Challenger Open at Wigan and St Helens Sailing Club

Challenger Open at Wigan and St Helens Sailing Club

by Marion Edwards May 22 09:54 UTC
18-19 May 2024

After a very successful Challenger WISH (Wigan and St Helens) Sailing Club event in 2023, the Challengers returned on the weekend of 18-19 May.

The fleet was small, with six Challengers representing five clubs. There were five sailors visiting with Mike O’Connor (196), fresh from the recent coaching weekend, taking part in his first Open Challenger meeting.

At the briefing, the race officer explained that there would be a committee boat start, but a finish on the club line right in front of the club. A trapezoidal course was set around the fixed (but moving) marks. The wind was predominantly north(ish) but with huge swings and even bigger holes (“vengeful” was Mike’s word for it). Surprisingly, for such a simple course with a small number of boats, the fleet managed to create a fair amount of chaos.

Duncan Greenhalgh (280) made a good start in Race 1 and was first to the windward mark. Local sailor and sole representative of the Silver fleet, Lynn Steward (300) was also up there. In the second over, Duncan managed to reach the mark which did not go unnoticed by Val Millward (312) and Alex Hovden (304) and completed his 360. Duncan then compounded his problems in the next at-bat by heading to the wing, not to the wing. wind mark. Alex kindly pointed out the error he made, but it dropped him to sixth and he couldn’t recover. In the end, Val won, followed by Graham Hall (270), with Mike taking third!

In Race 2, Lynn was first in the windward mark, first in the wing mark and just ahead of Val in the shock mark. Five of the six boats arrived together at the leeward mark and Lynn was pushed just outside, with Graham sneaking inside to get around first. This time it was Val’s turn to start going to the wrong point, she was corrected by Graham but lost ground and made it worse by hitting the buoy leaving her last. However, Val dug deep and in the two remaining laps moved up to third, but was unable to catch Graham and Duncan.

The fleet returned to shore for an excellent lunch. Graham had a slim lead (1 point) over Val. Duncan was leading Alex in the countdown and Mike had a small lead over Lynn.

In Race 3, Duncan decided to show everyone what he could do by hitting the start, getting some fresh air and was never challenged in the four laps to the finish. The rest of the fleet were left to fight through the crisis as best they could. Graham managed to move from fifth at the start of the second beat to second on the windward mark (more by luck than good judgment) and hung on to it until the end. Strangely, no one went to the wrong spot and no one hit either of them!

Unfortunately, Duncan had family commitments and left the rest of the fleet in race 4. Everyone decided to get to the downwind mark together and the result was low speed chaos. First Mike and then Val were seen stripping because there was no room for them. There was further confusion during the run, with Graham deciding to do a 360 for no apparent reason, allowing Val and Alex to pass. It later emerged that he wasn’t sure if he had heard “Protest!” in melee at the wind mark (he didn’t have it) and decided to make sure he was in the clear.

After four races, the breakdowns began and the overnight standings showed Val leading Graham, but only on the countback. Third (Duncan) and fifth (Mike) were separated by just three points. With three races still scheduled for Sunday and the forecast pointing to lighter winds, nothing was certain (not exactly true as the sole representative of the Silver fleet, Lynn was confident of her win!).

There was much discussion about how the day went.

Graham said the day was “a good example of when up front, extend, extend, extend because the next round you’re not going to be that lucky” and also that “Everybody had their moments and lost it! “.

Mike commented that he didn’t hit a buoy and it was one of the few rules he didn’t break! He also blamed Graham (somewhat unfairly) for his fifth in race three when he followed him on what turned out to be a poor route to the wing marker!

After last year, most sailors knew what the “Hotpot Supper” would entail and stayed for the evening meal. No one had any excuse to return home or hotel room hungry!

Those who got to the club in time for breakfast (bacon and eggs – at least this year we all knew what a barm was!) found the Scotsman’s Flash to have a depressingly glassy surface. The wind started to pick up so the volunteers dutifully turned all the boats 180 degrees to face it before hoisting the sails…the wind did a wicked 180 but luckily it was light enough not to be a serious concern and soon overturned. back again.

The race officer set a slightly smaller trapezoidal course. At least the light winds meant launching from the shore was easier than usual.

Duncan led for the first lap of Race 5 but lost on the second lap which was almost windless and allowed Graham and Alex to pass. Going into the mark on the third (final) lap, Duncan made Alex slip back into second place and protected his position until the end.

Val took the lead at the start of Race 6, followed by Graham. Graham was calmed down on the second beat, allowing Alex to pass. In the third beat the positions were reversed and Val and Alex were caught in a wind shift close to the windward mark. Val maintained his lead but Graham and Duncan came into a different wind allowing Graham to take second with Alex managing to hold off Duncan behind him to take third.

Race 7 was decisive. Val had to win to take the event (on countback) or it would go to Graham. Duncan carefully timed his watch and lined up for a port flight. Val was close to the committee boat headed up to keep Graham away from the main site. Two things happened on the gun. Duncan hit the line but there was a second ‘hoot’ and he assumed it was OCS and span round – unfortunately it was a ‘hooter’ failure and he wasn’t OCS but his race was essentially over. Val pulled away to pick up speed, giving Graham room to get over her in a gust/wind change. He stole the lead and drove from there until the end. Mike’s thoughts on this race were “When in doubt, follow Val but not so close as to cause overshadowing” and in doing so he gained two places to take third. Alex lost a lot in the final at bat because he didn’t follow Val!

All in all an excellent but challenging weekend with huge snakes and small ladders. Graham managed to find more ladders than snakes to take a narrow victory. Val was second by a comfortable margin and Duncan was able to hold off Alex behind him to take third. With two third place finishes, Mike showed the potential to upset the established order. Lynn had moments of brilliance and was able to keep in touch with the sailors of the golden fleet.

The awards ceremony was chaired by John Riley, who was responsible for presenting the Challenger at WISH SC. Thanks went to the Race Officer, Neil Hornby, and all the club volunteers who helped make the event such a success (especially those in the kitchen).

Overall results: