West Riding Sailing Club, Wakefield, Yorkshire

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Solo Northern Travellers

11th April 2010

Photos can be viewed here

26 Solos, including 18 visitors from 8 clubs, gave the 2010 Northern Travellers Series a great start at West Riding SC on 11th April.  In addition to the regulars from last season, it was good to see some new, younger faces on the water. The uninspiring forecast of a cool 7-9 mph easterly was bettered when the wind piped up and the sun shone allowing some sparkling planing in the gusts.  Varying between north east and east, the wind gave some interesting swings on the beats to the joy of some and the despair of others.

 

Some competitors had a busy weekend having taken part in the Solo Spring Championships at Oxford SC the previous day and journeying north in the evening. The extra mileage didn't deter Chris Gillard, who after trailing behind Nick Hornsby round the first mark, took the lead, and held it to the end.  Hornsby had slipped back by the end of the 2nd lap, Oliver Dumbleton, Steve Dennison and Pete Mitchell taking up the pursuit of Gillard. That's the way they finished with Oliver Whitehead 5th and Dave Mitchell pulling through from 10th to 6th on the last lap

After lunch, the course was tweaked as the wind continued to veer into the east.  A postponement after a starting buoy was lost resulted in the Solo fleet tangling with the visiting Laser fleet up the first beat, which was interesting for the spectators, but hairy for some of the competitors.

Dumbleton extracted himself from the pack best, initially pursued by Dave Mitchell, Nick Hornsby and Steve Dennison. Steve moved into gear on the second lap and climbed into 2nd place and set off after Dumbleton.  Oliver was having none of it, however, and kept Steve at bay to the end.  Behind there was plenty of place swapping and Howard Frear did well to climb from 6th place to finish 3rd. 4th placed Oliver Whitehead was also a climber, up from 9th at the end of the first lap. After an up and down race, Dave Mitchell managed to hold his son Pete off for 5th place.

Dumbleton confounded everyone by getting stuck in irons as the last race got underway.  Smiling and muttering, "I've got some work to do," Oliver got stuck into the mesmerising shifts to emulate the Comeback Kid.  13th the first time round, 6th the on lap 2, 5th on the 3 and finally an amazing 2nd at the finish.  Meanwhile Steve Dennison was lording it over everybody at the front, sailing further and further into the distance as the sting gradually went out of the wind. Pete Mitchell had another good race for 3rd place ahead of Bruce Deppe, Dave Mitchell and Chris Gillard.

Overall Steve and Oliver had contrived to tie on points, with Steve winning on count back.  Liz Taylor was the first lady helm.

 

Full results can be found by following the link:Solo Open Results 11th April 2010

 
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