Soling Northwest Champs at Blackpool & Fleetwood Yacht Club
by Mike Preston 7 Apr 2002 09:09 BST
The Soling North West Championships were held at the Blackpool and Fleetwood Yacht club over the Easter weekend of 30th March to the 1st April. Nine Solings took part with teams from all over the UK.
The most interesting statistic of the event was that in the 10 races sailed there were 6 different boats taking "line honours".
All of the races were held in the River Wyre Estuary, opposite the B&FYC clubhouse, in south-westerly winds ranging from around 8 to 20 knots. The courses were of windward/leward format. Throughout the weekend, the "yellow jersey" swapped several times, with the event decided on the last race.
There were only 2 points separating the first, second and third places. The eventual winning team being that of GBR 147 "Chinook", George Barker, Roger Winward and Jeremy Climas.
Masters prize went to Hamish Loudon in GBR 160, Classic Yacht prize went to Derek Priestley’s GBR 5, Robert Mountain was awarded first Youth with Liz Loudon receiving the prize for First Lady.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Crew | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | GBR 147 | George Barker, Roger Winward and Jeremy Climas | GBR 147 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 18 |
| 2nd | GBR 143 | Michael Preston, Bryan Bottomley and Ron Preston | GBR 143 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 19 |
| 3rd | GBR 155 | Gary Richardson, Andrew Taylor and Stuart Lee | GBR 155 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 20 |
| 4th | GBR 160 | Hamish Loudon, Roy Manifold and Baz Fountain | GBR 160 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 32 |
| 5th | GBR 157 | Chris Dodgshon, Liz Loudon and Iain Loudon | GBR 157 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 35 |
| 6th | GBR 5 | Derek Priestley, Neil Wharton and Mike Parkinson | GBR 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 41 |
| 7th | GBR 7 | Peter Chester, Chris Ball and Robert Mountain | GBR 7 | 8 | RTD | RTD | 5 | 3 | 3 | RTD | 5 | 7 | 3 | 44 |
| 8th | GBR 165 | John Roberts, Martin Dickens and Dave Wilde | GBR 165 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 8 | RTD | 4 | 8 | 9 | 51 |
| 9th | GBR 144 | Dave Fish, Thomas Airnes, and Ian Brierly | GBR 144 | 5 | RTD | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 59 |