2024 Miracle Northern Championship at Delph Sailing Club
by Martin Bathe 10 May 14:27 BST
4-5 May 2024
Wayne and Angela followed by Simon and Lucy and by Ashley and Michelle rounding the windward mark during race 4 of the 2024 Miracle Northern Championship © Martin Bathe
Sponsored by the Bank Top Brewery, Bolton and First Mark, Golborne
With a forecast of minimal/zero wind on the Sunday, Race Officer Graham Clow made a change to the Sailing Instructions, moving the third race of the planned five race series from the Sunday to the Saturday meaning that races 1 to 3 were sailed on Saturday afternoon, race 4 on Sunday morning and race 5 on Sunday afternoon. The boats only completing the two races on the Sunday were then awarded average points for race 3.
The three races on the Saturday were sailed in a southerly light breeze that reduced into light airs under grey skies with occasional drizzle.
The two races on the Sunday were part sailed part drifted in sunny intervals in either southerly light airs or dead calms that alternated with the cloud cover.
The serious racing was pretty much a case of deja vu, Simon and Lucy Evans defending the title they won last year from Wayne Atherton and Angela Sweeny but with a few notable differences. Bill Morris and Molly Haslam shot up the standings this year. Sailing in a brand spanking new centre sheeted Miracle lent to them by Louis Moulden they were snapping at the heels of the leading two boats. Also, Sam Naylor, having acquired a faster boat from Pete Cuthbert sailed with his crews Elliot and Lucy to a championship best placing of fourth, securing two third places in the process.
A notable absence from this year's championship was Louis Moulden. Louis chose to go on holiday to Amsterdam rather than sail and so lent his fleet of three boats out. He's now also open to offers from parties interested in acquiring (in his view) quick boats, as Dorri, his wife, has put her foot down and told him he needs to downsize his fleet.
Richard Smith, returning to Delph (where he started his sailing), this time with both his sons Teddy and Ben, went better in his own boat than he had in 2023 in a borrowed boat.
Ashley Southwell and Michelle Raines finishing sixth sailed better than they did in 2017 when they last sailed at Delph and finished eleventh.
Simon & Julie Dolman sailing for their first time at Delph had their better results in the light breeze of the first two races.
Andrew Clarke travelled up from Wilsonian to pair up with Delph Fireball crew Dave Haslam in a borrowed boat. Professing not be a fan of light airs, Andrew travelled more in hope than in expectation although he enthusiastically sampled Bank Top's wares, having an extra few pints just to make sure he liked it and wasn't mistaken.
This year's Haslam Family Championships, nearly of equal importance to the Northern Championships, was won by Molly Haslam by finishing third in the Northern Championships, beating mum Jo (tenth), sister Poppy (twelfth) and dad Dave (fourteenth).
Alan Barton and Nicola Gillham provided the spectators on the clubhouse veranda with a moment of mirth when in one race they arrived at the start line fractionally early, moments before the "gun". The name "Alan Barton" and the word "early" seldom tend to occur in the same sentence - in club racing the Race Officer often has to wait for a tardy Alan to launch, let alone start.
Amongst the rest of the fleet there was a number of issues. Will & Lilly had new boat teething and spinnaker issues. Martin & Jo had centreboard issues. Nicholas and Poppy had parental issues - they were only allowed by their parents to sail for one of the two days because of their impending GCSEs. Ned and Will had issues with aching jaws from smiling too much. What was there to smile about? Mark and Finlay's boat developed an issue which ended up with it in the boat park upside-down with a hole in its bottom.
The joys of Miracle sailing/drifting!
Delph Sailing Club would like to thank the Bank Top Brewery, Bolton and First Mark, Golborne for sponsoring the event.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Crew | Club | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Simon Evans | Lucy Evans | Delph | 2772 | [2] | 1 | 1 | 1 | [16] | 3 |
| 2 | Wayne Atherton | Angela Sweeney | Delph | 4121 | 1 | [3] | 2 | [3] | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Bill Morris | Molly Haslam | Delph | 4124 | [6] | 2 | [3] | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | Sam Naylor | Elliott / Lucy | Delph | 3747 | 3 | [7] | 4 | [7] | 3 | 10 |
| 5 | Richard Smith | Edward / Ben | Broadwater | 3813 | [8] | 4 | 6 | [9] | 5 | 15 |
| 6 | Ashley Southwell | Michelle Raines | Leigh & Lowton | 3747 | [16] | [16] | 5* | 4 | 6 | 15 |
| 7 | Alan Barton | Nicola Gillham | Delph | 4065 | 5 | [7] | 5 | 5 | [7] | 15 |
| 8 | Simon Dolman | Julie Dolman | Shotwick | 3520 | 4 | 5 | 8 | [8] | [8] | 17 |
| 9 | Will Dyson | Lilly Brown | Delph | 4126 | 7 | [9] | [9] | 6 | 4 | 17 |
| 10 | Martin Bathe | Jo Haslam | Delph | 59 | 11 | 8 | 7 | [16] | [16] | 26 |
| 11 | lan Brown | Harry / Rory | Delph | 4098 | 9 | 10 | [11] | [11] | 10 | 29 |
| 12 | Nicholas Taylor | Poppy Haslam | Delph | 3796 | [16] | [16] | .5* | 10 | 11 | 31.5 |
| 13 | Ned Manock | Will Taylor | Delph | 4100 | 12 | 11 | [16] | [16] | 9 | 32 |
| 14 | Andrew Clarke | Dave Haslam | Wilsonian/Delph | 3657 | [13] | [13] | 10 | 12 | 12 | 34 |
| 15 | Mark Ashworth | Finley Smith | Delph | 3383 | 10 | 12 | 16 | [16] | [16] | 38 |
* RDG - Redress given