Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club

Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales © Paul Hargreaves Photography

Over the weekend of 14th and 15th August Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club hosted the Contender Northern Championships for the coveted Clapham Trophy. 16 Contenders made the trip from all corners of the UK and were greeted with a perfect 20 knots blowing the full length of the reservoir making for a decent windward leg and reaches, and a great arena for the seven scheduled races.

Race 1 got under way first time and was led by Paul Ross, with Ben Holden and Ed Presley close behind. Simon Mussel was also on the charge and by the second run all three had slipped (pumped) passed Paul and finished with Ed at the front from Ben, with Simon and Paul following up.

Race 2 and Simon had a good getaway and led the majority with Ben chasing hard in the increasing breeze. Neil Ferguson and Nick Curry were starting to show their speed but it finished with Simon out front ahead of Ben with Ed with Neil closing out the top four.

Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Paul Hargreaves Photography

After a short break for lunch (very civilised) race 3 was on and so was the wind which was challenging boat handling across the fleet. Ed stole the charge on this one and led by a large margin leaving Simon, Ben and Neil to fight it out on the sometimes wild gybes and reaches, with Nick, Chris Boshier and Richard Butner starting to show some pace. Ed was first from Simon and Ben.

Last race of the day was in slightly less breeze which tightened things up and made choosing the right side more important and less of a drag race. The outcome was no different and Ed was dominating and took the win from Ben with Simon third and Paul fourth.

Saturday night a curry was put on by the club which was enjoyed by all and allowed a good catch up and of course a few beers.

Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Paul Hargreaves Photography

Sunday and three races back to back were the order of the day in slightly less breeze than Saturday but still able to use the full length of the reservoir.

Race 5 got away first time and Ed got to the windward mark first from Paul and Ben. The second gybe mark was most entertaining as the club racing had decided to use it as their leeward mark resulting in some rather quick asymmetric boats bearing down on Contenders concentrating on getting round the mark.

Common sense prevailed and they abandoned their race and reset their course. The race carried on and was closely fought with Ed taking the bullet from Paul with a fast charging Nick Curry in third.

Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Paul Hargreaves Photography

Race 6 saw a split in the fleet some going right, some left. The left paid as long as you didn't venture too far inshore and Simon led this one from Ed with Ben third and Neil fourth, which gave Ed enough to take the event with a race to spare.

Race 7 and the wind had cranked up a notch and saw Ben Holden get clean away at the start with Paul, Neil and Nick in close pursuit. A tight finish saw Ben take the honours from Neil and with Paul back in third doing enough to clinch fourth overall on countback and the honour of the write up.

Well done Ed on becoming Northern Champion.

Thanks go to Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club for hosting a great event and making everyone so welcome. Special thanks also go to the Catapult class for sharing the event, and to our supporters Kingfisher Ropes and Allen for the prizes. Next stop the British Nationals in Plymouth.

Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Paul Hargreaves Photography

Overall Results:

Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Paul Hargreaves Photography

Allen Contender Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales - photo © Paul Hargreaves Photography