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North Sails Performance 2023 - LEADERBOARD

West Kirby Sailing Club Christmas Series

by Liz Potter 2 Jan 23:40 PST 24 December 2022 - 1 January 2023
Keith Roberts in his Sunbird during Race 1 of the West Kirby Sailing Club Christmas Series as the high tide breaches the lake wall © Alan Jenkins

West Kirby Sailing Club had scheduled a six race series to be held on the marine lake, starting on Christmas Eve and finishing on New Year's Day.

The weather played along to start with and allowed the series to start on the 24th, with two very blustery races in Force 3-4. Five keen ILCAs and one Solo ventured out for the first race in the fast handicap, which involved a fair bit of capsizing and one retirement. The winning boat was a full rig ILCA helmed by James Douglas, with Ioannis Koutsokeras coming second under a radial rig. In the slow handicap, the Sunbird of Keith Roberts was the only one brave enough to venture out and claimed two firsts that day!

Race two in Fast Handicap favoured the smaller ILCA rig, as the wind increased throughout the short half-hour race. Ioannis bagged the win with James in second, followed by the Solo of Steve Ferrington.

Christmas day gave the sailors a brief respite, to revive themselves with good food and festive cheer, before the traditional Boxing Day Pursuit Race for all dinghy classes, on the lake once again. The weather Gods were clearly suffering a hangover and bout of very windy indigestion, as the 35 knot winds and cold conditions were enough to cause the racing to be cancelled. The next day was Bank Holiday Tuesday and two more races were scheduled. Once again, the racing had to be cancelled due to the howling winds, leaving one more race in the series for New Years Day.

The Race Officer for this final race, which carries its own special prize, was the club President, Mr Peter Bramley. He is a man not to be messed with by weather Gods or Other, so he announced an extension of the series by adding an extra race on New Year's Day and a further two races in lieu of those missed on Tuesday 2nd January. The weather Gods slumped in their fireside chairs and had another large brandy. Collectively, they blew a protesting 20 knots at the lake for Races 3 and 4, which was enjoyed at different levels by the 7 participating dinghies. Some enjoyment was underwater and other enjoyment was only expressed in the boat park after the racing had finished.

For Race 3, ILCA7 sailor Jon Worthington was the winner, followed by Steve Jardine in an ILCA Radial. Race 4 saw James Douglas in first place again, followed by Jon in second.

The final day of the series dawned cool, but sunny with light winds. 14 dinghies raced in the fast handicap fleet, and 4 Illusions took part in the slow handicap fleet. The winner of Race 5 was Liz Potter in D-Zero "Zippy Zero" from Jon Worthington in his Laser. Stuart Dawson was 30 seconds behind him in 3rd place. In the Illusions, newcomer to the class Jean-Louis Simmons won, followed by David Pilling.

Race 6 involved a change in course for the slightly shifted South-Westerly breeze. It was won by Martin Hartley in his Solo, who was awarded the pre-designated "New Years Day" prize. In second place were Glen and Rosie Hughes in their newly re-purchased Albacore and third were the new promising talent of West Kirby juniors, George Creasy and David Bromilow in their 420. The Illusions were led home by David Pilling, with Peter Williams in second.

With a total of 26 boats competing in the series and 2 discounts to be awarded, the results were not immediately obvious!

The overall winner of the Fast Handicap Christmas Series was Jon Worthington in Laser 218031, with Andrew Bell in Laser 115777 in second and Solo 5907 sailed by Steve Ferrington in third.

The Slow Handicap was won by Sunbird 219, sailed by Keith Roberts, followed by Illusions 139 David Pilling in second and Jean-Louis Simmons 141 in third.

Many thanks to Judith and Richard Stratton for Safety Boat, to Kay Eggleton for results and Peter Bramley and Adam Whittle for running the races.

Overall Results:

PosBoatNameClassSail NoOwnerPYR1R2R3R4R5R6Pts
Slow Handicap
1stDeeliteSunbird219Keith Roberts128311  (DNC)DNC8
2ndDoc's PedaloIllusion139David Pilling1435(DNC)DNC  219
3rdIntrepidIllusion141Jean‑Louis Simons1435(DNC)DNC  1310
4thKirsanIllusion77Peter Williams1435(DNC)DNC  3211
5thUndernoIllusion145David Pontin1435(DNC)DNC  4414
Fast Handicap
1st Laser218031Jon Worthington1100(DNC)(DNC)122813
2nd Laser115777Andrew Bell11003444(DNC)(DNC)15
3rdStill Quality TimeSolo5907Steve Ferrington1142437(RET)‑10721
4th Laser Radial309Steve Jardine1147(DNC)(DNC)2361223
5th GP1419Trevor Jenkins1133(DNC)(DNC)5511930
6th Laser151359Stuart Dawson1100RET(DNC)(DNC)DNC3537
7th Laser Radial195201Ioannis Koutsokeras114721(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC47
8th Laser200643James Douglas110012(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC47
9th Laser Radial200643James Douglas1147(DNC)(DNC)31DNCDNC48
10thZippy ZeroD‑Zero333Liz Potter1029(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC1449
11thSide WinderSolo5794Martin Hartley1142(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC6151
12th Laser309Steve Jardine110055(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC54
13th Albacore8212Glen Hughes1045(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC9255
14th Int 42054849George Creasy/David Bromilow1105(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC9356
15thEssex GirlAlbacore7915Ian McLean1045(DNC)(DNC)66DNCDNC56
16th Int 42054481Holly Wright/Oli Nixon1105(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC71061
17thIn Our PrimeGP1414153Bob Thompson1133(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC12662
18th RS300379Dan Skinner972(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC4DNF63
19th Laser197766Tony Clark1100(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNC131168
20th RS2002487Mike & Anne de St Paer1046(DNC)(DNC)DNCDNCRET1372

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