Solo NW Senior Travellers at Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club

The club's Solo Open concludes a very busy 2 weeks which have included 70th Anniversary celebrations, NW Senior Travellers event and some RYA Training as well as regular club racing.

The forecast rain did not deter 16 sailors, including one from Scotland, who arrived at the start line. One absentee was Steve Denison who had won the Club's Founders Plate racing the week before and the Solo Northern Championship a fortnight ago. Innes Armstrong, who is a past winner, got a good port end start and established a clear lead over the fleet.

However, some had suffered from a messy start including Oliver Whitehead and Jack Hopkins who had to return and restart. Whitehead meanwhile was left in 'irons'. From that position, Hopkins had to struggle to make progress in the competitive fleet. Andy McKee, Scorpion Champion, had borrowed a Solo and had a good enough start to hunt down Armstrong. In a tacking duel, McKee managed to gain the advantage on the line, with Lee Tennant in third place.

After the lunch break, two races were sailed back-to-back. This time, Hopkins made no mistake and got clear away into a lead that he held to the finish, as there were few opportunities in the south west wind to pass. Steve Graham gave chase to hold second spot from club team-mate Armstrong, who was at his consistent best.

In the third race, Hopkins again started well to lead at the first mark, which was closely contested. He was able to hold this lead to the finish and win the event, while Adam Savage rounded second, also held to the finish, despite close chasing from Chris Massey of the host club.

Steve Graham managed to get to 4th place after gaining the advantage in an incident between Armstrong and Whitehead, and clinch 3rd place overall. Armstrong's steady sailing gave him the runner-up spot.

Overall Results: