Streaker Northern Championship 2025 at Beaver Sailing Club

Big wind, big sky - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver © David Nicklin

The thriving Streaker fleet made the most of some challenging but exciting conditions for their Northern Championships, held at Beaver Sailing Club on 30-31 August. This key event counts as one of the season's six Streaker championships to make up the Rooster Super Series as well as counting towards the HD Sails Northern Paddle Series.

With a forecast for wild winds sweeping down from Scotland, there were fears that some of the weekend's races may be lost, especially on Sunday when gusts were expected to exceed 30 knots. Nevertheless, a strong-willed fleet of 32 helms, 18 of them local, came to do battle with both the wind and each other. In the end, the majority completed all six races, thanks to an early start on Sunday before the worst of the storm.

Chief Race Officer David Nicklin chose a windward-leeward course for races 1 and 2 with the leeward gate offering opportunities to split left or right for the beats. Saturday afternoon saw the introduction of the inverted P for races 3 and 4, with two screaming reaches and a hairy gybe to catch the unwary. Then back to windward-leeward for two more races on a more gusty and windy Sunday morning. The top guys nailed their gybes to gain a tactical advantage while the rest of us waited for a suitable lull... if a death roll didn't catch us first!

Orderly start... or General Recall - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver - photo © Rosie Fletcher

On Saturday, racing was promptly under way at noon before the worst of the building breeze. The first start was recalled, which was pretty much inevitable as helms hedged their bets looking for a sneaky advantage while dealing with the waves pounding on their hulls.

With a clean start at the second attempt, Beaver's top three pros, Martin Penty, Giles Therkelson-Smith and Richard Hanby, made it very apparent they were the ones to beat. These three would go on to contest the top three places in all six races, although Steve Blackburn (WLYC / Leigh & Lowton SC) did his best to spoil their party in race 1 by pushing Martin back to fourth.

Stuart Burnett life and soul of the event - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver - photo © Helen Penty

The challengers for 'best of the rest' were James Dawes (Redditch SC), Alan Bishop (Girton SC) and recent newcomer to the ever growing Beaver fleet, Sam Waller, having only purchased his Streaker last week. After Saturday's four races, James looked to have the better of this group but Sam proved to be the more consistent overall by finishing 4th after Sunday's two windier races. Steve Hanby (Beaver SC) could also have troubled these three but suffered gear failure in race 1 and a capsize in race 4.

Other contenders for a top ten overall included Neil Parkhurst (Beaver SC) who started his campaign with a fifth place in race 1. Beaver's Jon Aldhous, Dave Rigby, Dave Borrett and Nigel Robinson were all in the mix, with Banbury's good guy Neil Firth and Tamworth's Matt Whitfield both offering the occasional threat.

Leeward gate action - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver - photo © Helen Penty

The testing conditions spread the fleet across the course, with capsizes and near misses a feature for many. Nevertheless, racing was tight; no more so than between Charmaine Ryland (Ouse Amateur SC) and Chris Godwin (Rutland SC), with Chris crying 'starboard' at the windward mark and forcing Charmaine to duck behind. Sadly, Charmaine retired with a shoulder injury shortly afterwards but will no doubt return to fight another day.

Elsewhere, Katie Masterson, St Mary's Loch SC's big hitter, made her presence known in a highly competitive battle with Simon Cook (Scaling Dam SC), and two more from Beaver, Peter Cogill who is going well in his new boat and the 'in form' Tim Bell. Beaver's Lianne Therkelson showed considerable promise with a 12th in race 1 and was rarely outside the top 20 after some excellent starts.

Sandy Mill, special achievement award - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver - photo © Helen Penty

Stuart Burnett (Beaver SC) never really got into the action and was faced with an uphill battle and a barrage of close attacks from Chris Snowden (Beaver SC), Christopher Smith (Island Barn RSC), Chris Godwin (Rutland SC), Paul Burman-Smith (Ouse Amateur SC) and Beaver's second lady Catherine Bradley. James Adair (Hykeham SC) performed well against this group for a couple of races before suffering a bang to the head in race 3 which forced him to retire from the rest of the event.

Locals, Oliver Gabbitas and John Simpson were also early retirements on Saturday. John was at his first Streaker meeting after only taking up sailing late last season and is highly commended for having a go! However, it was Winsford Flash Statesman Sandy Mill who received Beaver's Special Achievement Award for keeping his cool and coming through the event more or less unscathed with five counting scores.

The whole event was a great success, down to the well planned actions of our hosts Beaver Sailing Club. Everyone camping on site was kept well fed and watered, including an excellent Lasagne Lunch prepared by Commodore Anne Nicklin and her entourage of kitchen helpers. Helen Penty provided a large selection of much appreciated home-baked cakes. On Saturday evening a fish and chip supper was available on site and on Sunday morning a selection of breakfast sarnies fuelled everyone for the serious workout to come.

Richard Hanby, winner overall - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver - photo © Helen Penty

So, who would emerge victorious from the local gang of three? Overnight, Giles and Richard were tied on 4 points, with Martin on 7 points and having some work to do. With most sailors in 'survival mode', these three put on a masterclass of tactical racing, pushing each other to the boundaries of the reservoir to eke out an advantage. In the end it was Richard who prevailed to become a worthy Streaker Northern Champion. Giles held on to second and, unusually, Martin was third, although many years to the good of his younger rivals and still a formidable master of this great class.

A big thanks to each and every one taking part. Also to Anne and Dave Nicklin and the many helpers on rescue and galley duties, particularly Helen Penty, chief in-house photographer and cake baker extraordinaire. Stuart Burnett, supported by Hartley Boats, provided the usual thoughtful prizes which were awarded throughout the fleet.

The Streaker Rooster Super Series concludes with the End of Season Championships at Staunton Harold on 25 October, although there are still plenty more regional events taking place across the country before then. See www.streaker-class.org.uk/meetings for details.

Giles Therkelson-Smith, second overall - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver - photo © Helen Penty

Overall Results:

Martin Penty, third overall - Streaker Northern Championship at Beaver - photo © Helen Penty