North West Junior Traveller Open at Redesmere Sailing Club

Light winds for the North West Junior Traveller event at Redesmere © Peter Baldwin

Forty Five young sailors gathered at Redesmere SC on Saturday 8th September for round 8 of the RYA North West Junior Traveller event. There were 7 Lasers, 23 Toppers, 1 Graduate and an excellent fleet of 14 Optimists.

The day started grey with light breeze with moderate and shifty gusts providing testing conditions for all competitors.

Predictably the Lasers led the handicap fleet around the course in Race 1 with the Radial of Peter Mitchell holding off full rig of Mark Russell for one lap. Meanwhile the lead Topper of Elliot Hanson kept close enough to the Lasers throughout the race to finish first with Mitchell second and Russell third. After an excellent BBQ lunch (Redesmere's speciality), Race 2 got underway in similar conditions and the same course. This time, Mitchell led the fleet from start to finish holding off Russell in his full rig. The Toppers of Hanson and Chris Wheeler were close behind and in front of some full rig Lasers such that by the end of the race, Hanson was again first, Mitchell second and Wheeler third.

With the wind swinging more Westerly for Race 3, the Race Officer decided to change the course. This proved rather eventful with a mark being detached from its anchor and the replacement mark delayed the start. The wait must have made everyone keen to get away as there was a General Recall and yet more delay. The race got away cleanly on the restart and the sun came out to warm everyone at the end of the day. Mark Russell led the fleet this time with Jess Millington following from lap 2 onwards. However the Topper of Hanson was again the winner on handicap followed by Russell and Millington.

In the Optimist fleet, there was some close racing near the front of the fleet. Martin Wrigley led in race 1 and soon established a commanding lead. Jamie Catchpole was second and Imogen Hanson third. Race 2 followed a similar pattern to Race 1 with Wrigley dominating for the whole race, with James Hazelwood holding off Thomas Joesbury for 2nd and third place respectively. In the final race Wrigley again produced a good win followed by Hazelwood in second and Joesbury in third. Wrigley's sailing skills were such that even though he started 5 minutes after the handicap fleet, he ended up sailing against the last third of the handicap fleet in every race. An excellent performance from a small sail on such a sheltered lake such as Redesmere.

Overall an excellent days racing in picturesque surroundings. Thanks should go to the large number of volunteers who helped make the day a success.

Overall Results:

1st and 1st U14, Elliot Hanson (Redesmere SC) Topper
2nd Peter Mitchell (Nantwich and Borders SC) Laser Radial
3rd Mark Russell (Etherow SC) Laser Standard
4th Jess Millington (Redesmere SC - Laser Standard
5th and 2nd U14, Sam Hall (Bassenthwaite SC) Laser Radial
6th Sam Watson (Nantwich and Borders SC) Topper

Optimists
1st Martin Wrigley (Leigh and Lowton SC)
2nd James Hazelwood (Dee SC)
3rd Jamie Catchpole (Leigh and Lowton SC)
4th Thomas Joesbury (Budworth SC)
5th Imogen Hanson (Redesmere SC)