Laser Vago Open North Event at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club
by Dave Baxter 29 May 2015 11:33 BST
23-25 May 2015
Laser Vago Open North Event at Yorkshire Dales SC © Paul Hargreaves / paulhargreavesphotography.zenfolio.com
Open North again proved a popular destination with visitors from Cambridgeshire, the Midlands, Derbyshire and the Wirral joining the Yorkshire Dales home fleet for 3 days of training, coaching, racing, free camping and mucking about.
The event was supposed to start on Saturday morning, but as usual the boats started to arrive early, beating the traffic and in a couple of cases (Dave and Ed), going for a Friday evening sail!
When things finally got underway after the Welcome briefing on Saturday morning, 12 boats launched for some start practice in light winds before heading back for lunch and a debrief from event stalwart and Race Officer Mike Woodhead.
The afternoon brought more training and the first four of the event's ten races as the newer fleet members started to find their rhythm. As the wind picked up, a few people actually managed to get onto the wire by the last race and the fleet headed back ashore for the first evening meal provided by Rural Recipes who were taking care of all the catering required during the busy weekend schedule.
The evening consisted of another sailing session for single handers Dave and Clive as they tuned the rigs and then a quiz for the combined Vago and 29er fleets as well as the club members who were also camping over the weekend. Bar and bedtime wrapped up the day.
Day two proved just a bit windy in the morning with gusts up to 29knts, so the fleet decided to stay onshore until the afternoon. Everyone moved to the training room for video debriefs before a representative of the 29ers, who were running a Grand Prix event, asked if the Vago fleet could put on their wet gear and help them to launch. It was pretty rough, so minutes later, with the help of three Vago sailors per 29er, the Grand Prix event was able to go ahead!
Job done: back to the training room for tactical discussions.
As a finale before lunch, the onshore trapeze training session concluded with the annual Trapeze Fast Tacking competition where each contestant must tack wire to wire and back in the shortest possible time. Congratulations to Lee Carter for retaining his 2014 title by completing the tacks in 8 seconds, his nearest competition being Dave who was a whole 50% slower!
The afternoon saw a manageable wind so the entire fleet launched with Standard mainsails and a combination of gennakers and reefs. All the single handed boats doubled up with each other to give the newer Vago owners experience in the rough conditions. And so the blasting began with some exciting but cautious starts, a few hairy gybes with the club racing joining us too!
At 5pm, everyone including the late afternoon joyriders came ashore for the evening meal.
Monday started with a light breeze which built slowly through the day with a few changes in results for the two morning races. After lunch, everyone prepared for the final double points, non-discardable medal race which traditionally catches people out. After being recalled to the start line, Dave shot off to take the lead and retain the Championship with Paul and Victoria sneaking through from Doug and Sally followed by Lee and Dan. This forced Ed to take 10 points and therefore drop a place to 3rd on the final results board!
The prize giving and closing 'ceremony' followed Open North tradition and bestowed prizes for special achievements before handing out the goodies to the top 10 boats
Thanks to everyone involved with the event, especially Rural Recipes for their outstanding food, Mike Woodhead for his tactical lecturing and race coordination, Ed Deacon and Dave Baxter for rig tuning and training, and Ben Murrell our Sunday Club Race Officer.
Special Prize Awards:
Trapeze Speed Tacking - Lee
Cleanest sails (most capsizes) - Vanessa
Vago Virgins (awarded to highest places newcomers) - Richard and Ami
Demolition Derby (basically getting in the way a lot) - Lee and Dan
Travel Guru (awarded for longest journey) - Ed
Best Hat - Paul's roadkill
Overall Results:
| Position | Sail No | Club | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | Medal | Overall |
|---|
| 1 | 1814 | YDSC | Dave Baxter | ‑ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | 463 | Redditch | Paul Fuller | Victoria Rose | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 23 |
| 3 | 164 | Hunts SC | Ed Deacon | ‑ | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 28 |
| 4 | 742 | YDSC | Lee Carter | Dan Trowsdale | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 31 |
| 5 | 996 | Bartley | Douglas Colley | Sally Harris | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 44 |
| 6 | 408 | Draycote | Clive Sleath | ‑ | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 61 |
| 7 | 1802 | Swarkestone SC | Richard Monk | Amicia Hopkins | 9 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 28 | 67 |
| 8 | 1083 | YDSC | Steve Evans | ‑ | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 94 |
| 9 | 680 | YDSC | David Smith | ‑ | 7 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 5 | 14 | 14 | 28 | 94 |
| 10 | 1067 | West Kirby | John Davies | Jack Davies | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 28 | 96 |
| 11 | 97 | YDSC | Phil Taylor | ‑ | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 28 | 108 |
| 12 | 538 | YDSC | Vanessa James | ‑ | 12 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 14 | 9 | 28 | 109 |
| 13 | 1349 | YDSC | Chris Lightley | ‑ | 11 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 28 | 114 |
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