<< Back to forthcoming Events
in 2007

***

<< See photos from this event

14th - 15th April

North Lincolnshire and Humberside Sailing Club

Report by Adrian Cripps

The first open event of the year, with an excellent turn out of 15 boats.

Race one of five started with a fresh southerly breeze. A clean starboard end start by all boats with most boats tacking off to port soon after leaving Dave & Michelle Raines & Geoff & Janet Phillips continuing on their starboard run moving away from the rest of the fleet.

At the windward mark Geoff in 3812 had his eyes set on the mooring buoy and over ran the mark giving the lead to Dave Raines in 3740 & loosing several places (perhaps Geoff wanted a rest. So soon!!!) Jon & Phillip Aldhous in 3794 rounding 2nd followed by Peter Cuthbert & Steve Hope in 3747 the Geoff. Spinnakers now set for a reach across to 2nd mark (gybe mark) with Dave Raines opening up a 5-6 boat lengths lead. Geoff managed to claw back some of the ground lost from his earlier fopar. On the downwind leg to 3rd mark yet another gybe mark & spinnaker leg a broad reach across to 4th mark a further gybe markdown to mark 5 (last mark of the course) Dave & Michelle opening up a bigger lead over Jon & phillip Aldhous completing first lap in 17mins with Pete Cuthbert in 3rd Geoff Phillips in 4th places.

2nd Lap has Dave still leading to the windward mk Geoff now second and Peter 3rd places, Jon Phillips loosing 2 places (it turns out system failure was to blame his kicker broke. How many times have we heard that one Jon?) with Carl & Tim Cripps in Predator on hot pursuit in 5th. Again on the spinnaker legs Michelle Raines showing the rest of the fleet how it should be done opening up a substantial lead, proving just how valuable a good crew is. Dave Raines completing the 2nd lap with a huge lead over Geoff Phillips in second & a battle between Peter Cuthbert just going through in 3rd & Jon Aldhous in 4th places.

3rd Lap Dave still holding his lead over Geoff to the windward with Peter Cuthbert 3rd with Carl Cripps slipping passed Jon Aldhous to now fall to 5th place. With the rest of the fleet well spread out. The top 5 boats now evenly spread 10 to 15 boat lengths apart. On the last spinnaker leg Dave & Michelle opening up a bigger lead over Geoff. The shortened course flag went up as Dave rounded mk 5 having a comfortable lead on his last beat to the finish line

Final places for race 1

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Race Two Again same course and another clean starboard end start, this time Ian & Geraldine Downs in the their mk4 (4008) followed by Richard Bramer & A. Adams were first to brake off onto a port tack the remaining fleet continuing on starboard towards the bank, as the gap widened those unsure of which was the preferred line to take slowly peeled off to take a line of safety.

As the boats approached the 1st mk Dave Raines (with failing eye sight) had to do turns after infringing a boat coming in on starboard tack giving away several places dropping him to 7th place at the windward mk. 1st to the mk was Louis Moulden & Jamie Adams in 3835 with Peter Cuthbert & Steve Hope 2nd . Ian & Geraldine Downes in 3rd closely followed by Richard Bramer in 4 th & Geoff Phillips in 5th and 6th Stan Lubnor a local lad. After rounding 2nd mk Stan having done some penalty turns himself let Dave Raines slip passed to regain one place. The windward leg to mk 3 saw Peter Cuthbert gain ground on Louis but the positions remaind the same. The reach across to 4 saw the battle between Louis and Peter hotting up & Dave & Michelle Raines passing Geoff & Janet Phillips bring them up to 4th place with Ian & Geraldine holding there own in 3rd place in the mk 4 boat. The downwind leg to mk 5 and completion of 1st lap had 1st Louis Moulden , 2nd Peter Cuthbert, 3rd Ian Downes, 4th Dave Raines followed by Geoff Phillips.

Lap 2 The beat to windward mark saw Louis and Peter choosing to go off on opposite tacks to the mark and Dave Raines closing the gap on those in front. At the windward mark we still had Louis Moulden & Jamie Adams1 st with Peter Cuthbert & Steve Hope 2nd and Dave & Michelle Raines clawing back another place to now be in 3rd place with Ian & Geraldine Downs just holding 4 th after calling starboard on Geoff at the mark. Geoff & Janet Phillips in 5th with Carl & Tim Cripps gaining ground in 6th place. Gybe round mk 2 downwind to mk 3 saw Peter pass Louis to take up 1st place and Dave Raines also slipping passed pushing Louis into 3rd place with Dave’s eyesight now much improved his sights firmly set on Peter. At the mk Peter still in 1st place closely followed by Dave. Louis 3rd , Ian in 4th , Geoff 5th place and Carl 6th. Rounding the 3rd mark saw Dave come out the gybe top side of Peter on a reach across to mk 4. At the 4th mk Peter had held his nerve rounding just 2 boat lengths clear of Dave with Louis 3rd and Geoff moving up a place to take 4th from Ian now slipping to 5th as he chose not to fly his spinnaker and lost out as a concequence. Positions remained unchanged round 5th mk but with Carl Cripps in 3824 now only 2 boat lengths off Ian Downs.

Lap 3 This time Peter sailed the beat to the windward mk much higher than Dave. Geoff was now gaining ground on Louis in 3rd place. Ian seemed to take a much wider line than the rest of the leaders and as they came to the mk found Peter Cuthbert now with a 6-8 boat lengths lead over Dave Raines with Louis Moulden in 3rd place, followed by Geoff Phillips in 4th place only two boat lengths behind. Ian Downs 5th & Carl Cripps 6th. The reach across to 2nd mk again saw Ian choosing not to fly his spinnaker until rounding the mark and going downwind to 3rd mk and still managed to hold his position. Going to the 3rd mk the battle between Geoff and Louis was hotting up with the pair rounding the mk together, Louis having the inside line but on leaving the mark Geoff & Janet had their spinnaker set first and saw them power there way passed. Peter ahead was taking no prisoners and kept Dave Raines firmly in 2nd place not giving any ground across to mk 4, but on the gybe down to mk 5 saw Michelle's expertise on the spinnaker once again come into it own as Dave closed the gap again. On the final beat to the finish the positions remained unchanged

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Race Three Had the race starting with very light airs, the front of the fleet getting a clean start with 3 boats having to do penalty turns at the rear. All boats going off on starboard. Geoff & Janet Phillips in 3815 pulling out a good lead on the first beat with a battle between Peter Cuthbert in 3747 & Carl Cripps in 3824 going to the mark. 1st at the windward mark was Geoff Phillips, 2nd Carl Cripps beating Peter into 3rd place. Stan Lubnor & Owuse Clegg in 3334 in 4th place, Dave Raines 5th and Jon & Phillip Aldhours in 6th place in 3794. With a reach across to mk2 a gybe mark saw Geoff open up a 10 boat lengths lead over Carl Cripps and Peter Cuthbert had to do turns after touching the mark letting Dave Raines slip passed to take up 3rd place. The run down from 3rd to 4th mark saw the boats having to put a gybe in part way down the leg which proved interesting for some. Again a gybe mark from 4 with a reach across to 5 still had Geoff in 1 st place Carl 2nd Dave Raines 3rd Peter Cuthbert 4th and again positions unchanged rounding mk 5 but with Dave Raines closing in on Carl Cripps.

Lap 2 Still Geoff holds onto lead to windward mark Dave Raines goes off wide on the beat and storms passed Carl Cripps to move into 2nd place with Peter Cuthbert in 4th and Stan Lubnor in 5th and Jon Aldhous in 6th. On the reach across to the 2 nd mark see’s Jon overtake Stan with some good spinnaker work (well done Phillip). At the 3 rd mark saw a lack of concentration in Carl’s boat as he hit the mark and in doing his turns gave his 3rd place to Peter the places remained unchanged for the completion of the lap.

Lap 3 Dave Raines was slowly closing in on Geoff Phillips with both boats choosing to go a lot higher up the far bank before tacking across the lake to the windward mark. On reaching the mark Geoff still retained a lead of 10 plus boat lengths over Dave Raines with Peter Cuthbert 3rd , Carl Cripps in 4th place and Jon Aldhous now 5th gaining a place over Stan Lubnor . The reach across to 2 nd mark saw Geoff still flying his spinnaker with both Dave Raines & Peter Cuthbert choosing to keep it in the sock (perhaps fatigue starting to creep in?) only hoisting it after the gybe mark going down to 3rd mark, Geoff consequently opened up a substantial lead on the reach but again Michaels skills with the spinnaker once again drew them closer to the front and on reaching the last mark they were in hot pursuit of Geoff, with a beat to the finish it became a cat and mouse tacking match to the finish with the results,

-----------------------------------------------------------

Race 4

A course change saw a figure of 8 on the board making it easier for those now suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion to follow

After a postponement and waiting for the winds, (light North Easterly winds) to fill in we saw Peter Cuthbert get away 1 st followed by Dave Raines, Stan Lubnor then Geoff Phillips and Jon Aldhous, but first to make the windward mark was Geoff Phillips closely followed by Dave Raines who quickly caught and passed Geoff going across on a reach to the second mk with spinnakers flying. By the time we had reached the 3rd mk positions had changed several times with Dave holding 1st , Geoff in 2nd Jon Aldhous now in 3rd place, Peter Cuthbert in 4th , Stan the local lad in 5th place and Louis 6th the positions remaining the same for the completion of the lap.

Lap 2

Saw 3794 Jon Aldhous go right up the far bank on starboard while the other top boats choosing to tack off in at differing intervals up the lake. The question as to who’s strategy would pay off up the beat became apparent as Dave Raines still rounded the windward mark in 1 st place with Geoff 2 nd but Jon had slipped to 4 th letting Peter Cuthbert back in the fray with Stan and Louis still in 5th & 6th places. The reach to the 2nd mk (spinnaker leg) saw a battle between Geoff & peter with Geoff just managing to round ahead of Peter. It wasn’t until the reach across from 3 to 4 when Louis managed to sail over the top of Stan Lubnor to gain 5th place.

Lap 3

The beat up to the windward mk saw all the top boats going a long way up the far bank before tacking across to the mark with no places changing at the mk. The reach across to 2nd mk saw the boats evenly spaced. The places seemed very much set now for the finish only Carl & Tim Cripps in 3824 (Predator) had other ideas as they slowly creeped up on Stan Lubnor to take away his 6th placing. The final result

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Race 5

The light North Easterly wind now dying away to a breeze having the same figure of 8 course as previous. The start saw two boats over the line & choosing to round the ends & restart all others away cleanly. Dave & Jean Reed 3725 appeared to get away first going up on the opposite bank followed by Louis to windward then Dave Raines, Peter Cuthbert, and Geoff Phillips. It became a tacking battle to the mark, 1st to round was Dave Raines, 2nd Louis Moulden, 3rd Peter Cuthbert, in 4th place Geoff Phillips, 5th Dave & Jean Reed, 6th Carl Cripps.

The reach across to 2nd mk saw the boats well spread out with Jon & Phillip Aldhous slipping passed Carl to take 6th place before the gybe mk. The broad reach down to mk3 saw Geoff pass Peter for 3 rd place and Jon battling it out with Dave for 5th place, Young Phillip really getting to grips with flying his spinnaker. Jon also noticeabley keeping his boat flatter than Dave saw him storm passed to take another scalp and move up a place before rounding mk4 and the gybe across to 5th mk.

Lap 2 Saw Peter & Louis tacking across the lake earlier than the rest of the leaders with Dave Raine & Geoff continuing along way up the far bank before choosing to tack across. At the windward mk it was still in 1st place Dave Raines, 2nd Geoff Phillips , 3rd Louis Moulden, 4th Jon Aldhous, 5th Peter Cuthbert and 6th Dave & Jean Reed. Geoff gaining to valuable places on that leg. No changes in positions over the next two legs, with the lead Dave had ever increasing. At the last rounding mk 4 and final beat to the finish saw Jon sail a little off wind to Peter allowing Peter to regain the place he lost earlier. So the positions at the line

The Overall winners for the weekends Miracle North East Area Championship