Revett Week 4 – A clear blue sky and a force 2 to start

Sunday 1st December saw the penultimate weekend of Leigh & Lowton sailing clubs 2013 Revett series at Pennington Flash.  It was déjà vu as, once again a clear blue sky and a force 2 breeze from the north west greeted the competitors although the forecast was for the wind to decrease as the day wore on. The wind strength and direction held for the start but as the race progressed the wind once again, as in previous weeks, began to drop off to almost nothing with the occasional light gust.  Given the trying conditions the race team of Dave Exley, Mark Dingsdale and Gill Fisher did a great job in managing to set a course used the full length of the Flash.

55 boats took to the water and first away was the 11 boat Asymmetric fleet which saw close racing at the front between the RS400s of Paul/Mike Allen (RS400 – LLSC) and Martin/Liam Parker ( LLSC) however in the dying breeze it was the Allens who nosed ahead and crossed the line first followed by the Parkers with Gary Knott/Helen Blackburn (RS400 – LLSC) third.  However further down the fleet the RS200 of Louise McKeand/Cathy Partington (LLSC) were picking out the few gusts of wind around to eventually cross the finish line and secure first place overall on corrected time leaving theAllens to count a second.  This result means that going into the final weekend McKeand/Partington and the Allens are tied on 6 points each and behind them with 12 points is Dave Exley/Nigel Hall (RS400 – LLSC)

In the 8 boat Laser fleet Stuart Belfield (LLSC) took a convincing win from Paul Graham (LLSC) who was hotly pursued by new comer to the series Chester Candish (LLSC) in third.  Belfield leads the laser fleet by 3 points from John Wingeatt and Sally Haslewood, who both missed this weekend, who are tied in second on 12 points.

Third away was the 25 boat handicap fleet which included 14 Solos (whos result are separated from the main fleet)  In the main the National 12 of Christian Day/Sophie Richards (LLSC) abd RS300 of Richard Catchpole (LLSC) shot off into the distance as the revelled in the light conditions.  On handicap it was the National 12 that took the win with Catchpole second, Alex Morrison in his Phantom (LLSC)  third and in fourth the Enterprise of Mike Baldwin/Holly Lowe  (LLSC)  Going into next weekend the series leader is still Mike Banner (Albacore – Winsford Flash SC) with 6 points and Mark Dingsdale (Phantom – LLSC) in second with 7.3 points.

In the Solo fleet Paul Heath (LLSC) lead from the start but in the fading breeze he was put under pressure by series leader Malcolm Waddington (LLSC) and Gary Sprague (LLSC)  In the end Heath pulled away to take the win while Waddington and Sprague continued their close racing from the last couple of weekends as they swopped places but Waddington came out on top to take second , Sprague third and Dave Shiel (SCYC) fourth in his first outing in a Solo since July.  Waddington still leads the series with 6.5 points from Ken Cottam (LLSC) 10 points and Brian Sprague with 12.5 points.

This weekend the 11 boat junior fleet was given its own start.  First on corrected time was the RS Feva XL of Harvey Martin/Bobby Hewitt (LLSC) followed by the 29r of Hannah Bristow/Crew(LLSC) and third was series leader Olivia Cuthbert (Optimist – LLSC)  Cuthbert leads the series with 7 points from Matt Leckie Topper – (LLSC) and Oliver Blackburn (Topper – LLSC) both joint second on 11 points.

Like last weekend the last few boats finished in near drifting conditions and it did not get any better after lunch so for the second weekend running it was decided to abandon racing for the day.  With just two races left in the series and discards to kick in it is close on points in all fleets and the winners will not be known until the end of the final day.

Full results of this series can be found via:  https://llsc.org.uk/LLSC/Results/2013Revett.htm

Full details on our 2014 New Years day pursuit race and winter race programme can be found online at:
http://leighandlowton.wordpress.com/

To receive a big discount on entry to the 2014 Tipsy Icicle series book online via via the club website http://webcollect.org.uk/llsc/event/winter-championships    You can also enter on the day at the reception desk