Lightnings at Up River

Action from the weekend

There was a reasonable turnout of 11 boats for the Up River Yacht Club Lightning open meeting held on the 27/28 September. The first race on Saturday was held in very light airs which tested the competitors to the limit. Ben Harris was the early leader as the fleet short tacked against the tide followed by Ian Gore, although both of these were threatened by David East and Chris Harding who chose the opposite shore. As the fleet went past Brandy Hole, Ian took the lead, eventually winning by 15 minutes as the rest of the fleet were becalmed and struggled to round the uptide mark. In a close finish for second, Ben held off David with Chris taking fourth.

There then followed a fun pursuit race, with the competitors starting in the opposite order to which they finished the first race. Penny Yarwood (who had been sailing in disguise in the first race!) took the lead which she held to the finish. Alex Gore moved up to second until just before the finish when Ian crept past.

Saturday evening saw a quiz night and fish supper hosted by the RNLI which was enjoyed by all.

Sunday dawned with a much better breeze. Early leaders were Doug Pressey closely challenged by Alex and Ben. As the race progressed, Alex took the lead ahead of Ben and Ian. Ian improved to second after an unfortunate yacht incident penalised Ben and then the lead when Alex misjudged a layline to the top mark. Ben eventually took second with Alex third and Doug fourth (not bad for an almost 80 year old!!).

The final race was once again won by Ian who led from start to finish. Ben once again finished second, despite falling out of his boat twice due to toe strap failure, with Dave Prou in third.

Overall Results:

1st Ian Gore, Up River YC
2nd Ben Harris, Up River YC
3rd David East, Up River YC
4th Dave Prou, Fishers Green SC