There was a turnout of 20 boats for the fourth event of the Gill series held at Leigh and Lowton SC. Unfortunately the forecast of light winds over the weekend turned out to be accurate.
Despite this the fleet enjoyed some very close and competitive racing with three fleet races on the Saturday and a pursuit race and the final fleet race on the Sunday.
In race 1 Andy McKee and Clare Hunter made the best of the shift up the first beat taking the early lead, followed by Steve and Joanne Sallis. On the offwind legs Steve and Joanne pulled through to take the lead, which they held to the finish. Andy and Clare held second and Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne recovered well after getting on the wrong side of the first beat to take third.
In race 2 it was again Andy and Clare who got the first beat right, leading at the windward mark. The chase was led by Andy Bayliss and Vicky Woods and with these two boats breaking clear of the fleet it looked like a two boat race, but Graham and Zoe closed in on the leaders with the 3 boats rounding the last mark virtually overlapped. Andy and Vicky managed to break through the cover on the final short leg to the finish to take the race from Andy and Clare with Graham and Zoe taking another third.
Race 3 saw Gavin and Sabrina Willis take the early lead from Steve and Joanne with Graham and Zoe in hot pursuit. Graham and Zoe used their downwind speed to get an inside overlap and pass Steve and Joanne to take second and then repeated the manoeuvre on the next lap to take the lead from Gavin and Sabrina. Steve and Joanne then copied the move on the final lap to pass Gavin and Sabrina, while at the same time just holding off Andy and Vicky.
On Saturday evening the fleet enjoyed the warm weather with drinks on the lawn until the barbecue was fired up, at which point it inevitably began to rain. Fortunately this freshened up the oppressive heat and wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of the campers.
On Sunday morning a pursuit race was held with handicaps based on the age of the boats, meaning the oldest vintage boats started some ten minutes ahead of the latest double bottom designs. Alan Mason and Mary Young in N1607, a 51 year old Procter Mk 4A sailed particularly well in the pursuit race with their best performance of the weekend to finish clear winners but only by a small margin! The accuracy of the handicapping system resulted in almost all the fleet finishing within minutes, Gareth Williams and Katie Hughes from the home club sailing N3162 Bicycle Clips moved up to second on the last leg followed by Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson in a 43 year old Starfish and a pack of double bottomed boats led by Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne only a few yards behind. The pursuit race has now become an annual event adding greatly to the fun of the summer regatta.
In race 4 it was all to play for with any of the leading four boats able to take the meeting. Steve and Joanne picked the right shifts up the first beat to take the lead closely followed by Graham and Zoe. Down the next reach Graham and Zoe again found enough speed to get the inside overlap and take the lead which they never relinquished. Steve and Joanne looked safe in second until the final full beat when they sailed into a hole in the wind allowing first Andy and Vicky and then Andy and Clare through. Steve and Joanne fought back on the final set of downwind legs snatching back third place back from Andy and Clare just before the final mark rounding.
Overall Results 1st N3492 Graham Camm and Zoe Ballantyne Burghfield SC 5pts 2nd N3436 Steve and Joanne Sallis Hykeham SC 6pts 3rd N3481 Andy Bayliss and Vicky Woods Hykeham SC 8pts 4th N3466 Andy McKee and Clare Hunter Burghfield SC 8pts
1st AC N3162 Gareth Williams and Katie Hughes Leigh & Lowton SC.
1st Vintage N2266 Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson Yeadon SC.
by Steve Sallis and Howard Chadwick
9:41 PM Thu 2 Jul 2009 GMT
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