12 300s made the trip North to Leigh and Lowton Sailing Club for the annual winter championships. They were greeted by a fresh looking force four on day 1 which looked like it might be just enough to blow those winter cobwebs away.

Race 1 started with the fleet being all slightly line shy, perhaps after watching the 400 fleet having a general recall we all thought we would be kind to the race committee, perhaps we were out of practice, who knows. Either way the start was eventually won by Jeff Marks of Milton Keynes and Local Leigh and Lowton sailor Sam Sutton-Reid. First beat saw the majority of the fleet head left to middle, tacking on the many shifts we saw and trying our best to cope with the gusts.

Mark “Sparky” Newton, Minorca Sailing’s finest rounded Mark 1 at the same time as former Minorca Sailing Colleague Sutton-Reid, perhaps an old instructor rivalry was to be rekindled in the cold north? Sadly it seemed not, Sutton-Reid caught a gust and Sparky Newton dumped his boat on Mark 2 forcing Marks wide allowing Bolton Sailing Clubs Andy Flittcroft through to 2^nd. Places stayed the same for the next two legs or so until Flittcroft struggled to come to terms with a large gust on the run letting Marks take 2^nd back. For the next few laps Marks and Sutton-Reid extended their lead over the rest of the fleet right through to the finish.

Race 1 top 3 Sutton-Reid 1^st, Marks 2^nd, Flittcroft 3^rd.

Race 2 started after lunch in very similar conditions, i.e. still windy. Another clean start from the fleet and this time a much more competitive one. Marks won the start and showed the fleet a clean pair of heels up the beat to the first mark, Sutton-Reid managed to take Marks downwind and once again the fleet spread for the remainding two laps. After a slightly disastrous first race involving running by the lee and checking how clean his boat was Tim Keen of Sheffield Viking SC worked his way up into 3^rd in Race 2.

Race 2 top 3 Sutton-Reid 1^st, Marks 2^nd, Tim Keen 3^rd

Race 3 saw the wind drop slightly then pick up beyond what it had been all day, all during prestart. A very close start was won yet again by Marks, he then managed to catch some good shifts up the beat, all of which was sadly rendered irrelevant by a drop of that really important rope, the mainsheet, spolsh went Jeff and the race was back on.

Meanwhile, Russ Hopkins of Tewksbury made the mistake of following Sutton-Reid up the first beat, assuming that local knowledge and form meant he knew where he was going. It was all looking good then the wind gods had their say and a view of crossing the fleet changed radically. Hopkins did manage some nice boat on boat tactics leading into the mark and got himself round in 1^st, shortly followd by Keen and Flittcroft in 3^rd. Sadly Flittcroft could not capitilise on this excellent first beat with a rather violent death roll on the first few boat lengths downwind. This allowed Sutton-Reid into 3^rd who in turn took Hopkins, who by then had lost his lead to Keen. Race 3 finished with Keen stretching his lead down wind and Sutton-Reid trying to reel him in upwind, Keens downwind prowess was enough though seeing him take his first win of the weekend.

Race 3 top 3 Keen 1^st, Sutton-Reid 2^nd,

Curry and a few beers followed on Saturday night with us all enjoying a view of Hopkins one and only capsize which had been captured in a series of excellent photos.

Day 2 brought with it more wind, white tips were starting to form and whilst pulling up sails a big gust came through just to reassure use we were in for an interesting day.

Race 4 started with Sutton-Reid underestimating his run up to the start and Marks and Keen capitalising by sailing right over him. Keen tacked off early in his normal hunt for clear air, sadly this didn’t pay off allowing Marks and Sutton-Reid to take the 1^st and 2^nd respectively at the first mark.

After a small run in which positions didn’t change leg 3 saw a broad but fully powered up reach down the majority of the lake, Marks went high (claiming later to of not been totally sure at the time where the mark was) and Sutton-Reid took the gusts low allowing him to take a higher faster route into the mark and also taking 1^st position along the way. Marks struggled with the bear away to the run and sadly ended up ashore after a capsize with that a retirement from the race. This opened the door for the others, Flittcroft seized his chance taking 2^nd and holding on to it for the next lap. However it was not to be. On the bear away for the final run Flittcroft got by the lee and shortly afterwards did probably one of the most violent capsizes of the day. You had to see it! This allowed Keen to move up into second and keep his chances of a series win alive.

Race 4 top 3 Sutton-Reid 1^st, Keen 2^nd,

Race 5 started normally enough, a competitive line with Keen & Sutton-Reid battling up the beat and the first reach. Sadly the biggest gust of the day decided to rear its ugly head putting both of them in at Mark 2. Hopkins, Newton and Flittcroft all got round, unfortunately for Marks he too ended up joining Keen and Sutton-Reid in the drink. Fortunately for this gusts initially casualties it had not had all its fun yet and as Marks, Keen and Sutton-Reid got their boats upright and sailing they had the rather joyous site of Hopkins, Newton and Flittcroft’s hulls all on their side halfway down the reach. This allowed Marks to take 1^st back on said reach along with Sutton-Reid taking second on the gybe mark pushing Flittcroft and Hopkins back into 3^rd and 4^th respectively. Marks once again showed excellent downwind speed holding onto 1^st for the remainding downwind legs and the majority of the first beat. Sadly for Marks, Sutton-Reid caught a break on the final tack of the last beat moving from 2^nd to 1^st.  Managing to hold on to this first for the rest of the race Sutton-Reid took the series with a race to spare.

Race 5 top 3 Sutton-Reid 1^st, Marks 2^nd,

Race 6 saw the wind increase a little more, just to make sure we got properly tired out. Sutton-Reid finally managed to win a start forcing Marks to tack early and head right up the beat, sadly this did not work out leaving Marks last round the first mark. Rather impressively though Marks got his motor going downwind showing excellent speed and boat handling storming through to 1^st by the end of the downwind section. Sadly this first was short-lived as Marks got too close to the shore on the second beat and went aground. This left Sutton-Reid and Hopkins to fight it out for second and first. Although Marks had gone aground and was far off the leaders he did manage to once again work up from last and back to 3^rd taking Andy Flittcroft on the line.

Race 6 top 3 Sutton-Reid 1^st, Hopkins 2^nd , Marks 3^rd

This meant the final results were quite close, Sutton-Reid won with 5 bullets however only 1 point separated Keen and Marks for 2^nd and 3^rd. Sadly for Keen that point was on the side of Marks leaving keen to occupy 3^rd.

An excellent weekend was had by all, we would like to thank LLSC for brilliant sailing, excellent food and above all else lots of wind.