RS400 Trident UK Northern Tour at Bala Sailing Club
by Hamish Gledhill 15 May 11:23 BST
10-11 May 2025
Bala was the venue for the third round of the Trident UK Northern Tour, which also doubled up as the Northern Championship as part of the Rooster National Tour.
It's a while since the RS400's visited Bala, and for those with good memories will remember mile long windward leeward courses with steady F4 breezes that made fantastic racing.
Unfortunately, whilst the country had been basking in hot sunshine for days on end, the forecast for the weekend was not great, with light winds blowing across the lake, which may have contributed to the disappointing turnout, however the welcome by the club and the usual close racing still made an excellent weekend.
As the first race start time approached the wind appeared to fill in from the east, which raised hopes of a constant wind, but the bigger talking point was where were Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst (Beaver SC)? Their boat was there, but their 2 mile gentle Sound of Music-esque stroll in the hills ended up as a 4 hour scramble over screes and cliffs to make it back in time for the start, which they did... just!
Unfortunately, the wind was not as steady as we'd hoped with shifts of over 90 degrees coming through every 10minutes which made the OOD's ability to lay a course more or less impossible, resulting in an inevitable postponement. However after approximately 45 minutes the first of the three races got away. The racing was inevitably tight, and the conditions meant that there were snakes and ladders all over the course.
Tacking with the spinnaker up was not uncommon, as was sitting on the deck on starboard, with the burgee suggesting the spinnaker ought to be up on port! In the hot sunshine the conditions certainly got the pulse rate up and got you a bit hot under the collar.
As the fleet headed in after the three races, there had been three separate race winners, with Dave and Caroline Exley (Leigh and Lowton SC) winning the first race, Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin (Llangorse SC) winning the second race and Ollie and Esther winning the third.
After cooling down, everyone enjoyed the hospitality from Bala Sailing Club, with a few beers as the sun set, whilst enjoying a take-away curry kindly organised by club members.
As the fleet assembled for the next day the wind looked lighter, but it filled in nicely half an hour before the scheduled start. Unfortunately, it was up to its old tricks again, with huge shifts resulting in a lengthy postponement. The same swirls and holes resulted in the same tricky conditions, with yours truly, taking a quick swim to cool down, however Ollie and Esther mastered the tricky conditions winning all three races, whilst being pushed hard by all other boats on the water.
Special mention must go to Jon and Nicky who swapped roles in the last race and led comfortably for the first lap. You will have to attend the next Northern Tour event to hear how Nicky rated Jon as a crew.
At the prize-giving, there was a draw for Trident UK Vouchers after which Ollie Groves thanked Yorkshire Dales SC for a great event.
Trident UK Vouchers were presented to:
£20 Hamish Gledhill and Alistair Rimmer (West Riding Sailing Club) - ironically giving me responsibility for writing the report!!
£15 Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin (Llangorse SC)
£10 Alex Oyston and Catherine Hyde (Tynemouth SC)
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1526 | Ollie Groves | Esther Parkhurst | Beaver SC | ‑2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2nd | 1460 | Dave Exley | Caroline Exley | Leigh and Lowton SC | 1 | 3 | ‑5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| 3rd | 1502 | Jon Heissig | Nicky Griffin | Langorse SC | 4 | 1 | 2 | ‑5 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 4th | 1511 | Hamish Gledhill | | West Riding SC | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | ‑5 | 18 |
| 5th | 1456 | Alex Oyston | Catherine Hyde | Tynemouth SC | ‑5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 21 |