Solo Northern Travellers series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club

The Solo Northern Travellers series resumed after the summer break with 35 helms arriving at Leigh & Lowton sailing club to be greeted by bright sunshine, an unseasonably high air temperature and absolutely no breeze whatsoever.

When what little wind there was occasionally filled in it was not across the whole course and came with big wind shifts of up to 90 degrees and throughout the day, when it was there, averaged 4 to 5 knots over the day.

Due to the fickle shifting breeze two attempts at starting the first race were abandoned and a new course set. When the fleet did get away the fleet split in search of breeze and it was Innes Armstrong (Burwain SC) who looked like he would be first around the windward mark but sailed off to the wrong mark as he had not noted the change of course. This allowed Paul Heath (LLSC) to sneak in and he was followed by Armstrong, Andy Tunnicliffe (RWYC) and Patrick Hamilton (Burwain SC) The fleet sailed to a spacer mark and then began the long downwind leg to the leeward mark.

The same top four held their positions for the next lap but on the downwind leg Heath found a hole and sat in it while those behind took evasive action and sailed away from and around him (with one even laughing at him) Hamilton sailed low and fast to the right to nip in front of Armstrong and Tunnicliffe with Ollie Whitehead (Hollingworth lake SC) and Dave Exley (LLSC) making up ground. At the end Hamilton held a comfortable lead to win from club mate Armstrong with Tunnicliffe third and Whitehead fourth.

Race 2 started in a constant light breeze which eventually died off but Hamilton showed he had the bit between his teeth as he led around the windward mark closely followed by Tunnicliffe, Jon Whitehead (Redesmere SC) and Tony Wright (Delph SC) Hamilton went on to extend his lead and deservedly took the race and event win. After laughing at Heath in the first race karma bit Tunnicliffe on the bum as he sailed into a hole on the run and was passed by 9 boats. Wright claimed a second, Jon Whitehead third and local boy Exley fourth.

Solo Northern Travellers at Leigh & Lowton – photo © Tim Yeates

A few boats sat out the final race which took 50 minutes to get successfully started. The first two attempts at starting were aborted all within the last minute of the countdowns as the wind either died completely or, when it did fill in, had swung so much it was blowing down the start line towards the committee boat. The courses and windward mark had to be changed/moved and at the third attempt of starting there was a general recall so the fleet eventually got away under a black flag start at the fourth time of asking.

Hamilton sat this one out and it was Armstrong (who had originally came ashore intending to give it a miss but encouraged to go out) that took the win in the drifting conditions. Second and third place was hotly contested between Lee Tennant (Burwain SC) and Nick Hornsby (Hollingworth Lake SC) with Tennant just getting ahead while Ollie Whitehead came home in fourth.

It was a frustrating day all round not just for the sailors but also for the race team lead by Mike Baldwin. His patience and skill in looking after the fleet made sure that all starts and courses were as fair as could be under the difficult conditions and for which the fleet thank him.

Overall Results:

Solo Northern Travellers at Leigh & Lowton – photo © Tim Yeates