Chase sailors celebrate successful autumn
by Michelle Evans 7 Nov 2019 07:29 PST
Ben Pickering winning the Blaze Inlands © Peter Makin
The Chase Sailing Club has been going from strength to strength since being refilled in 2013 following three years of being drained for dam repairs.
Chase has always had a good reputation for developing good sailors most recently producing four Blaze National Champions in five years and a number of world class GP14 sailors. 2019 has been a busy year for the Club's travelling sailors competing in a variety of classes including the Blaze, GP14, Merlin, OK, Solo, RS400, Laser, Topper, Hunter 505, VX One, Osprey, Phantom to name a few with the autumn being particularly fruitful.
In October Eden Hyland won the Osprey fleet at the Rutland Symmetric Open with Mark Hartley. It's been a busy month for Eden having sailed the full 24hrs of the WLYC 24hr race in a GP14 with brother Josh (finishing 11th) and taking part in the 'Champion of Champions' Endeavor Trophy as a result of taking the Blaze National Championship title earlier in the year.
Ben Pickering has has competed in the Blazes, Merlins, GP14s and OKs. In October he won the OK North Sails Super Series after posting consistent results including 7th at the Ovington Inlands and 3rd at the South Staffs OK Open. In the same month Ben also won the Blaze Inlands at the Chase Sailing Club against a particularly strong fleet of 53.
Ben started the season off well by winning the Chase GP14 Open crewing for Graham Flynn, and ended it just as successfully by winning the GP14 End of Seasons at Welsh Harp SC in October with brother Sam. At the same event Chase clinched the top three spots out of 26 boats with Michelle Evans (crewing for Sam Mettam from Papercourt) second and Richard Instone and Adam Froggatt third. The Chase GP14 team also had another good WLYC 24hr race winning the first flight and finishing sixth overall and Pete Jacques and Pete Tate won the Bolton GP14 Open in September.
Over the winter Chase sailors will be at the Blithfield Barrel and taking part in the Selden Sailjuice Series as well as hosting their own winter open, the Polar Pursuit on 21 December. This will be a two hour pursuit race open to all monohulls between PY 900 and 1390, staring at 12pm and will be followed by a Cheesy Disco in the evening.
The Club is also offering winter memberships, get in touch with Membership Secretary Dave Pickering for more information on: 07522 972518.