Saturday 1st September

Thornton Steward Sailing Club

by Gillian Gibson

On 1st September 2007 the mirror calm of early morning blew up to a good Force 5 for the first Miracle Open Meeting held at Thornton Steward SC, North Yorkshire.

Race 1 saw 9 starters in a pleasant westerly Force 3. Tom and Zoe Osorio took the lead, chased by Martin and Carmela Burgess who overtook them for 2 laps. However, the Osorios gained the upper hand in the final lap, pulling out 20 seconds ahead to win.

In Race 2 Force 4/5 fluky winds made the beats distinctly hard work, but this was rewarded by stunning planning reaches on the compact course required on the 35 acre water. The running order soon settled down with the Osorios leading from start to finish, followed by Ian and Geraldine Downs.

With the meeting won the Osorios chose not to start Race 3 and Martin and Carmela Burgess took the advantage and led all the way to the finish. Behind them Dave and Jean Reed climbed from fourth to hold second position until the end.

Overall tight mid-fleet racing required a tie-break to separate three boats on equal fifth with Eddie and Di Fearnside coming out on top.