North West Senior Travellers at Southport Sailing Club

North West Senior Travellers at Southport © Dave Eccles / Rene Watts

North West Senior Travellers at Southport © Dave Eccles / Rene Watts

Since the last report there has been one postponed event and two sailed events in this popular mid week series for the over 50s.

On the 12th June Bolton Sailing Club was a wet and windy place. Gusts were hitting 30 knots at this moorland setting and were accompanied by driving rain and unseasonably chilly temperatures. Nobody was rushing to put a mast up. A discussion was held in a warm clubhouse over teas and coffees and by a show of hands it was decided to postpone the event which will now take place on the 15th October.

At Hollingworth Lake on the 3rd July the conditions were far more to the competitors liking. Twenty boats took to the water. Ian Jones in his Laser dominated and took all three races despite close competition from a chasing group of Supernovas and Solos.

At Southport on the 17th July the conditions were almost Mediterranean! Numbers were down a little as some regulars were away on holiday. The first race provided a little controversy as an island lay directly between two marks of the course. Unknown to some sailors this was meant to be taken to port which was the slow way. Unsurprisingly nearly all the fleet took it it starboard. In the spirit of the series without having to resort to the protest room a satisfactory compromise was proposed and accepted by all the sailors. Richard Hemingway, the only one to take the island to port on every lap was awarded first place and all the other boats given their place after this. For the remaining two races every body took the islands on the correct side! Dave Woodhead in his Solo took advantage of the absence of some other top competitors to take both races and win on the day. He was very closely followed by Andy Flitcroft in a Supernova.

The series now takes a summer break and resumes at Leigh and Lowton S C on the 11th September. Full details are available on the RYA north west web site.

Over 50 boats have sailed in one or more of these events, overall standings after 4 events can be found below.

Results after 4 Events: