TridentUK North East Topper Traveller at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club
by Ian Escritt 1 Jun 2012 06:48 BST
26 May 2012
Trident North East Topper Traveller at Derwent Reservoir © Ian Escritt
Travelling up the A1 from Yorkshire we could see it was to be a good sailing day, the sun was hot and the wind was bending the trees.
On arrival we weren’t disappointed it looked more like Garda than the Durham Dales.
There was a carnival atmosphere amongst the sailors whilst some sailed bare footed others sailed in shorts.
Richard (PRO) set a large box course for the day and encouraged the young competitors to put plenty of sunscreen on.
Race one got away after a general recall and it was Simon Weatherspoon (Derwent) who led from start to finish winning in some style. The battle for second was much tighter with Joe Henderson (Sunderland), Will Tarn Chapman (Derwent) and Callum Escritt (Yorkshire Dales) changing places throughout; eventually they finished in the order above. The fleet retired in for lunch and more sunbathing/football.
Race two saw Callum leading from Will and again the leaders pulled out a large lead from the chasing pack Joe being consistent as usual came third followed by last years area champ Tom Clayton (Scaling) and James McKenzie (Yorkshire Dales).
It is worth noting the contribution made by a group of seven enthusiastic sailors from Scaling Dam who used the event as experience of sailing “away from home”. They were a credit to their club and shocked a few people by their high standard. Alex McCormack placed a creditable 9th overall.
It looked like the winner of race three would take the spoils, with five potential winners. Will shot off into a large lead, whilst the rest fought over the minor placings. After a poor start Callum pulled to within a boat length but Will’s experience got him over the line first. Tom placed third, Joe fourth, James fifth and 1st girl Faye Wright (Sunderland) sixth.
Will took the overall win on count back from Callum with Joe third and Tom fourth.
There was a bulging table of prizes and most sailors got something.
Will thanked the club and event sponsor Trident for their support.