Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy at Northampton Sailing Club
by Dave Wade 29 Jan 2019 10:52 UTC
26 January 2019
Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy 2019 © Tim Olin /
www.olinphoto.co.uk
Double Handed Fleet
On Saturday the 26th January, 35 double handed boats arrived at Northampton Sailing Club for the 2019 Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy. Forecasts leading up to the event had shown a range of conditions from flat calm to dogs off chains: thankfully the fleet was greeted to a moderate breeze and a generous temperature of 10 degrees.
The first race got under way with a clean start and the beats proved testing, with large wind shifts and pressure changes across the course just to keep the sailors on their toes.
It was the Fireball of Isaac Marsh and Oliver Davenport that was first round the windward mark, however, the 505 of Tim Bird and Ben Lliffe and the Osprey sailed by Roger and James Blake soon got through after the Fireball was over-optimistic on how tight a reach a kite can be flown on! Close behind were a gaggle of Merlin Rockets lead by Nick Craig and Pete Gray who would sail nip and tuck for the entire race, swapping places with Dave Wade & Ben Rayner and Caroline Croft & Tom Lonsdale. By the end of a very close race, Nick and Pete took the win followed by Roger and James then Dave and Ben.
After a spot of lunch, the second race got under way with slightly more breeze, but still equally as testing up the beats. This time it was the RS400 of Sam Knight and Chris Bownes who slipped round the windward mark first, closely flowed by Dave Wade and Ben Rayner in the Merlin Rocket and the 505 of Tim and Ben. Once the 505 had managed to pull away down the run and after some luffing on the bottom reach, the RS400 of Sam and Chris, Dave and Ben in the Merlin and Isaac and Olly in the Fireball were able to sail the race in clean air. This resulted in the RS400 coming first, the Fireball second and the Merlin Rocket took third place.
After two gusty and shifty races the RS400 sailed by Sam and Chris won, the Fireball of Isaac and Olly came in second and Nick and Pete finished third. The first junior was an RS Feva sailed by Alice Davis and Abby Hire who fought of a strong Feva fleet to finish a very credible 13th overall.
Thank you to everyone who competed and all those who contributed to make the race happen. It was a great day of sailing.
Double Handed Fleet results can be found here.
Single Handed Fleet
The single-handed fleet started second this year in mild, bright conditions with the wind force 3-4 with larger gusts later.
The fleet of 45 boats started Race 1 on a line almost the width of the lake and charged upwind, the early leaders were the Musto Skiff of Stuart Harris and the RS600s of Michael Iszatt & Anthony (Chunky) York from the home club. They were followed by Richard Pye from Draycote, who sailed an amazing first beat to lead most of the fleet in his Aero 7.
A lap later and the trapeze boats remained in front, but the Phantoms and Blazes moved to the front of the pack, but never far from the pack of Aero 7's that remained in the chase.
By lap 3 the wind had increased, the Musto Skiff had capsized once too often and both the leading RS600s had suffered gear failure, but the Aero 7 pack and the leading Laser Radials remained close to the front of the boats on the water.
After the handicaps were calculated the top 3 from race 1 were:
1st George Sunderland in a Laser Radial
2nd Tim Hire in an Aero 7
3rd Eden Hyland in a Blaze
Race 2 started later in the day after a rain shower and the temperature was significantly colder. At the first mark the fleet was led by Antony York in his RS600 who sailed away into a massive lead, followed by the Musto Skiff and the Phantom of Will Gulliver. Again, the pack contained many Aero 7s and Laser Radials.
Once the handicaps were calculated the race 2 results were:
1st Pete Barton in an Aero 7
2nd Tim Hire in an Aero 7
3rd Alex Walton in a Blaze
So, without winning a race, the consistency of Tim Hire in an Aero 7 surpassed George Sunderland in his Laser Radial, with Pete Barton completing the podium. Overall there were five Aero 7s in the top 10 highlighting their fondness of the wind / course configuration.
So, Tim Hire picked up the Steve Nicholson Trophy for 2019. In his speech he thanked all the sponsors of the event including Harken, Gul & P&B, together with the volunteers from Northampton Sailing Club who make this event possible.
Single Handed Fleet results can be found here.