Heron Open at Yeadon Sailing Club

On a very pleasant autumn day, with the wind reaching the heady heights of 2-3 mph South to South-Easterly, eight Herons, three home boats and five visitors (swelling to six when a late arrival finally made it in time to tag along for the last race after overcoming some traffic issues) subjected themselves to the fluky drifting winds on the Tarn at Yeadon. Some single handed, some double handed and a couple of spinnakers for good measure.

Race One got off to a slow drifting start with big wind shadows covering almost half of the Tarn. Steve Abbott and Tony Dufton got off to an early lead with Dave Butler in pursuit, followed by R.Stephenson, Jo Mayes, Louise Harding, Stan Luger and Dennis Beard. A couple of spinnakers were deployed with limited success and with his spinnaker, Dave Butler pushed himself to the front of the fleet. Dennis Beard made up for a poor start, perhaps using some local knowledge, and got up into the top half of the fleet.

Race 1 Results: (after handicaps)

1 Dave Butler, 10340 d/h Spinnaker
2 Tony Dufton, 108 s/h
3 Steve Abbott, 10312 s/h
4 Dennis Beard, 10070 d/h
5 R. Stephenson, 9866 s/h
6 Louise Harding, 10335 d/h
7 Jo Mayes, 10343 d/h Spinnaker
8 Stan Lugner, 10341 s/h

Race Two, after soup and rolls in the club house, started with the wind rising to a welcome 5-6mph but this soon died back to the 2-3mph of the first race. The course was altered slightly to avoid the biggest wind shadow but others still remained. Dave Butler, Steve Abbott and R.Stephenson built up an early lead and then Dave Butler (and spinnaker) opened up a good lead. However, with some good work R.Stephenson caught and passed him on the water by the end of the race - sadly though, not by enough margin to cancel the s/h handicap.

Race 2 Results: (after handicaps)

1 Dave Butler, 10340 d/h Spinnaker
2 R. Stephenson, 9866 s/h
3 Stan Lugner, 10341 s/h
4 Tony Dufton, 108 s/h
5 Steve Abbott, 10312 s/h
6 Dennis Beard, 10070 d/h
7 Jo Mayes, 10343 d/h Spinnaker
8 Louise Harding, 10335 d/h

Race Three again had the same wind conditions with some drizzle thrown in for good measure. At the first couple of marks most of the boats were bunched together, which is a bit of a lottery in light winds. Dave Butler hit a mark and had to do a 360 but managed to get himself (and his spinnaker) back into the lead of a race which turned out to be a very close finish for some. Dennis Beard, Stan Lugnar, Steve Abbott and Tony Dufton all crossed the line within a couple of seconds of each other.

Race 3 Results: (after handicaps)

1 Dave Butler, 10340 d/h Spinnaker
2 Dennis Beard, 10070 d/h
3 Stan Lugner, 10341 s/h
4 Steve Abbott, 10312 s/h
5 Tony Dufton, 108 s/h
6 Jo Mayes, 10343 d/h Spinnaker
7 R. Stephenson, 9866 s/h
8 Louise Harding, 10335 d/h

Overall Winner was Dave Butler with Tony Dufton in second place and Dennis Beard in third.

Thank you to all involved in organising the day and to those who travelled.