Challenger Open at Hykeham Sailing Club

Hykeham Challenger Open 2026 © Michael Robson

After last year's successful, inaugural Challenger Open, Hykeham Sailing Club and Hykeham Sailability were keen to host the event again this year. The Challenger fleet was more than happy to return. The event took place during the weekend 18-19 April with nine Challengers - two local and seven visiting - taking part.

On Saturday the wind was westerly but shifty (usual for Hykeham) with gusts up to F5 but with many lulls and holes. It was a weekend of snakes and ladders. The Race Officer set a round the cans course in the western half of the lake. There was a beat, three reaches and a run with the finish (after many laps) at the end of the run.

Hykeham Challenger Open 2026 - photo © Marion Edwards

Local sailor, Jim Donald (309) made the best start to Race 1 followed by Duncan Greenhalgh (280). Graham Hall (270) was behind them but upwind and sailed left until they called for him to tack. He rounded the windward mark first and held the lead to the finish with Val Millward (312) coming through to take second and Nick Bett (261) third.

Race 2 saw Graham take an early lead and he never looked back. This was a race where being in the right place on the water when the wind filled in was more important than skill. There were lots of place changes throughout the race.

Hykeham Challenger Open 2026 - photo © Michael Robson

The fleet came in for a most excellent lunch at an extraordinarily reasonable, price plus free tea and coffee.

The course remained the same for the afternoon's racing and Ray Andrews (271) joined the fleet. At the start of Race 3, Jim Donald (309) pulled off an excellent port tack flier to clear the fleet and tack on top of Dave Hodson (221), unfortunately he was unable to capitalise on it. Going into the leeward mark Val, Graham and Nick were all close but Graham failed to give Val sufficient room and after doing his penalty turn dropped well down the fleet. By the second windward mark Val had a substantial lead over Nick but Dave came through to take second. Somehow Graham hauled himself up to third.

After completing the race, Ray was finding the conditions a bit much so he returned to shore. Race 4 saw Graham leading for much of the race but on the final lap he misjudged the beat and touched the windward mark and dropped totally out of contention. Nick assumed the lead but went awry on the penultimate leg allowing Val to get by and take the win. Nick remained in second with Duncan having his best result in third.

Hykeham Challenger Open 2026 - photo © Michael Robson

After four races the discard had kicked in. This gave Val a one point lead over Graham with Nick three further points adrift. Given the shifty nature of Hykeham no one had any grounds for complacency and no one grounds for despair.

By Sunday morning the wind had changed to a northerly which is not a good direction at Hykeham. There were some good gusts but it remained very shifty with some huge holes. Racing moved to the eastern half of the lake and the race officer set another round the cans course with two beats and a long bottom reach. For Race 5 the Challengers were joined by the club's Sunday sailors, with the Challengers having the first start.

Hykeham Challenger Open 2026 - photo © Marion Edwards

In Race 5 Graham had the luck and Val did not. On the second beat of the second lap Graham and Val were close together but while Graham was able to round the windward mark, Val hit a shift and a lull and got stuck in irons. Once Val made it round the mark she set off in pursuit of Graham but the gap was too big. Jim achieved his best result of third.

Going into the last race Graham needed a win to take the event from Val. It started well with Graham and Nick getting away from the rest of the fleet by virtue of their port tack starts but on the bottom reach the wind filled in from behind enabling Val and Jim to get by them. Graham worked his way past Jim and Nick but was unable to pass Val, giving her the race win and overall victory by a single point.

Overall Nick was a comfortable third and commented that he'd only sailed two races in the last six months. He added that it showed! Behind him things were very tight. Dave Hodson grabbed fourth by virtue of his second in race 3 (and wanted it recording that his boat did not leak - he has form on this one!).

Duncan and Jim could only be separated by position in the last race (they were equal on points and equal on countback) with Jim gaining the advantage. Duncan was possibly suffering from the excesses of a Saturday night in Lincoln.

Alan Bradley (254) and Lynn Steward (238) in seventh and eighth were fighting each other throughout all races. In addition, both managed to intimidate the top of the fleet with Lynn finding herself up in third in one race and Alan in fourth in another. Unfortunately both were unable to hold onto these positions and fell back down through the fleet.

The prize-giving was presided over by Commodore, and Race Officer, Sam Davy who thanked all the volunteers from the club who contributed to making the event such a success, including Irene Parsons, the main event organiser who also provided much help onshore, Steve Sallis who produced the NOR, SIs and final results, plus the excellent Galley team, and safety boat and shore crews. Special thanks to Jim Adair for help getting Challengers on and off both the water and their road trailers.

Overall Results: