GP14 Open at Burwain Sailing Club

by Innes Armstrong on 22 May 2012 GP14 Open was held at Burwain Sailing Club over the weekend, on Sunday 20th May 2012. Unlike previous weeks, Burwains open was a gentle affair with light and fickle winds, perhaps this had some influence on the numbers with 12 hardy sailors taking to the water.

The OOD Stephen Graham set a course that took us around the lake in the hope of some good beats. Innes Armstrong crewed by Tom Bennett from Burwain led the fleet around the windward mark closely followed by Patrick Hamilton crewed by Tom Blackburn BSC and Tim Harper and L Richardson from Southport. All was going well for Armstrong until the next windward mark when the wind completely dropped allowing Gary Dewhurst crewed by his wife Nicola from Burwain to pick up a faint zephyr and propel him to the front of the fleet, a lead which he never relinquished followed by Armstrong and Bennett and Martin Brennan crewed by Alistair Knott, HLSC, who had recovered from a poor start to finish strongly in third place.

The second race was a race of patience as the wind died completely with slight breezes appearing from different directions, which had boats beating on the same leg as boats trying to fly their spinnakers a very confusing affair. Besides this Armstrong held his nerve to lead all the way around followed by the Dewhursts, Gary and then Uncle Peter to finish second and third.

The last race was then a winner take all race with Innes and Gary battling it out, knowing that whoever finished in front of the other would take home the crown of champion. Thankfully the wind increased slightly and other competitors who sensed the rivalry stayed clear of the two contenders. It was Gary who made the most of a mistake by Innes on the first beat to lead around the course, until a close tacking duel saw Innes take penalty turns. However Innes was able to catch up on a downwind leg further into the race which allowed him to gain water at the final leeward mark and from there a tacking duel took place, which allowed Peter Dewhurst crewed by Julie Townson BSC to take line honours from Martin Brennan followed by Lee Tennant and Finn O’Hurley BSC. Innes continued to cover Gary’s tack and therefore making him the winner of the open.

All that was left was the prize giving and also a thank you, via a gift to the outgoing president of the GP association, Mr Ian Sinclair for all his hard work.

Overall Results:
GP14 Class Association website

Pos	Helm and Crew	Club	Sail No	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	I Armstrong and T Bennett	BSC	13447	2	1	4	3	1	7
2	G and N Dewhurst	BSC	13375	1	2	5	3	2	8
3	P Dewhurst and J Townson	BSC	12321	5	3	1	4	3	11
4	M Brennan and A Knott	HLSC	14063	3	6	2	5	4	14
5	L Tennant and F O’Hurley	BSC	14103	7	5	3	8	5	20
6	Land G Thomas	SSC	14091	4	8	6	10	6	24
7	T Harper and L Richardson	SSC	13806	6	4	8	10	7	25
8	P and G Graham	BSC	12306	8	7	9	15	8	32
9	I Sinclair and A Jones	Bolton SC	13930	9	11	7	16	9	36
10	T Partridge and M Mussell	BSC	12464	10	9	10	19	10	39
11	P Hamilton and T Blackburn	BSC	13585	12	10	11	21	11	44
12	J Dewhurst and S Aspden	BSC	13224	11	12	13	23	12	48