K1 Northern Championship at Burton Sailing Club, sponsored by Ovington boats and Craftinsure

K1 Northern area Championship at Burton © S. King

The K1 fleet made a welcome return to one of its favourite venues of Burton Sailing Club where our first ever National Championship was held some 13 years ago.

With the beautiful Indian summer in full swing, the forecasts was entirely different whichever service you chose to look at! The format was to be some inspirational training by class guru Simon Hawkes on the Saturday followed by a one day open on the Sunday.

Saturday started murky with a thunderstorm warning in place for later in the afternoon, so Coach Simon Hawkes was keen to get the 8 boats participating in the free class sponsored training, on the water as quick as possible. The Sun came out and with a gusty 5-15 knots of wind many short races were enjoyed with coach filming and shouting friendly advice. This was followed by a leisurely class sponsored lunch (huge thanks to lovely Linda Swallow who baked a fabulous Quiche and chocolate cake and Lois Hudson for providing Sandwiches and snacks) during which Simon pointed out many learnings in sail trim and tactics to the enthralled audience. Another quick sail was then undertaken to put some of the lessons into practice before visible lightning stopped play for the day. Without a doubt an excellent training session and everyone agreed that the had learned huge amounts, so a big thank you to Simon. Who says K1 sailors don't know how to have a wild time? as we sat there that evening drinking beer with the lights off in Burtons clubhouse enjoying a panoramic lightning display over Foremark lake and beyond. Spectacular!

Sunday morning started with torrential rain and gloom but with the promise of a break in the rain for a few hours in the middle of the day Despite the dire forecast (which had put some off), 10 visitors joined the local fleet to brave the conditions. The fleet launched into a shifty wind from the NE of 8-20 kts and near biblical rainfall but sure enough by the middle of the first race, the rain had largely cleared. With the forecast not looking great for later Sunday afternoon, the excellent PRO of Malcolm Hall chose to try and run 3 races back to back before the weather worsened further! This was achieved through efficient race management, despite the challenging shifty conditions and all boats were ashore before the rain really started again.

Race 1 and Mark Stones led the way, with Richard, Simon and Geoff hot on his heels. Jeremy Hudson, Phil King and Chris swallow leading the chasing pack which was tightly bunched and very close racing throughout. Finally Simon managed to sneak past Mark with Richard Sims in third place.

Worthy Winner Simon Hawkes - K1 Northern area Championship at Burton - photo © L. Hudson

Race 3 started in a little more wind and Richard Sims took a firm grip on the race while Mark, Geoff and Jeremy fought it out trying to catch him. It finished in that order with Simon heading for a much deserved early shower.

So, overall, Simon Hawkes managed the win with Local boy Richard Sims second and Mark Stones third. Masters trophy went to Derek Stroud, Seniors to Mark Savage and Veterans to Geoff King. The improvements by those that had attended the training, were very evident with some much improved performances and close racing throughout the fleet. All agreed that Burton sailing club is a real gem of a venue and we offer huge thanks to our series sponsors Ovington boats and Craftinsure insurance services.

Many thanks to Burton for providing such a fun and well run event and we look forward to returning for another battle on the Costa del Foremark next year. Our next events are Salcombe, Weymouth, Loch Lomond and then our end of Season at Broxbourne.