Leigh & Lowton sailing club regatta weekend inc. the Miracle Inlands & Optimist NW Area Championships.
The weekend of the 12th and 13th July saw Leigh & Lowton sailing club play host to a total of 68 boats as the Miracle inland championships and the North West junior Optimist championships were run alongside the clubs annual regatta weekend.
The event is a weekend of two halves as prizes are presented for both Saturdays and Sundays result and then the presentation of the ‘John Barnes trophy’ to the boat that completes all six races and has the lowest points score at the end.
Saturday morning broke with no wind and light rain so after a briefing the proposed midday start was delayed as the race team led by Alex Morrison put in place a postponement to wait for the small amount of wind visible on the water to settle.
After a quick lunch the fleets launched and followed the committee boat around until the fickle breeze settled and a course and line were set. The fleets were started at 3 minute intervals and first away was the 33 boat handicap fleet which included 7 Asymmetric and 13 Lasers who had their results taken out as separate fleets.
In the Asymetric race 1 the first boat over the water and on handicap was the 29r sailed by Lucy Yeates/Jamie Catchpole (LLSC) Behind them a theme was being set for the weekend as the two RS200’s battled it out but in this race it was Gareth Williams/Jen Turner (LLSC) who came out on top to clinch second from rivals Louise McKeand/Sally Haselwood (LLSC) In race 2 the tables were turned as McKeand/Haselwood took the win on corrected time from Williams/Turner while the RS400 of Gary Knott/Helen Blackburn (LLSC), who retired in race 1 with rudder problems, came home in third. In the final race of the day Knott/Blackburn took the win while the 29r of Bobby Hewitt/Harvey Martin (LLSC) snuck into second with the RS200’s of Williams/Turner and McKeand/Haselwood in third and fourth.
In the 13 strong handicap it was Paul Allen (LLSC – first time in a Phantom) that led the fleet away from start to finish to take the win on corrected time from Grahame Bristow (LLSC – Solo) with Brian Sprague (LLSC – Solo) in third. It was a similar story in race 2 as Allen again took the bullet but Sprague went one better to grab a second. Tim Gatti/Gill Bilton (Yeadon SC) sailed their beautiful Classic national 12 into third while Bristow could only manage a fourth. In the last race of the day Allen decided to sit it out citing childcare issues (but in reality he was already complaining of having sore knees) Bristow returned to form to take the win while two new faces entered the top end of the fleet with veteran Mike Broatch (LLSC – Solo) and the (much) younger Dave Kelsall (LLSC – Phantom) coming home in second and third respectively.
The Laser fleet saw the return of Andy Green after a 9 month layoff and as if to prove that time in the boat does count he was rusty to start with and was even beaten by his dad in one race. As it was Greg Marshall (WLYC) who has had a shorter layoff from racing dominated Race 1 with the ever improving Hayden Griffiths (LLSC – Laser radial) in second. Third was Andy Green narrowly beating Green Snr. Race 2 saw Marshall win again with Green Snr second, Stuart Belfield (LLSC) third and Griffiths fourth. Race 3 saw Green Jnr extract revenge on dad and win the race from Howard with Marshall rounding off the top three.
Over the two days the 10 strong junior handicap fleet was led by Roscoe Martin (Ogston SC) in his RS Tera Sport as he scored 2,9,1 to take the day from the RS Feva XL of Matthew Leckie/Izzi Bristow (LLSC) who scored 1,2,2. Tasha Helsby (LLSC – Topper) rounded off the top three with 3,1,4 while Maddie Bristow took a third in race 3.
The Optimist NW area championships race 1 was won by Harvey Leigh (LLSC) with Drew Gibbons (LLSC) second and Olivia Cuthbert (LLSC) in third. Race 2 was a close affair with Lewis Coop (LLSC) taking the win while Olivia Cuthbert and Sian Talbot (LLSC) could not be separated on the line so finished joint second to leave Harvey Leigh with a fourth. Race 3 saw yet another race winner as Archie Leckie (LLSC) took the bullet from Drew Gibbons in second and Jorge Coquillat (LLSC) sailing well into third.
As is their preferred format, on the first day the Miracle fleet only completed two races towards their championship. Dave and Ross Southwell (LLSC) showed their intentions early on with two wins while behind them Wayne Atherton/Angela Sweeney (LLSC/Delph SC) kept in touch with two seconds. Eamon Cuthbert/Adam Richardson (LLSC) were third in race 1 but could only manage a fourth in the second race. Hannah and Nick Smith (Thornbury SC) completed the top four of theday with a fourth and a third.
What a difference a day makes. Sunday saw bright sunshine and a solid force 4/5 blowing the length of the water from the west making it a race teams and competitors dream.
With flag ‘A’ flying the Asymetric fleet were left to it with a windward/leeward course while the rest of the fleets made do with a near mile long beat and then zig zagging their way down around the marks to the bottom to start it all over again.
I was told that these were the conditions that 29r’s were made for as Yeates/Catchpole put on a dynamic display in all races to take three bullets by quite some distance from all the rest. Behind them Hewitt/Martin got to grips with a few instability problems to post a 2,3,2 but such was the fun to be had that these were the only boats in the fleet to complete all three races. Knott/Blackburn in the RS400 finished the day second scoring 3,2,DNF but although only fourth and fifth on the day the ones to watch were the RS200’s of Williams/Turner and McKeand who was now being crewed by Cathy Partington. It was a full on battle with never much more than a boat length between them the majority of the time and the lead swapping places several times during a race but in the end McKeand/Partington won the battle with a 4,4,DNC and Williams/Turner 5,5,DNC.
In the handicap fleet Allen was a ‘no show’ and it was Bristow in the Solo who dominated the fleet to take three bullets. Steve Norris (LLSC – Phantom) scored well during the day with a 2,3,4 to finish the day third. Mark Cuthbert (LLSC – SuperNova) was OCS in race one but managed to sneak into second overall on the day with a 2,3 in the final races.
In the Laser fleet the first race of the day was won by Andy Green with Marshall second and Glyn Purnell (LLSC – Laser radial) in third. Races 2 & 3 saw the wind increase and a new face at the front as Hayden Griffiths (Radial rig) powered around the course and took the bullet in both races to add to his forth in race 1. Green could only manage two seconds, Marshall two fourths and Purnell a fifth and a third thereby giving the day to Griffiths on discard.
Having won the day on Saturday with mixed results Roscoe Martin made no mistakes today as he rattled off three consecutive first places to again take the win. Equally impressive was the sailing of Matthew Leckie/Izzi Bristow who scored 2,2,2. Once again the ever improving Tasha Helsby came in third with a score of 3,3,5.
In the Optimist fleet the battle for the best starting position was red hot as they pushed the line and this resulted in single boat recalls and a few boats OCS’s during two starts/races. In race 1 of the day Archie Leckie took the win from newcomer Phoebe Roberts (Port Dinorwic SC) with Harvey Leigh third and Drew Gibbons fourth. At the start of race 2 there was a recall as two boats were identified as being OCS but neither returned so Leckie and Roberts crossed the line to silence. Gibbons took the win from Olivia Cuthbert second and Lewis Coop third. At the start of race 3 three boats were deemed OCS, the signal was made and all three returned. Leckie took his second win of the day with Gibbons second and Cuthbert third. Fourth home was one of the OCS boats, Phoebe Roberts, who started from the back of the fleet and sailed extremely well to power through and probably wished for another lap to get in the mix at the front.
Last but not least the Miracle fleet. In the first race of the day Hannah/Nick Smith took an early lead and extended it to win by some distance from Dave/Ross Southwell with Eamon Cuthbert/Adam Richardson in third. Race 2 seemed to be going the same way as the Smiths took an early lead but appeared to suffer gear failure as they slipped down the fleet to finish sixth. This allowed Atherton/Sweeney to take the lead with Cuthbert/Richardson and the Southwells directly behind them as they rounded the leeward mark for the short beat to the finish. As the boats behind split Atherton decided to cover Cuthbert to the middle of the course. This allowed the Southwells to concentrate on sailing fast and they just managed to beat Atherton on the line by half a boat length with Cuthbert dropping to third.
In the final race of their championship the Smiths where back on form as they once again hit the front early on and took the win. Behind them Atherton/Sweeney Cuthbert/Richardson and Dave/Michelle Raines (LLSC) were engaged in a close battle until the last beat when Cuthbert missed his toe straps coming out of a tack and cartwheeled into the water. This left Atherton/Sweeney to take second and Raines third.
After a fun filled weekend prizes were awarded including the Miracle Inland championship trophy which went to Dave and Ross Southwell
The ‘John Barnes’ trophy was awarded to Matthew Leckie and Izzie Bristow.
Junior Regatta Fleet prizes were won by Coner Sherlock (Jnr handicap fleet) and Jorge Coquillat (Optimist fleet)
The infamous bottle boat prize was presented to Louise ‘that won’t float’ McKeand.
Full results can be found via the link below and pictures are on the Leigh & Lowton sailing club Facebook page.