Revett Week 2 – At 1.30pm a light SE breeze began to fill in and 48 boats took to the water

The second weekend of the 2013 Leigh & Lowton sailing club winter revett series at Pennington Flash on Sunday 17th November proved that the weather centre occasionally get it right as, for the second Sunday running, the competitors arrived to find the Flash was a millpond. At the scheduled start time of midday this was still the case and the OOD Gareth Williams hoisted the postponement flag and advised everybody to have an early lunch because if the wind did materialise he would be running two races back to back.
At 1.30pm a light SE breeze began to fill in and 48 boats took to the water. Once again first away were the 11 boat Asymmetric fleet which saw the return of a few old faces namely Hamish Gledhill/Simon Dowse (RS400 – West Riding SC) and Tony Woods/Charlie Berry (RS400 – Royal Ethrow) In the first race it was Gledhill/Dowse who took the win on handicap from Louise McKeand/a very light crew (RS200 – LLSC) Bill Kenyon/Andy Dawson (RS400 – LLSC) continuing there good form from last weekend with another third.
In the second race of the day there was early close racing as the whole fleet seemed to arrive at the windward mark at the same time and a lot ducking of transoms and squeezing out was observed. This time it was Caroline Exley/Jude Allen (RS400 – LLSC) who rounded first and showed the rest of the fleet their ‘second race pace’ for the second weekend running as they went on to win the race. Behind them there was a battle between Woods/Berry, Exley/Hall and the Parker sisters (RS400 – LLSC). In the end Exley/Hall managed to get past the other two teams and the Parkers edged past Woods/Berry just before the finish.
In the 10 boat Laser fleet it was C Scott (LLSC) who took the win from Glynn Purnell (LLSC) and Paul Graham (LLSC) third. In the second race there was a new race winner with Purnell taking the win from John Wingeatt (LLSC) and Stuart Bellfield (LSC) third.
Last away was the 27 boat handicap fleet which included 10 Solos (the results of which will be taken seperately from the handicap finish) and 10 junior competitors (the results of which will be seperated from the main fleet) In the Solo fleet it was almost a dead heat at the finish as Ken Cottam (LLSC) caught Malcolm Waddington (LLSC) and took him on the line just as Brian Sprague (LLSC) crossed at the same time as Waddington to share second place. In race 2 Waddington made no mistakes this time to take a clear win with Cottam second and Sprague third.
This weekend saw the return of Optimist sailor Olivia Cuthbert (LLSC) to the junior fleet and she went on to win the first race on handicap from Oliver Blackburn (Topper – LLSC) with Matthew Leckie (Topper – LLSC) third. In the second race Cuthbert had to settle for second as Leckie sailed well to take the win with Harvey Leigh (Optimist – LLSC) who had sat out the first race, finishing third
The main handicap fleet saw a new race winner as, without a capsize all race, it was Nick Turpin (RS600 – LLSC) who won from the Albacore of Mike/Kay Banner (Winsford Flash SC) with the Enterprise of Mike Baldwin/Holly Lowe (LLSC) third. In the second race Dave/Michele Raines (LLSC) in third. In race 2 the Banners got in the grove and sailed fast to take the win from the Phantom of mark Dingsdale (LLSC) and Dave/Michelle Raines (LLSC) in their Enterprise in third.
Full results and details on how to enter the series online via webcollect to receive a big discount can be found via the club website http://webcollect.org.uk/llsc/event/winter-championships
You can also enter on the day at the reception desk.