Six visitors joined the three local boats for the second leg of the North West double header of the Lightning 368 Sanders Sails Travellers Series at West Kirby Sailing Club.
The visitors who arrived early after camping at Shotwick SC were greeted by strong winds and white capped waves and that was on the marine lake! There wasn't much enthusiasm after the hard day sailing the day before as the sailors slowly rigged and got changed. Too much relief by the start the wind had eased and the boats launched for race one.
Using the club marks and starting line there was an even start but Andrew McLeish soon showed his strong wind expertise and took the early lead up the beat in a Mk1 sail number 66, albeit with a new carbon rig. Simon Hopkins stayed close and by taking a late tack close into the promenade wall managed to sneak round ahead. Down wind Andy showed he still has those old Laser techniques and got inside, Simon for the leeward mark. Unfortunately, Andy had the wrong mark and proceeded upwind. Simon, being a gentleman called his mistake but not before taking the lead again. Lap two was a repeat with Andy retaking the lead on the run and Simon catching on the beats, then at the final windward mark Simon called Starboard on Andy and he tacked under Simons bow and then was unable to lay the mark. Simon made it and this took the pressure off allowing Simon to sail to the win. Steve Hodgeson sailed a solid race to lead the chasing pack home ahead of Ian Ranson.
Race two was back to back and with the wind easing a couple more boats joined the fleet. Simon won the pin end and took the lead up the beat again followed by Andy and Caroline Hollier who had recovered from her swim in race one. During the following laps Simon extended his lead and Caroline sailed though Andy to finish in that order. Behind this time Ian was ahead of Steve. The fleet then went ashore for an excellent lunch provided by the West Kirby SC galley.
When they launched for the two races in the afternoon the wind had dropped considerable and the sun had come out. With the same course set the wind had swung slightly making it a biased beat. This suited Caroline perfectly and timing the tack onto port perfectly she sailed into the lead, followed by Andy and Steve. As the laps progressed the front two remained the same but Simon recovered from his bad start and moved into third ahead of Steve and Ian. They finished in this order. Perhaps this is time to mention Caroline was using the smaller SR rig because of the strong winds when they stated. However it certainly wasn't slowing her down in the medium winds.
Race four was a shoot-out between Simon and Caroline for who won the open meeting. Starting evenly on the line it was Caroline who got onto Port first and led up the beat, just ahead of Simon who was starting to struggle in the lighter winds now he was off the side deck. The bigger rig helped Simon stay in touch down the runs but Caroline was much faster up wind. Only the final beat Simon rolled the dice and split tacks to the sea wall only for the Promenade side to pay and gave Caroline an easy sail to the line and her second win. Simon came in second and Ian was enjoying the reduced wind and came in third ahead of Andy.
With two wins and a second each, Caroline and Simon were tied on points, but the meeting went to Caroline due to her win in the last race. Andy sailed a solid day for third place. The fleet now moves on to its second 'double header' on the River Thames. Saturday 25th July at Upper Thames SC, who are hosting a social evening and camping the fleet moves to Cookham Reach SC on Sunday 26th July.
Overall Results:
Pos BoatName Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts
1st Aurora 438 Caroline Hollier Bassenthwaite SC ‑5 2 1 1 4
2nd Mjolnir 428 Simon Hopkins Up River YC 1 1 ‑3 2 4
3rd Drifter 309 Andrew McLeish Up River YC 2 3 2 ‑4 7
4th 441 Ian Ranson Bolton SC 4 4 ‑5 3 11
5th Seabee 402 Stephen Hodgson Otley SC 3 ‑5 4 5 12
6th Tonic 209 Amy Watkins WKSC 6 ‑7 6 7 19
7th Amadou 433 John Butler Notts County SC (DNC) 6 DNS 6 22
8th 423 Judith Carter WKSC (DNC) 8 7 8 23
9th 186 Keith Golder WKSC (DNC) DNC DNC DNC 30
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