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North Sails Loft 57 Podcast

Solo Open at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

by John Reekie 20 May 2024 09:53 PDT 18-19 May 2024
Bassenthwaite Solo Open © J Davenport

Sponsored by Impact Marine & Winder Boats

17 helms made the trip to Bassenthwaite Sailing Club at the weekend for the Solo open. They were greeted with sun and panorama that only Bassenthwaite can offer up. The wind was looking a bit light, but into the first day we ventured our hearts filled with hope.

The fleet set off on the first race and snakes and ladders would become a feature of the weekend. Innes drew first blood with the win after he escaped with Richard Instone but there were some traps to be had. Once those traps had been tripped Richard got taken over by Stephen Denison to take 3rd and 2nd respectively.

Licking his wounds from a relatively easy 4th to 9th ladders session in the first race it was John Reekie's time to shine with a rather handsome lead. Queue a few traps later and it was getting a bit tense at the front as the ever consistent Denison was grinding away at that leader to no avail.

After the pie and peas on Saturday night the day dawned bright but rather windless. This lasted close to midday when a couple of nippers weighing 70 kilos between them were making it look windy in a 29er. This got the attention of the race officer so he headed out for a double check. This was a shrewd move and shortly after the fleet were called out to play.

The first race of the day (race 3) was a tense affair with nobody making a killer blow with a rather tricky top reach compressing the fleet. But a break there was and it was John Reekie getting the gap to the finish to take the third race with Denison in third.

At the end of the race 3 there was a fairly significant switch to the right which necessitated a course reconfiguration and we got away before the time limit came in. It was a tight battle between John and Innes with Innes just able to make the break when it counted. It was swinging all the way to the line with Stuart Norris pressuring Innes. If Stuart took the race then John would be the winner but Innes got the final race win when it counted and took the open on countback. The ever consistent Denison was third just one point back counting 3 second places.

Thanks must go to the race officer and his team who made the best of the conditions to get 4 races on the board in very challenging conditions.

Overall Results:

PosSail_NoHelmClubR1R2R3R4Pts
1st5813Innes ArmstrongBurwain13‑415
2nd5407John ReekieBassenthwaite SC‑91135
3rd6073Stephen DenisonRYA222‑46
4th6076Richard InstoneChase Sailing Club3‑53511
5th5312Stuart NorrisShropshire SC‑11107219
6th4715Justine DavenportBurwain‑1065819
7th5837Linda InstoneChase Sailing Club676‑1119
8th5109Rory YardleyBassenthwaite SC49‑11720
9th5408Tony KingDerwent‑1448921
10th5617Stephen RestallElton SC8‑129623
11th5131Rich CritchleyBass/Wish SC58(DNC)DNC32
12th6084Ian HopwoodBassenthwaite SC71510(DNC)32
13th4993Ian HallBassenthwaite SC‑1514121036
14th5203Mike CowanBassenthwaite SC1311(DNC)DNC43
15th5360Cliff EnglishBass and South Shields SC1216(DNC)DNC47
16th4518Hugh GodfreyBassenthwaite SC1713(DNC)DNC49
17th4232Richard BroughtonBassenthwaite SC1617(DNC)DNC52
18th5979John ColegraveYorkshire Dales SC(DNC)DNCDNCDNC57

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