Hansa TT at Northampton Sailing Club
by Chris Dabbs 26 Jun 2023 09:12 PDT
24 June 2023
It was great to see a mixed fleet of 25 boats in all four classes out on Pitsford water last Saturday for the Northampton round of the Hansa TT. The weather gods were smiling on us too with a good breeze, even though a significant shift in the afternoon had the Race Officer resetting the course a couple of times.
It was a case of nip and tuck again in the Liberty class with it all coming down to the last race. Paul Phillips (Frensham) and Paul Pearson (Rutland) had traded first and second places before David Durston (Whitefriars) inserted his jib with a fine first in Race 4. "I flattened the sails for the last race to point higher and it paid off." Said David.
"In that last race there were some very tricky winds at the Windward mark. I still don't know what was going on." Said Paul Phillips.
In the single-handed 303s Rory McKinna (Clyde) got a hattrick of wins to cement first place, just managing to nick the wind of Mike Everitt (Frensham) in the first race after Mike got to the windward mark first. In the second race it was all about hanging onto his position. "I picked the left side of the course on the second lap, while Mike went right. I could see my side dying, but there was just enough in the end." Rory relaxed a bit too much in the last race as he was forced to take a penalty turn, after his boom hit James Woosnam's jib (Frensham). "Rory had a bad start, but by the final Windward Mark he had caught me up, so I concentrated on pushing up on the reach which was when we touched and I managed to beat him for a change!" Smiled James
It was Logan Bell's (Rutland) second anniversary on the TT circuit after his debut in 2021 at Northampton as a 13-year-old. "It was very close between me and Tom Hepburn (Chesil) at times and I am concentrating on developing as much as possible for Portugal (World Championships in October)."
If anyone embodied the true spirt of the Hansa classes it was quadriplegic Max Rumball from Tideway. "It's only my third event. It was tough when it got gusty and I got the wooden spoon, but I loved every minute of it and it's been tremendous for my confidence." Said Max
The father and son combination of Nick and Harry Holland (Frensham) dominated the seven-boat fleet of 303 Doubles with a clean sweep of wins, but they had to work for it, especially in Race 2. The start was quite spread out in Race 1, but it was much tighter in Race 2, so there were four of us vying for the lead." Said Ian Chearman (Swarkestone) who was second in class overall.
Winner of the 2.3 class, Lindsay Burns (Frensham), was delighted when a great start in one of the later races meant that she was in the pack of 303s for quite some time.
Next stop for the Hansa series is at Carsington on July 12th where battle will recommence.