Bala Long Distance Weekend
by Rob Sloggett 28 Jun 18:38 UTC
22-23 June 2024
Earlier on in the year, the club was disappointed that due to a low number of entries and interest (which has been reducing each year), we had to cancel our annual Catamaran Open about 4 weeks before the date (more on that later) and therefore when it came to our other big event of the year (the Long Distance Weekend), we were obviously a little bit nervous.
The K1 class had confirmed they were joining us as part of their annual series but travelling to the top part of North Wales to enjoy 4 hours of racing on the Saturday and 3 hours on the Sunday when the weather conditions can be varied did hold off the entries until the last few weeks.
Events of this nature do not come easy. As Bala SC is a volunteer ran club, I must start this report by thanking every one of the 40+ club members who worked in advance, but also on the day to ensure this event ran faultlessly. Covering 3.5 miles of lake with what ended up as 62 boats out on the start line (up from 46 the previous year) took the full compliment of club safety boats, fully resourced with a qualified cox and safety boat assistant. Add to this the need for an experienced RCO team on both days, registration, the galley team, result officer, bar and catering staff and additional hands to control the gates and foreshore etc etc etc (yep I am bound to have missed something off), you get the picture.
So, onto the event. As I said, this year the final number of entries was 62 and following feedback from our cruiser members who also wanted to take part, this year we ran two classes. The first was a handicap fleet, capped at 4 hours on the Saturday and 3 hours on the Sunday using average laps. As the cruisers would tend to complete less laps and trying to remove the possibility that one cruiser might do 1 lap then a slightly faster one gets called round for a second lap (as happened last year) but then was penalised as the wind dropped on the second lap, the cruiser fleet agreed on a single lap class. This gave them the opportunity to join the mass start but also have a more controlled event to encourage participation in this increasing club class.
On both days the course benefitted from the wind coming straight down the lake, allowing the event to be ran from the race office and comprised of a beat down the lake to a windward mark about ¾ mile past the weather station, then a run back, around the A &1 marks at the leeward end of the lake and a very short beat in front of the clubhouse back through the start line. Depending on where you took the wind readings from (the club house weather station being slightly lower than the manual reading taken at the windward mark) it was certainly enough to keep the boats flying and a level of challenge on the Saturday but a more relaxed affair on the Sunday.
As I mentioned, the K1 class were in attendance with 6 boats and it was great to see other small groups of common fleets allowing for some competitive class racing. Particularly prevalent were Dart 16s, Wetas, Fireballs and Drascombe Luggers!
We really could not have asked for such a diverse fleet filling the waters and creating a great spectacle from the shore line as the rest of the numbers looked like the "for sale" navigation bar on Apollo Duck!
The K1 class have already provided an exceptional report to Y&Y so if you would like the lowdown on how competitive the racing was, I would strongly encourage you to find that report and have a read.
Our results format was firstly to award the top three places for the two separate days and these competitors were presented with a cap and dry bag kindly donated by Gill. The overall honour of the "Tegid Cup" is awarded to the top place over the two days. We also have a special trophy, dedicated to one of our long serving members, the "John Hunter Trophy" which is awarded to the highest placed Bala Sailing Club member on the Saturday.
With 30 of the 62 competitors being non Bala SC members (and some traveling from as far as Southampton), the hunt for the Tegid Cup was going to be highly competitive. On day 1, it looked to be in the bag as the VX1 of Simon Hawkes and Paul Birbeck (Castle Cove SC) seemed perfectly suited to Llyn Tegid's (the correct Welsh name for our lake) conditions, but with a slight drop in wind on the Sunday, this really seemed to favour the K1's and a switch at the top secured the overall win for Jeremy Hudson (Frensham Pond SC) and put 3 K1's in the top 5 spots.
The John Hunter Trophy this year was won by Andy Todd (RS 100) taking a solid 7th place on the Saturday as the highest placed Bala SC member. A solid result on Sunday also secured him as 8th overall to maintain the highest placed Bala SC member for the weekend.
A huge call out also must go out to a couple of other crews / competitors. Last year, we had Luke Chadwick book out a club Laser a few weeks after completing his RYA Learn to Sail course and attempt the event, this year he came back for more and secured a very respectable 31st overall.
Following in his footsteps, this year we have Steve Walker and Jason Evans completing their Learn to Sail last month and book out the club Bahia to throw themselves into racing right at the deep end. A very respectable 37th overall greeted these guys at the end so huge congratulations to them.
Finally encouraging the youth aspect of racing is key to the Bala SC pathway and it would be wrong not to recognise the team of Grace Allen and Gracie Butler (Bassenthwaite SC) in their RS Feva XL taking 26th overall as our highest placed youth crew.
The feedback from everyone who took part, whether they were Bala SC or travelling members was that the club put on an exceptionally event and hopefully secures this in the 2025 calendar. Caravan and camping sites book up quickly so once we have confirmed the date for next year, I will ensure I update it on the club website as well as contacting all last year's visitors to make them aware.
At the start I mentioned the fact that we had to cancel the annual Catamaran Open but we are keen to get this back on the calendar. I would therefore be keen to hear from any class associations or owners who would be interested in this event for 2025 to get in contact with me so we can gauge interest. It is a shame not to take advantage of such a great stretch of water to allow these bigger boats to really stretch their legs but without a known interest it is a big commitment for the club to schedule as once again it would need a significant volunteer contribution to make it happen. If we do commit to it and put it in the calendar, we will hold the date once we get past 10 entries of solid expressions of interest so it is within the Catamarans sailing communities' gift to get this back on the calendar.
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Once again, a huge thank-you to all the volunteers and every person who took the time to travel to our venue to enjoy this event. I look forward to hopefully seeing you back next year.