,000 steps for those counting. A well earned waik and would have been a lot more if we hadn't had our helpful hands to assist.... Thankyou. Terry and Bob.
Results:
1 Peter Whiteside 25 pts
2 Peter Guest 18 pts
3 Alaan Crawford 9pts
4 Tony Wilson 8pts