Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club

Photo: Martin Watts

Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club

There was a great breeze at the Lake on Sunday 9 May giving some exciting racing and close overall results. The westerly wind had some strong gusts which, with spinnaker hoisted, saw the RS400 and Scorpion dinghies tear downwind with great speed and spray.

The first race was won by Chris Massey and Tom Daniel in the Scorpion, pairing up again in readiness for major events. The conditions suited them well though, on the water, Richard and Heather Marsh in the RS400 were far ahead, coming in second place. Not far behind was Martin Brennan in a Solo. He had been the clear overall winner the previous week in tricky shifty winds.

In the second race, Nick Brook added to the mix in his Solo. While Chris Massey and Tom Daniel were again the winners, Nick Brook was in strong form and, on handicap, beat the Marshs by a few seconds to take the runner up spot. In so doing, he put Martin Brennan down in fourth place. Mike Smith, Solo, was caught out downwind on a strong gust and capsized but got up and determined to finish the race. This gave Kevin Parry an incentive to stay ahead of him. Unlucky for Kevin, on the last leg, he too capsized, righted the boat and finished.

The breeze had eased for the third race and some rain came with fewer boats out. Nick Brook was off from the start determined to keep ahead of Martin Brennan and maintained his competitive advantage to the end by 8 seconds at the finish line. The Scorpion had to settle for third place, but was the winner for the day.

The club’s young sailors were at Pennine Sailing Club in Toppers for an active weekend. 16-year-old Daisy Fisher was second overall out of 30 boats and 13-year-old Jasper Bramwell sailed brilliantly for 7th place despite being the youngest competitor.