Elton Sailing Club Championship

Elton Sailing Club staged their much anticipated 'Club Championship' event over the weekend to mark the end of a buoyant and succesfull Spring and Summer season and as a lead into the forthcoming Winter Series starting with the 'Frostbite Series' commencing Sun 7th Nov followed by the 'Snowflake Series' commencing Sun January 2nd both of which are open to visitors and most classes of dinghy.

The Championship started on Saturday at 1pm with 25 boats of varying classes taking to the water in a shifty force 2/3 with the wind blowing down the full length of the reservoir enabling the Race Officer for the weekend to set a challenging course with two long beats and some interesting off wind legs which varied between reaches and runs depending on when you happened to be there. After a clean start the race for the windward mark was on and saw Eddie Brooks/Jane Brooks sailing his Albacore round first followed by Mike Seger, Phantom, Darren Nield, Laser and Joe Nield, Albacore closely followed by Dave Woodhead in his newly aquired turbo charged Solo. With one lap completed the lead was being fiercly contested between Eddied Brooks/Jane Brooks Albacore and Dave Woodhead Solo. Lap two saw places changing regulalrly with battles going on throughout the fleet to produce some interesting sailing. After three strenuous laps and 1 hour's sailing the race officer shortened course and after the Handicap results had been calculated Race One went to Dave Woodhead Solo with Dave Moore's Streaker second.

Race Two started in similar conditions and using the same course with the placings once again being contested between Brooks, Woodhead and Moore. Dave Woodhead took the eventual honours followed by Brooks in second and Seger third in the Phantom and Dave Moore fourth.

Prizes galore were the order of the day and after the prize giving for Saturday all retired to the bar with much talk of what was to follow on Sunday with three more races in the series scheduled for an 11am start.

Sunday dawned with a lot less wind and a 180 degree shift from Saturday, but no rain which was a bonus. Race One was underway at 11am prompt and saw the fleet split into two with half staying on starboard and eventually coming out on top as opposed to the ones who choose to go on port over to the wall and approach the windward mark from that direction, losing out on the final approaches due to the flukey winds coming over the wall. Race One was once again won by Dave Woodhead in his Solo.

Race two started in a decreasing wind and after two arduous laps saw a change in fortune for Mike Seger in the Phantom, who managed to get away from the fleet and cross the line after lap three, just as the wind dropped completely leaving the rest of the fleet stranded resulting in an eleven minute gap between first and second on corrected time.

Race three was in doubt for a while but the wind gods smiled and provided us with a workable light breeze and a much shorter course. After three slow laps the line was once again crossed first by the Phantom when once again the wind died completely but this time Dave Woodhead managed to cross taking the win on corrected from Seger and Brooks third.

The emphasis of the weekend was to reward the sailors for their enthusiasm and support throughout the year and the introduction of a 'pro/am' pairing system for the Sunday races brought many of the fleet other than the usual 1st, 2nd, 3rds etc. into the prizes.

Overall Results:

Saturday
1st Dave Woodhead, Solo
2nd Eddie / Jane Brooks, Albacore

Sunday
1st Dave Woodhead, Solo
2nd Mike Seger, Phantom
3rd Eddie Brooks / Lucy Salmon, Albacore

Overall
1st Dave Woodhead
2nd Eddie brooks / Jane Brooks / Lucy Salmon
3rd Mike Seger

1st pro/am, Mike Seger / Robin Gascoigne
1st Master, Darren Nield
1st Lady Helm, Anne Stephenson