3000 Traveller Trophy Round 6 at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club

Perfect sailing conditions rewarded the five visitors and two local boats that entered the final event of this year’s travellers' series. A solid F4-5 greeted arrivals on Saturday, breezing in over the trees at the eastern end of Pennington Flash and gusting to 25 kts. Two races were scheduled on the first day, joining club handicap racing, with a relaxed 14:00 first start.

Race 1: Competitors were still downing large helpings of fish/sausage and chips when the 20 min preparatory signal sounded. After a mad scramble, and then a restart, everyone got away, with Myles/Mikita and Grace/Sally having opted for storm mains. This was Mikita’s first time on a trapeze, and the girls' first time out in their 3000, having moved up from the Hobie 405 class. The two Vandercraft 3000's of Joe/Murph and Pat/Luke had the best starts, and were in close combat for the first beat and run, but Joe/Murph gradually eked out an advantage and these pairings finished 1st and 2nd. Allen/Rob made up positions after arriving late for the start, and finished 3rd. Myles/Mikita and Grace/Sally turned in 4th and 5th and Mike/Sam, who had trailed their boat 1000 miles over the summer but not touched the water once, survived to take 6th. Chris/Kathy capsized and turtled on the last leg before the finish, and needed assistance to extract their mast from the slag, so retired.

Race 2: Conditions held for the second race, with the wind swinging to the north of east, leading to more blustery conditions up the beat and fluky conditions around the top mark. The same pattern emerged, until Pat/Luke’s jib halyard gave way on the approach to the top mark. Joe/Murph sailed away into the distance, with confident downwind handling and with crew, Murph, playing the off-the-boom mainsheet upwind, keeping the boat heeled slightly to windward, swapping back for the tacks. The race order was much as the first race, but Chris/Kathy’s bad luck from the first turned into disaster in the second, when boat damage ended their event. Having travelled from the south of England for the event, everyone felt for them, but at least they were free to visit their daughter, Eve, who has just started University in Manchester, and was training for Team Racing at West Kirby on the Sunday.

The Sedbergh School crowd headed north overnight for the aftermath of schools' rugby event and to collect a spare forestay. Mike/Sam also had family commitments that night and the following day. Those staying overnight ventured out to a semi-local pub for an odd combination of Italian pizza/pasta washed down by German beer. Sunday dawned bright and just as breezy.

Races 3 & 4: Five boats made the start, looking forward to more exhilarating sailing, mixed in amongst a strong local handicap fleet. Myles had made a crew swap, with Harry replacing Mikita, who had been buzzing after his first experience of class racing on the wire. Conditions were more changeable, with periods of bright ‘June’ sunshine and lulls mixed with gustier conditions under the occasional cloud cover. The wind had swung further north, leading to a very heavy port bias on the club line. The pattern of racing continued from Day 1, with Joe/Murph leading from Pat/Luke, and the rest trailing. With their jib halyard repaired and forestay attached as back-up, Pat/Luke survived another halyard snapping in Race 4, the pattern fault possibly having something to do with the 14½ stone lump on the wire. In a jumble on the line in Race 4, a club boat capsized on top of Grace and Sally, the boat's mast concussing Grace, although she bravely battled on to complete the race.

Race 5: With four bullets under their belts, and with four of the five races to count, Joe/Murph sat out the final race, leaving the way open for another boat to count a win. With Grace still feeling woozy, she and Sally also opted out of the final race, so ‘then there were three’. After again being late at the start, Allen/Rob managed to steer clear of the ensuing melee to lead into the first windward mark, but were progressively overhauled by Pat/Luke who definitely had the edge this time, after having been beaten out of 2nd place on count-back by Allen/Rob at their home club at Killington, in the first event of the series. Pat/Luke secured the final race win, with Allen/Rob second and Myles/Harry a close third.

So Joe and Murph from Ullswater YC, won the event, and secured the overall TT series, having won five of the six open events this year, including the Nationals, finally wresting the Phoenix Travellers' Trophy from the grips of Tony Hunt and Suzanne Hall who have been class champions for most of the last five years. Joe was also notable for his hints and tips to other competitors. Pat and Luke from Sedbergh School secured second, with Pat taking the Junior Trophy for the series, and Allen and Rob were beaten into third on this occasion. The series Masters Trophy and the Youth Trophy went to Martin Brown and Max Caston from Wilsonian SC, and to former Sedbergh School student, James Wenmouth, respectively, who weren’t present, but arrangements have been made to get their silverware to them.

It was great to see the grins on the faces of newcomers to the 3000, Grace and Sally from Leigh & Lowton, and Mikita from Sedbergh School. This event was more of a battle with the conditions than close boat-to-boat racing, and was a great way to round off the season in this friendly class.

Overall Results:

Travellers' Trophy Overall Results: