Bala Sailing Club Long Distance Weekend
by Rob Sloggett 1 Jul 06:45 BST
27-28 June 2026
Wind the clock back four years and coming out of Covid, the Bala SC long distance weekend struggled to top 30 boats, which is incredible when you think that our club sits on the longest lake in Wales which on the right day has the perfect SW straight up the lake.
Wind the clock forward to present day and the event now tops 70+ boats with a number of fleets making it an annual drop off.
Maybe it's because the club has advertised the event better or maybe as people have attended the other opens we host, word has got around. The timing, a few weeks before the Birkett makes it a perfect final opportunity to get things together. All we know is that the event continues to get great feedback and its popularity grows.
So after 2025's very light winds resulting in only 1 days racing, it was great to see a useable forecast for both days and in the last week before the event, the final group of weather watchers entered on-line and we knew we had another great event on the cards.
The Saturday greeted us with a nice 6 to 8 knot SW which was perfect for most of the fleet but did not really give the larger multihulls the opportunity they were hoping for. The Race Officer set a great course that forced the boats to use both shore lines and with the windward mark set well past the weather station, tactics finding the shifts and minimising the wind shadows from the hills was critical. The start was run from the race office and with an outer mark pin set 2/3 across the ¾ mile wide lake, the 65 boats which came to the start line for a single start waited for the 3 minute sequence to conclude and then we were off. The RCO supported by a sighting boat on the pin end spotted a couple of boats over and signalled an individual recall, leaving the rest of the fleet to "charge" the 3+ miles down the lake.
This year the club ran the same format as last year, with the main fleet running to a target time of 4 hours which would normally be 3 to 4 laps, but also to encourage our juniors and cruisers to enjoy the full length of the lake, we also run a fixed 1 lap fleet. It was great to welcome 4 juniors and 5 cruisers to this class. We also offer this short fleet up to newcomers or less experienced competitors who want to experience the distance of an endurance race but are not ready for the full hours. This year, that included Richard Askew and Shibani Sharples who had only recently joined the club (Shib being new to sailing), booked out a club Dart 16 (with no kite) and got stuck into their first race! Well done you guys on your 7th place Saturday!
The main fleet was very mixed, ranging from Toppers, GP14s, a great group of Weta's, a strong fleet of RS200's and everything else in between. A few to note was the return of Sam and Phil in the VX1, Justine and Chris in a brand new Zenith 2 (the first of four produced we are led to believe) running off a supplied PY of 1010 from Hartley Boats. Our new Junior Commodore Tom was out on his Topaz 12x Cat adding to a great showing from the club with 26 members out on the water (including Junior members Charlie and Aiden in their Toppers and Molly, Joe and Rhys crewing in the full race). We were also joined by junior members Grace and Reuben from Bass/L&L SC.
That does mean that 39 boats on the start line were from visitors and it is great to acknowledge the support the sailing community gives this event bearing in mind that Bala SC is a wholly volunteer ran club up at the top end of North Wales..
So at the end of day 1, Chay Brevitt (Junior Helm) and Neil Smith took the top spot in their 420 for the single lap fleet and Sam Watson and Phil Hodgkinson in the VX1 held strong to take the lead in the full distance race.
Sunday morning was forecast to have lighter winds and a NE. With only a short leg to what would be the windward mark, the RCO took the decision to send them back down the lake but with a down-wind start. It is always great to see kites being hoisted about 20 seconds before the final flag goes down and the concentration of the helm as they wonder if they have judged it "just right".... With a lower 3 hour target for the main fleet, as anticipated the wind dropped off as the morning went on, making the shorter laps much more tactical.
Following last years lighter winds, the Sailing Instructions had been adjusted to allow a longer time out and this has been key to ensuring that everyone who takes the time to travel to us, gets the best opportunity to get a score recorded. The RCO's monitored the fleet and made a decision to shorten just at the right time hopefully making it a beneficial and enjoyable weekend for all.
The single lap race was contested by the 4 juniors with the cruiser fleet giving it a rest and Chay and Neil took top spot again securing them back to back wins. In the full distance race, the lighter winds were just too light for the VX 1 pushing them down to 5th on the day and 2nd overal and allowing Mike Allen (who had taken 2nd place the previous day) to take top spot securing the overall win with his daughter Molly in their RS200.
The club presents "The John Hunter Trophy" to the highest place Bala SC member on the Saturday. John is a long term member of the club who provides all of our amazing photos and it was great to see Mike and Molly pick up that accolade this year.
We have already reserved the date for 2027 as the 19th and 20th June, so if you would like to take part, it would be great to get the entry list up even further.
Just a final thanks to all of our members who volunteered over the weekend to make this event such an ongoing success. With 5 safety boats each day, a full race office, galley, bar, registration etc it probably takes 40 people over the weekend to make this happen. That is 20% of our registered members contributing to the running of the event!
Overall Results:
1 lap fleet
Highest Placed Junior - Chay Brevitt & Neil Smith (420)
Highest Place Cruiser - Gary & Julie Darch (Drascombe Lugger)
Full duration fleet
1st - Mike and Molly Allen (RS200)
2nd - Sam Watson and Phil Hodgkinson (VX1)
3rd & Highest place female helm - Emma Robertson {and Ben Gregory} (RS200)
4th - Steve Pooley (K1)
5th Justin Jones & Chris Anderson (Zenith 2)
John Hunter Trophy (Highest place Bala ASC Member on Saturday)
Mike and Molly Allen (RS200)