Team 15 Windsurfing at Kielder Water Sailing Club
by Judy Scullion 17 Jun 2014 08:22 BST
15 June 2014
The second Team 15 Interclub event of the year for the North Borderlands region was held at Kielder Water Sailing Club on Sunday 15th June 2014. This weekend saw even more young windsurfers at the club than the first event two weeks earlier. The same three teams attended: the Coquet Crushers from Amble, the Derwent Devils from Derwent Reservoir, and the local Kielder Kestrels, but all fielded more competitors.
The winds were light again, and conditions dull and often drizzly, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the young sailors as they sailed out to race. The wind direction was generally easterly, but shifted around a bit, to keep both the race officers and competitors from getting too complacent in their tactics.
The 3.5m fleet raced nine races, starting from the shore, going around a buoy and back to shore. With a line-up of eight competitors, the start was fairly crowded, and there was some jockeying for position as the sailors headed for the mark, and some close-quarters sailing as they rounded it. First place in the 3.5s was taken by Maya McGarvey of the Coquet Crushers, with Jonathan Dodd of the Kielder Kestrels a very close second, on the same number of points after discards, but having won three races to Maya's four. Third was Olie Pirt of the Derwent Devils, showing that all three teams have strong contenders in the 3.5 fleet.
The 4.5m, 5.8m and 6.8m classes raced seven races together in the middle of the lake on the same rectangular course, but with the two larger classes sailing an extra "sausage". The 4.5 fleet comprised seven racers, and Archie Dodd of Kielder managed to come first in every race, repeating his feat of two weeks earlier. Second place was taken by Jordan Pirt of Derwent, and third by Bailey Charles-Jones of Kielder.
There were four racers in the 5.8 class, and Jane Vallance, the Kestrels' team captain, managed to win six out of the seven races to take first place. Second was Nick Pike, also of Kielder, with Joseph Palmer and James Davis of the Derwent Devils taking third and fourth place.
The 6.8 racing was won by Philip Heywood of the Coquet Crushers, taking first place in five out of the four races, with Aaron Hobbs second and Leonardo Takiguchi third, both also of Coquet. Alistair McLane of Kielder placed fourth.
The team trophy was won by the Kielder Kestrels.
There were some great performances also from some of the other competitors, including young Ewan Davis of Derwent, who, having found he wasn't doing as well as he'd hoped in the morning, went out for some extra practice at lunchtime and managed to come first in the first 3.5 race after lunch.
The day was enjoyed by all, and thanks are due to all those who made it possible; the race officers, the galley volunteers who provided hot food when most needed, all those who helped out afloat and ashore, and most of all to the competitors who came along to race.
Results can be found at sailwave.com/results/kwsc/NorthBorderlandsEvent1Teamupdate.htm