| Flying
15 Northern Championship – 24/25 April 2010
Over 50 boats descended on Derwent
Reservoir Sailing Club for the Northern Area Championships,
which was the first of six qualifying events for the
2011 World Championships.
Blue skies and mirror like conditions
greeted the sailors on Saturday morning, many of whom
had made the long journey from the South coast. The
wind did however slowly build and the fleet launched
on time for 3 triangle/sausage races, in a shifty 6-12
knots breeze.
Race 1 was won by David McKee and
Chris Hewkin, who showed the rest of the fleet their
transom (a view which everyone would get used as the
weekend continued). Race 2 was led by Alan Bax and Bill
Masterman throughout, until they continued to sail laps
of the course instead of sailing for the finish line
– gifting David McKee and Chris Hewkin their second
win of the weekend. The final race of the day was sailed
in slightly more breeze and was won by Mike Hart / Richard
Rigg, followed by Ian Linder / Kevin Sweatman in second
and Jeremy Davey / Simon Childs picking up their second
third place of the day.
Returning ashore after three challenging
races, the overnight leader board was topped by David
McKee and Chris Hewkin who led the fleet on 2 points
(discarding a 13th), and Mike Hart and Richard Rigg
close behind with 3 points (discarding a 7th). Most
other teams picked up at least one bad result –
finding it difficult to stay consistent in the difficult
conditions.
Sunday dawned with overcast skies
and drizzle, with the wind slightly further from the
right, now blowing across the long lake. This provided
even larger shifts and bigger changes in pressure, making
tricky racing conditions for both competitors and the
race officer. It also meant that the first beat was
restricted in length – forcing the racing to be
even tighter and adding to the importance of getting
a good start and second guessing the first shift.
Sunday brought even trickier conditions,
with bigger shifts and generally lighter winds. The
first start on Sunday was general recalled after the
majority of the fleet jumped the gun on the starboard
biased line. This resulted in the black flag being hoisted
for the restart, however this didn’t prevent a
further general recall with 5 boats being identified
as BFD. The fleet eventually got underway on the third
attempt with David McKee and Chris Hewkin resuming their
usual position at the front of the fleet, going on to
win the race relatively unchallenged in conditions which
were highly erratic. Graham Vials and Chris Turner finished
second with Steve Goacher and Phil Evans sailing well
through the fleet to finish third.
Going into the final race of the
series, David McKee and Chris Hewkin were looking good
with 3 points and Mike Hart and Richard Rigg in second
with 10 points. The final race began with more breeze
on the right, but this was soon outweighed by a large
shift to the left which lasted all the way to the top
mark. Once again, David McKee and Chris Hewkin showed
a mastery of the conditions to take the race and a well
deserved championship win. To post four wins from five
races in hugely tricky conditions was very impressive
indeed.
Also worthy of a mention was Scott
Train and Graham Lamond, sailing a classic Chippendale
wooden boat from the 1960’s, who had a superb
last race, holding their own in the top ten for all
but the final reach, eventually finishing 13th.
The next World Championship
qualifying event takes place at Loch Ard Sailing Club
on 8/9 June 2010, where the fleet will gather again
for the Scottish Championship.
Results
Report: Graham Vials
Full
Results |
