3000 Travellers Trophy Finale at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club
by Rob Leigh 21 Oct 2009 17:31 BST
17-18 October 2009
The final event of the 3000 Travellers Trophy series at Leigh and Lowton © Lyndi Jones
Eight 3000s joined Leigh & Lowton's mixed handicap racing for the final event of the 2009 Travellers Trophy series, over the weekend of 17 - 18 October. Five races were run over the two days in light to no wind. This was the last 3000 event for Rob Leigh, Class Secretary for the past six years, who was determined to go out in style at his home club, even if this meant making up rules as he went along.
Race 1 : The RO set the start between Middle Distance and a placed Yellow race mark, a situation that hadn't been covered in Rob's one o'clock briefing and which led to all sorts of confusion over just what constituted the finish line. Everyone was clean away, but with patchy wind coming off the naturalised 'slag heap' along the Northern shore, local knowledge paid. Rob and Allen (LLSC/Pennine) quickly established an 'unassailable' 50m lead which they held over the four laps, until the final leg before the finish when they were caught in a hole and Joe and Lyndi (Ullswater) snuck through. Just before the line the wind went totally leaving the two lead 3000s drifting in a sandwich with Tom and Andy in a club RS200, fighting for the line. An over-zealous roll tack by Rob and Allen caused an embarrassing capsize, but nothing was lost, they were still right alongside Joe and Lyndi when they righted. Joe and Lyndi had luffing rights and crept over the line first, with Rob and Allen second and Stuart and Jenny (Carsington) third. Word got around the rest of the fleet that the race had been called off and they missed the last mark, scoring DNFs.
Race 2 : The second race was held back-to-back and, having established that the finish was always on the club line and that you just had to sail through it anywhere along its length after the last mark of the course, the tail-enders were out to avenge themselves. This time Joe and Lyndi were hot off the line and made the break, with the pack jostling for position behind them. Only two laps were set on a short square course, completed in just over 20 mins. Nick and Matt (Carsington) came through into second but were then pipped before the line by Rob and Allen. Nick and Matt held third and Ed and Chloe (Rutland) began to show their light wind form, coming home fourth. The two Sedburgh School boats had a bad day all round, but their form would also improve on Day 2.
Positions overnight were Joe and Lyndi 1st (two 1sts), Rob and Allen 2nd (two 2nds), and Stuart and Jenny 3rd, all sailing go-faster-yellow Laser 3000s. Evening entertainment was by way of a train into Central Manchester for a Thai at the Pacific, followed by Mike's Manchester Pub Crawl, invented by a real ale fanatic work-mate of Rob's. Joe plied the other helms with 'Thai'quilas, obviously banking on his having best trained head to handle several 42% proof aperatifs on top of real ales and red wine, which did little for anyone's concentration in even lighter winds the next day!
It was great to have new members from Leigh and Lowton, Mike Banner and his younger son, Phil, turn up for the Sunday races. After their Introductory Course in May, this was their first TT event and the ultra-light wind made for a testing time, even after splashing out on a fluorescent green LLSC wind indicator with their bacon butties, maybe hoping to take advantage of hangovers by dazzling the field!
With volunteer working parties at the club on the Saturday, only 4 club boats had been out the previous day and the 3000s had the course pretty much to themselves, much as if it were an open meeting. However, on the Sunday there was a strong turnout of club boats sharing the course, with the handicap fleet 30 strong and a separate Solo start of another 10 boats. The light wind had swung to the ENE, a fairly open direction from the foot of the Flash.
Race 3 : Young Bobby in his Oppy bullied the massed starters at the favoured starboard end, forcing Ed and Chloe into a collision with Rob and Allen, for which Ed opted to take turns. Nick and Matt made a good getaway and the 3000s worked their way towards the front of the handicap fleet in fluctuating winds. The downwind dilemma was whether to sail acute angles to carry the spinnaker, or to go deep under just main and jib. Ed and Chloe found an excellent turn of speed downwind in yet another yellow 3000, letting off rig tension and goosewinging the jib and coming through to win. Rob and Allen were again relegated into second with Nick and Matt crossing in third.
Race 4 : After breaking for a hearty club lunch of lasagne or shepherds pie, the fleets sailed out on the 20 min preparatory signal to find the line set off the outer distance at 45 degrees to the beat, with port bias. Having disturbed the fishermen on the shore for 10 mins, which saw most of them give up for the day and go home (sorry), the line was reset just before the 5 minute warning to give a good beat in oscillating wind. The 3000s started amongst the handicap fleet all along the line and the fleet was closely packed. The two Sedbergh School boats had a good race, Patrick and Harry finishing third with 'substitute' James and Alex fourth. Ed and Chloe again made the most of their downwind speed to win, beating Joe and Lyndi into second.
Race 5 : Everything hung on the last race, with Joe and Lyndi and Ed and Chloe sharing two wins each, Ed needing to keep two boats between himself and Joe to win based on discards. Mike and Phil opted to give the third race a miss in the flukey conditions. The wind was just holding on for the start, all the 3000s opting for a starboard end start except for Rob and Allen, who started in space half way down the line and were third round the windward mark behind an RS400 and 600, with some open water back to the main fleet. Halfway up the beat, Stewart and Jenny were told they were one of several boats over the line at the start and they retired. The wind was very patchy and Ed and Chloe again picked their way through the field to appear on Rob's shoulder at the start of the second and last run, with Joe and Lyndi buried back in the pack in fifth. Rob and Allen opted to sail a longer distance in more wind on the right hand side of the run, while Ed and Chloe opted to go straight down the middle. The decision paid off for Rob and Allen who had gained 30 metres going into the final reach of the square course, the pack descending on Ed just as he rounded. Patrick and Harry (Sedbergh) appeared out of the pack to overtake Ed and Chloe and threaten Rob and Allen going into the final beat to the line, who just managed to hold on to score a win in Rob's last race as a 3000 owner, a nice way to go out. Patrick and Harry finished second with Ed and Chloe third, Joe and Lyndi having retired from fifth place on the last run out of boredom, able to use this as their discard.
Coming off the water, we all thought that Joe and Lyndi had just managed to hang onto the event win, scoring 1/1/4/2 compared with Ed and Chloe's 4/1/1/3, allowing for the single discard. But nobody had noticed 'Mr Consistent' Rob and Allen coming up on the inside rail (and that includes Rob and Allen themselves who had to triple-check the results to be sure), scoring 2/2/2/1 and taking his final event as a 3000 owner.
Overall Results:
1st 3302 Rob Leigh & Allen Bradley (Leigh & Lowton/Pennine) 2/2/2/5/1 = 7pts
2nd 01 (Laser 3000 hull) Joe Pester & Lyndi Jones (Ullswater) 1/1/4/2/8(DNF) = 8pts
3rd 3181 Ed Walker & Chloe Tucker (Rutland) 8(DNF)/4/1/1/3 = 9pts
4th= (1st silver) 3253 Patrick Shelcock & Harry Batty (Sedburgh/Kilington) 8(DNF)/6/5/3/2 = 16pts
4th= 3604 Nick Arran & Matt Archer (Carsington) 8(DNF)/3/3/6/4 = 16pts
6th (2nd silver) 3284 Stewart Patience & Jenny Persson (Carsington) 3/5/7/7/8(DNF) = 23pts
7th 3252 James Wenmouth & Alex Robinson (Sedbergh/Kilington) 8(DNF)/7/6/4/8(DNF) = 25pts
8th 3530 Mike & Phil Banner (Leigh & Lowton) 8(DNS)/8(DNS)/8/8/8(DNS) = 32pts
(Silver awards are made to the top two competitors who have been with the class for three years or less.)