Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club

Photo: Rana Din

All four teams from Lancashire finished in the top half of the table at the National School Sailing Association Single Handed Team Race competition at Bartley SC in Birmingham

Over the weekend at Hollingworth Lake, 14 Merlin Rockets competed for the annual Felucca Trophy. This is part of the nationwide Silver Tiller Series of events. Seven home boats welcomed seven visitors, including two all the way from the south coast.

The weekend weather was generally light, though there were occasional gusts that caught out one boat rounding a mark who capsized in the first race. On Saturday 14 October, Matt Biggs, with Beka Jones crewing, from Blithfield, set the pace with two clear wins. Mike and Jane Calvert, from Axe Sailing Club, were in close competition with a third place and two runner up spots. Also, in the chase for the leaderboard were Caroline Croft and Rebecca Videlo from Lymington Town Sailing Club with a second, third and race win places. Local club member Steve Crook with Sally Townend were in the chase with 4th, 6th and 5th places.

At first on Sunday 15 October, the lake was flat calm but after a short postponement, a light wind appeared from the south west and off they went. Matt Biggs pulled in another race win to be sure of the overall result, plus a second in the final race. The Calverts secured their overall runner up place with a second and final race win. Caroline Croft followed on with two third places. In the last race, Steve Crook rounded the first mark in the lead  but was unable to maintain that position for long in the three laps.

Away for the weekend, eight juniors from the club represented Lancashire Youth Sailing at the National School Sailing Association Single Handed Team Race competition at Bartley Sailing Club in Birmingham. Their teams included three juniors from Delph in Bolton and one from Southport. 

21 teams from around the country competed in 121 races over the two days. The Lancashire A team finished in an excellent runner up place, narrowly losing in the final to Kent. All four teams from Lancashire finished in the top half of the table. This was a great team performance representing Lancashire.