Budworth Sailing Club

North West Dominates 

An excellent turnout of 39 GP14s at Budworth SC for the UK Grand Masters’ and Masters’ Championship was dominated by Ian Platt and Alex Pilkington from Bolton SC. Ian & Alex posted 3 bullets in succession to claim the GP14 National Masters Trophy. The Grand Masters Trophy was retained by John Salomonson and Tim McGovern from South Staffs and Hollingworth Sailing Clubs with a consistent performance over the weekend. 

With the forecast of very light winds over the whole weekend, Budworth’s Race Officer, Graham Tinsley, was presented with the challenge of changing the race schedule from the traditional 2 + 2 format. As visitors arrived from clubs across the UK on the Saturday morning they were presented with picture postcard tranquillity of Budworth Mere. But gradually a light South-Easterly filled-in and Graham made the brave decision to run the 3 qualifying races on the Saturday afternoon.The gamble paid off, with the breeze increasing to a shifty, gusty force 3-4. Close racing was enjoyed throughout the fleet, though Tinsley and his team had their hands full shifting marks and coping with the fleet pushing the line.

The mirror sheen of Budworth Mere on the Sunday morning convinced a few that racing was impossible. The Race Office signalled a postponement. Despite calls to cancel the last race, Graham was convinced the wind would fill in, and sure enough, a lovely westerly force 2-3 came in for a couple of hours providing another highly competitive fourth race. Neil Platt and Nicola Brook of West Kirby took second position overall from Paul Owen and Andrew Hattley of South Staffs by virtue of their second place in Race 3.

Helming, Joanne Platt crewed by Gary Deighan came top of the Silver Fleet, Joanne also securing the First Lady Helm position to take home to Bolton SC. Chris & Gill Beddow of South Staffs SC came second with Peter & William Gardner of Coombs SC third in the Silver Fleet.Sailing the oldest boat of the fleet, Ray & Jackie Bailey in GP 2629 won the Bronze Fleet for Budworth from Mary Cunningham and Alan Thompson of West Kirby with Dennis O’Byrne and Fraser Kerr of Budworth in third position.

The meeting was generously supported by Dedicated Micros, who are leaders in CCTV systems design and installation. Dedicated Micros have provided Budworth SC with a CCTV installation that provides both club CCTV security and also allows members to record and replay the racing on Budworth Mere. This support ensured excellent hospitality and a memorable weekend for sailors and guests alike.All in all, a great UK Masters and Grand Masters competition with North West sailing clubs dominating the entire event.

A Victory win for Budworth at the 12hr National team event

Update - many pictures of this event are now available here - with many thanks to Jo Rutherford of Southport Sailing Club.
 
Budworth Sailing Club’s junior team cleaned up on Saturday at the 12hr National event hosted by Southport Sailing Club. They won the 12 hr race trophy for being 1^st place team, the Southport junior trophy for being the leading GP, and finally they won the Rogerson Trophy for the 1^st fastest two laps under 18. They completed 64 laps and were closely followed by Royal Windermere with 63 laps and consistently kept that lap difference throughout the race.

The wind stayed consistently steady throughout the day, with some unexpected gusts which were quite strong. Twenty eight teams entered with high standards of sailing that gave for a very competitive race.

The Budworth junior team consisted of Andrew Brown Topper World Champion, Tom Ditchburn who sails a Snipe and GP14, Katie Greenwood a Topper and GP14, Ryan Penny a GP14, Alex Sharp a Snipe and Will Williams a Snipe. This team came together with different abilities from different dinghies but with practice and team togetherness what an achievement had by all. Every person on the team gave 100% to what was a thoroughly enjoyable day.

The whole team would like to say a big thank you to our sponsor’s ‘Preston Audi’, and Ben Ditchburn as Team leader, ably assisted by John Greenwood and Harry Brown, because without their support the day would not have been possible.

There is an excellent set of pictures from the Snipe Regatta (held at the end of May) now available to view in the picture Gallery!
Some strong wind encouraged exciting sailing, even if a few people also landed in the water!
Here is a sample…

If you would like to improve your Laser racing skills come along to the Laser training I have organized for next Saturday 21st June.

A minimum of six people are required for it to take place and there is an upper limit of nine places available to ensure that everyone gets some personal advice. Cost will be around £8 / £10 depending on numbers and it will start at 10.00 rigged and ready to launch. There will be an opportunity to put the new skills into practice with some racing in the afternoon. The coach will be an RYA squad coach

Let me know asap if you would like to attend as it will be on a first come basis…..

Best Wishes
Harry Brown
(Laser Fleet Captain)

Great sailing and a social event :

Junior camp, Racing, Hog roast , Live Music and loads of fun

Click the image to enlarge it and read Pauline’s excellent poster with the details!