Bumper open season ahead for the Chase Sailing Club
by Michelle Evans 19 Mar 2019 23:31 PDT
2018 GP14 Chase Open © Beth Tate
After a busy winter at Chase SC the club throws its doors open once more this year to host GP14, Topper, Blaze and RYA events as well as the return of its popular winter pursuit race.
First up is the GP14 Open on 07 April. This is the second evert of the year in the GP14 Midland Bell Series. Last year's GP14 Midland Areas attracted the biggest turnout of the season aside from the GP14 World Championships and this year's one day open is set to attract 20+ boats with a big home fleet. The first of three scheduled races will be 11am, entry fee £15.
On 19 May, Chase will host round 2 of the RYA Midland Junior Traveller Series. This new series for 2019 is open to any sailor under the age of 19 on the 31 of August 2019 who sails at a Midlands-based club.
The Toppers are back on 29 June as part of the Topper Midland Traveller Series. Home club of 2018 Midland Topper Traveller Series overall winner Greg Cornes, and current Topper Zone Squad sailor Taylor Berry there will be a good home turn out. Despite a lack of wind last year 31 sailors still turned up with 15 from the home club, including one slightly more mature sailor!
In the autumn the Club will host the Blaze Inland Championships on 05 and 06 October. Chase has one of the largest, and arguably strongest, Blaze fleets in the UK having produced three national champions since 2015 in Ben Pickering, Eden Hyland and Charlie Chandler. Eden and Josh Hyland did particularly well in the recent Sailjuice winter series helping the Club to 2nd place in the Top Club rankings and will be looking to bring that form to home turf.
Finally, the Club will run its Polar Pursuit race on 21 December which is a must for hardy winter sailors wanting to avoid the last shopping Saturday before Christmas.
Speaking ahead of the season, Sailing Secretary Alex Walton said: "We look forward to welcoming visitors to all of our open events in 2019. Our club racing is that perfect mix of friendly but extremely competitive and we always ensure excellent race management to go with our top-class facilities. We are a volunteer run club and members are very supportive of open events whether that be through running the galley and bar, safety and running the racing. We can't guarantee the weather, but we can guarantee a warm welcome!"
For any enquiries please email Alex Walton via or visit the Chase Facebook page.