Solo Midland Area Series Round 3 sponsored by Allen at Bartley Sailing Club

Solos at Bartley © BSC

Glorious sunshine combined with a robust easterly wind greeted the visitors and home sailors to the 2022 Solo open meeting at Bartley in Birmingham.

This was a joint open meeting with the Phantoms and the Race Officer John Ling and his crew did a great job of running two open meetings in difficult conditions with more than a few capsizes. The wind direction enabled a long beat for the full length of the lake, circa 750m, which tested all the sailors.

The first race started in winds of 20-25 knots and was very close all the way round. The whole fleet finished not far behind the leaders despite the long beats and blustery conditions. Ian Hopwood (Nantwich) finished first, with Jeremy Shinton (Bartley) second and Kev Hall (Northampton) third.

Solos at Bartley - photo © BSC

The second race started back to back with the first in similar conditions to the first though it proved to have rather stronger gusts and bigger shifts making conditions even more challenging. This spread the fleet out rather more than the first race and the final positions were Kev Hall first, Martin Honor (Ogston) second and Neil Thornton (Chelmarsh) third.

The final race was held after lunch when the strongest winds had abated and it seemed much easier though there were still a few capsizes. Again the racing was very close all round, with the whole fleet pretty much together for most of the race. The last race finished with Chris Brown (Grafham) first, Ian Hopwood second and Martin Honor third.

Solos at Bartley - photo © BSC

Final overall results for the day were first Ian Hopwood (Northampton), second Kev Hall (Northampton) and third Chris Brown (Grafham). We finished the day with prize-giving and beers on the terrace in the same glorious sunshine that had been with us throughout the day. An excellent day's sailing.

Overall Results: