Contender Travellers Trophy round 5 at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club

The fifth instalment of the contender travellers series was held on the 25th/26th May, co-sharing with the Vago class at the picturesque venue of Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club. With some arriving early on the Friday making use of the excellent club facilities and others arriving throughout Saturday morning. A good tun out of fifteen contenders taking part including one absentee of ten years in the name of Martin Metcalfe.

After a briefing inside the clubhouse, sails raised and boats launched we headed out to the start line on the West end of the reservoir, with the wind coming from the east the race area made use of the full length of the reservoir with a lead RIB as a pathfinder around the buoys.

Race 1, a three lap race with a long beat and a zig-zag of reaches taking us back to the start/finish line, Martin Jones Led the 1st lap in the shifty conditions until covered by Tom Hooton, Ed and Ben Holden, with a lot of place changing throughout further down the fleet, the top three finished in that order.

Race 2 and the format was the same with a small change to the windward mark position, the wind had increased a little in the warm conditions with the sun making an appearance, Tom led followed by Ed and Ben who were clear from the chasing fleet and finished in that order.

Race 3 and the wind was now gradually easing, this time Tom took at a huge lead sailing off with Ed trying to real him in and Carl Tagoe this time taking third spot.

With sailing over for the day we headed back to the clubhouse, generous portions of pasta and meatballs (with a vegetarian option for the non-meat eaters) was served from Jenny from the kitchen, all washed down with a selection of drinks.

Sunday dawned with light winds and sporadic drizzle, the wind had shifted round to the south. Some fine boat tuning by those desperate to find that little bit extra was taken place before going on the water. The race area took place at the lower end of the reservoir with shorter legs as the wind was now from the south. Making your way up the beat was tricky as the wind looked lighter but more consistent on the left and shifty and unpredictable to the right.

Contender Travellers Trophy round 5 at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Ian Caswell

Race 4 and Tom took off with father Bill just behind, by the end of the second beat they had established a huge lead, as they approached the windward mark the wind just stopped and they crawled slowly towards the mark allowing Tony who was coming in on the port lay line still trapezing to catch up, Bill and Tony changed places a few time as Tom disappeared to a big lead, with Tony in Second and Carl in third at the finish.

Race 5 and guess who won? Yes Tom again, this time followed at the finish by Rodger and Ed.

With a convincing series Tom took an early shower (I may take a closer look at his Jim Hunt sail).

Race 6 and with a poor start Martin Jones went far right instead of following the fleet only to find out it paid off with a nice shifting lift taking him to the windward mark where the middle of the sailing area had huge headers coming in from the left, with a comfortable lead and only a two lap race Martin took line honours and the first time ever winning a race which led to banter and congratulations from fellow sailors.

A Big Thank you to all staff at Yorkshire Dales Sailing for the smooth running of the event.

Next weekend the fleet head off to Oxford Sailing Club that is hosting the BCA training day with a multi world and British champion on hand to check your rig on the 1st June, this is followed by the rescheduled TT 2 on the Sunday. This is the last event before we head down to Paignton Sailing club for the British Contender National Championships on 13th-16th July.

Contender Travellers Trophy round 5 at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Ian Caswell

Overall Results: