Northern Championships Traveller 8-9 July 2000

Location: Filey Sailing Club, Yorkshire.

On the weekend of 8 & 9 July the Dart 15 Association held the Northern Championships, which formed part of the ever popular Filey Regatta.

Saturday was pretty calm and the fleet went to sea and waited for wind to materialize for some 2.5 hours. Eventually a little Southerly wind was apparent and race officer and Filey Commodore, Peter Crooks, managed to set a course and get the event underway. The early activity was very much dominated by having to make progress against an ebbing tide in little wind. Local fleet captain, Daphne Roberts (Blossom) was swept on to the outer distance mark and was last seen doing turns. Rounding the windward mark against the tide was tough and only Bob Carter followed by George Carter made it at the first attempt. The rest of the fleet had to have another go and lost 200yards in the process. At the finish after 2 laps G Carter was just ahead of R Carter and both were some way ahead of Paul Smith, Steve Hanby and Austin Flather. Racing was adjourned for the day just as the wind was filling but the fleet was happy to retire to the barbeque and beer tent.

On Sunday morning a force 2-3 SW breeze had settled and it was decided to race 2 races back to back in the morning to recover the lost race from Saturday. The second race was led, initially by G Carter and Hanby, but Smith worked his way through the field to take the honours from G Carter and Hanby. G Carter led the third race by a large distance from start to finish. Hanby was secure in second place until the last lap when he was so engrossed he sailed by the finish line; he just realized in time and managed to sail back and retain second place by 5 seconds from R Carter.

After lunch the forth and final race was held. Smith got the bit between his teeth and went off into a comfortable lead from Hanby and R Carter. After 20 minutes the heavens opened and the wind blew and Barrie Hoggard, Austin Flather and G Carter came through the fleet on a charge. When the squall had blown through the wind swings were significant (45deg) and major place changes occurred on the beats. On the final beat Smith, who had led the entire race, sailed the port tack into a hole to be overtaken by 5 of the chasing pack who opted for the starboard tack. The race was narrowly won by Peter Richardson from R Carter and Hanby.

Thus National Champion, G Carter, retained the Northern Championship with two firsts and a second in testing conditions.

Two-up: N & M Ellis (Filey)

The full results courtesy of Filey SC: