Streaker Northern Paddle and Yorkshire Series Open at Ripon Sailing Club

 

Three visiting boats from Rutland, Girton and Beaver SC joined 16 home boats for Ripon SC's annual Streaker Open, which was being run as part of the Northern Paddle and Yorkshire Series on Saturday 5th April.

Blue skies and sunshine greeted competitors along with a pleasant Force1-2 wind. The only problem was the direction, which was from the north, swinging easterly as the day went on. This made it hard for race officer Bernard Clark to set a long beat, but he made up for it by setting courses that utilised the whole of Farnham lake to give a challenge for everyone.

There was a break for lunch and competitors were able to enjoy their meal sitting outside on the club verandah.

It was all to play for going into the final race and Alan and Giles knew it. In a spectacular display, they both broke away from the fleet after the start and extended away for a thrilling duel with never more than a couple of boat lengths between them for the remainder of the race. Such was the intensity of their battle that they had extended a 400-yard lead over the rest of the fleet by the finish. In the end, wily experience saw Alan just clinch it from the youthful energy of Giles to give him the overall win. This time third was taken by former class chairman Ian Priest.

At the prize-giving, winner Alan Bishop thanked Ripon for hosting the event, especially the race and catering teams who had worked so hard to put on a great event. The day closed with competitors sharing a special birthday cake to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this exciting and popular single-hander which still retains its appeal for both young and old around the country.

Overall Results:

Pos Helm Sail No Club R1 R2 R3 Pts

1st Alan Bishop 2198 Girton SC ‑2 1 1 2

2nd Giles Therkelson‑Smith 1982 Beaver SC 1 ‑2 2 3

3rd Ian Priest 2106 Ripon SC ‑4 4 3 7

4th James Ricketts 1863 Ripon SC 5 5 ‑11 10

5th Richard Brook 1846 Ripon SC ‑8 3 8 11

6th Peter Kitchen 1914 Ripon SC 7 ‑9 5 12

7th Alistair Scott 1753 Ripon SC 6 6 ‑12 12

8th Helen Voisey 2210 Ripon SC 3 ‑13 10 13

9th Lucy Priest 2186 Ripon SC ‑12 7 6 13

10th Tim Coleman 2211 Ripon SC ‑10 10 4 14

11th Tim Hampshire 1814 Ripon SC 9 ‑12 7 16

12th Dianne Barnes 2167 Ripon SC ‑14 11 9 20

13th Graham Barnes 2168 Ripon SC ‑16 8 16 24

14th Stephen Bristow 2197 Ripon SC 11 ‑16 13 24

15th Andrew Hague 2153 Ripon SC 13 15 ‑17 28

16th Crhis Godwin 2160 Rutland SC ‑15 14 14 28

17th Mark Smith 1809 Ripon SC ‑18 18 15 33

18th Colin Mather 1950 Ripon SC 17 17 ‑18 34

19th Alaster Hall 1586 Ripon SC ‑19 19 19 38