Bala Catamaran Club Enduro weekend

The weekend of the 28th and 29th saw a total of 14 travellers make the journey across the mountains to Bala Catamaran Club for the annual long distance race and this year incorporated a F18 TT event.

Saturday was scheduled for the Enduro, a race the length of Bala lake with a race time of approximately 4 hours. A total of 28 boats came to the start line but with the wind a steady force four with regular gusts of force 6 this took the toll on the fleet with 15 boats retiring. As a result of the causalities the race time was shorten to just over 2 hours.

The racing was dominated by Grant Piggot and Kyle Stoneham who ended up displaying a master class in F18 sailing and their lead was never challenged. Behind them there was a good tussle between Tim Neal and local hero Simon Flack with Simon losing his crew on the last lap and allowing Tim to finish second. The top three places were filled by F18’s with Chris King in a visiting Inter 20 coming in fourth.

Enduro Results:

Credit also went to the three Dart 15 Dx’s who finished the course. Prizegiving was held that night in the marquee supplied by the event sponsors Marche Industries who also supplied the band for Saturday night and the trophies.

Enduro Results for DX15:

Sunday dawned and although the wind had abated slightly racing was to be on the standard windward leeward courses and with Don Findlay as race office it was going to be fast and furious. For the F18’s it was a complete shut out with Piggott and Stoneham winning all four races. Behind them the Neal brothers posted 3 seconds and a third. Flack went for death or glory with a capsize in third race but was still able to recover the series to finish 3rd overall.

In the handicap fleet it was 1 and 2 for the local boats for Pete Findlay sailing with is son James on the Carbon 20 taking first and Dave Walker sailing with Ashley Bissell taken second. F20s took the first 5 places in either the new carbon form or the Inter 20 design. Good to see that old boats car still just as competitive. The handicap fleet also included the Dart 15 DX’s of which there where 3 and there was close racing between them all with the overall winner decided on the last tack of the last race. Steve Sawford took victory for the DX’s.

Overall this was a good weekend judging by the feed back from those that attended and it is good to see Bala Catamaran Sailing club back on the circuit and attracting an F18 TT event. This has only been achieve by a dedicated club membership who wanted to ensure that a good event was laid on and that would be remembered. As always the sponsors went along way to make the event a success with Marche Industries supplying the marquee, trophies, food and most importantly the bad for Saturday night, Towergate / Insurance 4 Dinghies along with Summit Watersports providing addition support. Already the talk is of next year’s event.

Formula 18 Results: