Solo Open at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club

 

Twenty Solos enjoyed champagne sailing on the Northern circuit at Leigh and Lowton SC on an increasingly sunny autumn day.

The wind was strong to overpowering that was a test of boat speed with the odd fresh gust and holes of greatly changed strength and direction that threw some snakes and ladders into the mix. A long beat was set by having the start line almost on the shore and a windward mark on the starboard side of the wind; whilst a variety of downwind legs kept us away from the main beat and the other fleets with a number of gybes to keep things interesting.

With two races completed an excellent lunch from the professional caterers restored the competitors, many of whom had been enjoying the open water swimming on offer, though none signed up to the club's Open Water Swimming Group afterwards! Andy got a new tiller, and we all went again for two more back-to-back races on the same course.

It was all to play for in the last race as Phil, Steve and Andy had all had a win. Phil and Andy had an epic tacking duel then a drag race up the next beat whereby Phil held onto the lead, and whilst Andy got ahead downwind, Phil came back on the last reach to take the lead and the race into the finish a couple of boat lengths ahead for the overall event with his second race win. Steve finished third which gave him the same points and results as Andy, who came second overall by beating Steve in the last race.

In the middle of the fleet there were three Norris family boats, the experienced Solo sailor Stuart edging out brother Ian. Both had their moments with good upwind speed, as did Dave Kelsall and Paul Owen from LLSC.

Overall Results : -

Pos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts

1st 5685 Phillip Barnes Budworth 1 2 ‑3 1 4

2nd 5807 Andy Carter LLSC ‑5 3 1 2 6

3rd 6073 Stephen Denison Rya ‑3 1 2 3 6

4th 5967 Willie Todd Largs ‑13 4 5 4 13

5th 5968 Nick Hornsby Hollingworth 4 7 4 (DNF) 15

6th 5813 Innes Armstrong Burwain 2 6 9 (DNC) 17

7th 6041 Chris Gillard Sheffield Viking 7 8 6 (DNC) 21

8th 5600 Lee Nankervis Shropshire 11 ‑13 7 5 23

9th 5312 Stuart Norris Shropshire 8 5 10 (DNF) 23

10th 4434 lan Norris Shropshire 6 ‑14 11 7 24

11th 5909 Dave Kelsall LLSC 10 10 ‑17 8 28

12th 5839 Paul Owen LLSC 9 12 8 (DNF) 29

13th 5907 Steve Ferrington West Kirby ‑14 11 13 6 30

14th 5350 Chris Helsby LLSC 12 9 ‑14 9 30

15th 5120 Andrew Roberts LLSC 15 15 ‑18 11 41

16th 3969 Cameron Griffith Norris Shropshire (DNF) DNF 15 10 45

17th 4985 Tom Welz LLSC (DNC) 16 12 DNF 45

18th 5272 Ty Burrows LLSC DNF (DNC) 16 12 48

19th 4283 Michael Campbell Fidlers Ferry DNF DNF (DNC) DNC 61

19th 5845 Stuart Van Den Hoek LLSC DNF DNF (DNC) DNC 61