Windward / Leeward Racing at Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club

A pleasant westerly force 3 enabled Race Officer Ian Craven to make the best use of the water, setting a good long windward / leeward course for the 23 entrants whilst still reserving enough space for the simultaneous National 12 Open Meeting with 11 boats.

Conditions in the first race were ideal for the RS200s, which stayed in touch with the faster boats for most of the race to dominate the results taking the first four places; Keith Escritt / Anne Saul winning from Mike Saul / Meghan Fletcher. As often happens at Grimwith, the wind freshened for the next race and it was the Vortexes of Jonathan Lister and Phil Whitehead that made the pace with Jonathan leading for 3 laps until the last moment when Phil found an extra gust to win the photo-finish. Richard Marsh / Heather Nocton were within a few seconds on corrected time but had to settle for third.

After a splendid lunch of Maureen's hearty soup and famous cakes the wind strengthened to a solid force 4 with one or two stronger patches and the sunshine broke through the clouds. In these perfect conditions the RS800s of Andrew Foulds / Ollie Dewhurst and Mike Mawson / Nick Hancock started to fly, really enjoying the twin wiring downwind. Neil Ferguson showed just how fast a well sailed Contender can motor upwind and Geoff Stubbs was quick both up and downwind in his RS700.

The wind eased back a little for the final race, at this stage either Keith Escritt or Phil Whitehead could still win, and the other placings were still up for grabs. Phil got the bit between his teeth and stayed with Andrew Foulds in the leading RS800 with Richard Marsh and Ian Escritt in hot pursuit. Jonathan Lister got the shifts right on the last beat to catch Ian and then pass him offwind to claim second in the race and the series.

Overall Results: