Contender Traveller Series at Halifax Sailing Club

Contender sailors from far and wide arrived at Halifax Sailing Club for the next round of the National Travellers Trophy circuit over the weekend of the 16th/17th October.

Race officer Chris Holden took charge for the weekend setting 6 races over the 2 days with one discard.

Race 1 got under way in a force 3-4 with local sailor Ben Holden and Duncan Ellis from Hunstanton battling it out for first and second until Ellis hit a mark having to do a turn letting Holden win race 1 comfortably with Ellis in 2nd and Neil Ferguson from Yorkshire Dales in 3rd.

Race 2 again saw a fight at the front but this time it was between Holden and Tom Hooton from Burton Sailing Club with Holden winning the battle to finish first with Hooton 2nd and Ferguson 3rd.

Race 3 got under way after a short break with the breeze beginning to drop for the day. This time it was Hooton who showed us how it should be done followed by Martin Metcalfe from Killington and Holden.

So the overnight leader board had Holden leading followed by Hooton then Ellis.The compulsory curry was enjoyed during the evening in town with a couple of ex-Contender sailors joining the party.

Sunday started very early for some but that’s another story.

Daylight broke with the trees still but once we arrived at the club a steady force 3 was blowing from the opposite direction to the previous day with the sun shining.

Race 4 got underway with Holden showing the way around after taking advantage of a misunderstanding by the majority of the fleet of the position of the first mark with Hooton in 2nd and Ellis in 3rd.

Race 5 again saw Holden win but this time Ferguson was 2nd with Ellis close on his tail. Holden tied up the meeting with a race to spare but still came out to play in the final race after lunch.

The final race was a battle for the minor places which saw Ferguson and Holden battling it out for the race win until Holden had to do a 720 for a rule infringement letting Ferguson race to victory followed by Holden and then Ellis.

With only 2 points separating 2nd to 4th place it was close to the end for the minor places with Hooton doing just enough to be 2nd overall on equal points with Ferguson who was 3rd followed by Ellis in 4th.

Thanks to Halifax for a very enjoyable weekend and we look forward to returning in the future.

Overall Results:

1st Ben Holden (Halifax SC) 6pts
2nd Tom Hooton (Burton SC) 13pts
3rd Neil Ferguson (Yorkshire Dales SC) 13pts
4th Duncan Ellis (Hunstanton SC) 15pts
5th Chris Boshier (Thorpe Bay YC) 27pts