Arthur George Memorial Pursuit Race at Burton Sailing Club
by Tim Bird 30 Sep 2019 13:40 PDT
29 September 2019
Arthur George Memorial Pursuit Race at Burton © Angela George
Sunday 29th of September saw the first running of the Arthur George Memorial Pursuit Race at Burton Sailing Club.
Arthur was a long time club member, an enthusiastic competitor in Merlin Rockets, 505s and Flying Fifteen fleets who contributed to all aspects of club life at BSC. Arthur unfortunately lost his battle with cancer earlier this year at the untimely age of 62. Arthur enjoyed all sailing including supporting new members on RYA Level 1 and 2 but particularly enjoyed club Pursuit Racing.
Race officer Dennis Cartwright was faced with an unstable weather pattern and the prospect of a 140 degree wind change forecast later in the day. Fortunately the wind remained reasonably stable for the 80 minute race.
The first starter of the 21 boat fleet was Colette Emery in a Laser 4.7 leading the fleet away. The Laser Radial sailed by Greg Rimmer was soon closing down the gap on Colette and ended up leading for much of the race. The lower handicap boats were not out of it however as the wind freshened enough to allow full trapezing conditions for the 505 of Adam Kenney and Tommy Hooton who were by now on the same leg as the lead boat and travelling fast. With only minutes remaining, Malcolm Hall and Martin Nelson in their Flying Fifteen briefly lead the fleet only to be overhauled by Kenny/Hooton in the 505 with seconds to spare.
Everyone enjoyed the event and afterwards 'raised a glass' in memory of Arthur George and his love of Pursuit Racing. The pursuit race will now feature annually in the Burton Sailing Club programme.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Crew | Class |
|---|
| 1 | Adam Kenny | Tommy Hooton | 505 |
| 2 | Malcolm Hall | Martin Nelson | Flying Fifteen |
| 3 | Tim Bird | Andrew George | Merlin Rocket |
| 4 | Greg Rimmer | | Laser Radial |
| 5 | Mike Pain | | Laser |
| 6 | Pete Needham | Brian West | Flying Fifteen |
| 7 | Keith Pallett | John Skinner | Flying Fifteen |
| 8 | Ian Barlow | | Super Nova |
| 9 | Karl Morley | | Aero 7 |
| 10 | Stuart Turnbull | | Phantom |
| 11 | Matt Pritchard | | Phantom |
| 12 | Carl Avery | | Laser |
| 13 | Bill Hooton | | Contender |
| 14 | Neil Rabbits | John Emery | 505 |
| 15 | Matt Pallett | Zoe Taylor | Flying Fifteen |
| 16 | John Gay | | Laser |
| 17 | Steve Mason | Donald Harrison | Flying Fifteen |
| 18 | Colette Emery | | Laser 4.7 |
| 19 | David Cordy | Mike Hampton | Flying Fifteen |
| 20 | Steve Lockie | Rob Stevenson | Flying Fifteen |
| 21 | Rod Jones | | Solo |