North West Senior Travellers at Southport SC

by Dave Woodhead on 27 Apr 2012 North West Senior Travellers 2012 took place at the second attempt in brilliant sunshine and light winds on Tuesday 24th April at Southport Sailing Club.

The first attempt a week earlier had been abandoned as the anemometer had been recording gusts of over 30 knots. On that occasion the GOM (grumpy old men – you have to born before 1962 to take part) had elected to watch the waves with a cup of tea from inside the clubhouse. (yes, you can get waves on Southport marine lake) A good decision, as a week later the lake was suitable for a Southport tourist brochure photo. Mind you some of the GOM were heard to mutter, 'could do with a bit more wind!'

With wind across the lake the course by necessity had to have short beats and long reaches. In the first race Tony Critchley from Bolton sailing club shot off to lead in his Supernova. It was just a question of whether anybody in the chasing pack could beat him on handicap. It was always going to be close and when the results were worked out he had managed to beat Dave Woodhead's Solo (Elton SC) by one second! Third place went to another Solo, John Cronshaw from Delph SC. In another remarkable result Tony Halliwell's Streaker (West Lancs YC) and Dave Eccles' Solo (Leigh and Lowton) tied on corrected time to share fourth position. A good mix, with three classes and five clubs represented in the first five boats.

In the second race Tony Critchley blew his chances by being over the line and having to return round the ends, giving Dave Woodhead a lap and half before Tony could catch him. This time there was no doubt as Dave took first place and Dave Eccles took second with Tony third. John Cronshaw was fourth and Tony Halliwell fifth. A pattern was emerging.

It was all to sail for in the third race which began like a repeat of the first one, with Tony Critchley shooting off to an early lead. Meanwhile Dave Woodhead got caught up in a bit of traffic for the first lap allowing Tony to cruise off into the distance. Dave eventually cleared the pack and tried to minimise Tony's early gain. Dave Eccles again showed good speed to be a comfortable third on the water, with John Cronshaw and Tony Halliwell also emerging from the chasing fleet. At the finish no one could be clear who had won and it was only at the prize giving that it was revealed that Dave Woodhead had pipped Tony Critchley on corrected time.

First two handed boat was Geoff McLardy and Dave Wood from Elton SC in an Enterprise in seventh place following on from the first five and Gary Catterall in sixth (Solo – Delph SC) Special mention should also be made of our 70 plus sailors, William Birch (Mirror) and Tony Leeson (Laser eps) both form Southport Sailing Club. See full results below.
Due to the re arranged date turnout for this meeting was down on normal but a bumper turnout is expected for the next meeting at Delph SC on Tuesday the 8th May.

Overall Results

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	PY	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1st	Solo	5040	Dave Woodhead		Elton SC	1150	-2	1	1	2
2nd	Supernova	525	Tony Critchley		Bolton SC	1068	1	-3	2	3
3rd	Solo	5261	Dave Eccles		Leigh and Lowton SC	1150	-4.5	2	3	5
4th	Solo	5162	John Cronshaw		Delph SC	1150	3	4	-5	7
5th	Streaker	1630	Tony Halliwell		West Lancs YC	1162	4.5	-5	4	8.5
6th	Solo	5144	Gary Catterall		Delph SC	1150	6	-7	6	12
7th	Enterprise	20400	G McLardy	D Wood	Elton SC	1117	-7	6	7	13
8th	Mirror S/H	67474	W Birch		Southport SC	1365	8	8	-12	16
9th	RS Vareo	297	Paul Salmon		Elton SC	1045	-10	10	8	18
10th	GP14	13806	P Norton	A Gray	Southport SC	1127	-11	9	9.5	18.5
11th	Laser EPS	245	T Leeson		Southport SC	1024	9	-13	9.5	18.5
12th	RS 200	1357	R Paul	K Roberts	Bolton SC	1057	-12	11	11	22
13th	RS Vareo	388	I Butler		Southport SC	1045	-14	12	14	26
14th	RS Vareo	504	E A James		Southport SC	1045	13	-14	13	26

GP14 Class Association website