Hadron H2 Inland Championship at Burghfield Sailing Club

Richard Leftley in his new H2 wins the Hadron H2 Inlands at Burghfield © Keith Callaghan

The forecast for the Hadron H2 Inland Championships, hosted by Burghfield SC on Saturday, 2nd October, was 'rain and wind'. The rain arrived on schedule - it bucketed down - but where was the wind? Class Chairman Dave Barker commented, "the self bailers were overwhelmed by the deluge". Perhaps a bilge pump would have been useful on this soggy day.

Rain and a patchy, gusty, 4 to 15 knot breeze were the challenges above the water - and below the water weed found its way around the centreboards and rudders of the unwary. So all in all, a challenging day for the competitors.

Four races were scheduled, and race one was started in a light and shifty breeze that faltered on the approach to the weather mark, which necessarily was under the trees on the weather shore. There are several H2s resident at Burghfield SC now and one of those is former Inland Champion Richard Leftley, so it was no surprise that he crept round first at the mark. He was followed by Andrew McGaw and Tim Garvin - the latter having borrowed Nick Craig's H2. With only a light zephyr the race turned into a bit of a procession with most place changing due to weed encounters.

Tim Garvin enjoys his borrowed H2 during the Hadron H2 Inlands at Burghfield - photo © Keith Callaghan

The wind gradually increased for the later races however, but Richard Leftley consolidated his good start by winning race 2, with Tim Garvin second and Richard Le Mare third. After a break for lunch, racing resumed in a gusty 7 to 15 knot breeze. Richard Leftley retained his Inland title by winning the third race, with Tim Garvin again in second. Interestingly, as the breeze got up it was one of the lighter helms that came to the fore. Dave Barker took third place in the third race and led the final race after Richard Leftley made for the wrong mark. But on the fourth leg of the course Dave made a similar error mistake, dropping to fourth. It was Richard Le Mare who took advantage of all this and with 200 metres to the finish he the clear leader. But a gust from behind brought Richard Leftley and Dave planing past to grab first and second places.

With four wins, Richard Leftley became H2 Inland Champion - again. But perhaps the star performer was guest Tim Garvin, who managed second place against some of the best H2 helms. Dave Barker got a well-deserved third overall.

Some of the competitors with Richard Leftley holding the trophy after the Hadron H2 Inlands at Burghfield - photo © Keith Callaghan

The HH2CA thanks the race officer, his team and the safety boat crews for making this event possible in conditions that must have been very unpleasant for them.

Overall Results: