atty and James Lyons made the most of a moderate breeze to win the Yorkshire Dales Brass Monkey in their 49er skiff. The brothers from Ullswater beat the 103-entry fleet on Grimwith Reservoir, the picturesque venue for the most northerly event in the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series.
Although big breeze looked to be on the cards for an event that already had to be postponed from a stormy Christmas date, it turned out to be a very sailable Force 2-4. Once the morning fog cleared, it was a good day’s racing. The Lyons 49er finished in 2nd place in the morning race, behind another family team in a GP14, Mark and Sam Platt from Bolton Sailing Club. Third in that race were Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman sailing their RS400 and representing Delph.
After a great lunch and a warm-up in the clubhouse, the fleet went back out for the second and concluding race. The Ullswater 49er duo won this one, followed by Leigh & Lowton’s Oliver Blackburn racing a Topper and Staunton Harold’s hot Scorpion duo, Peter Gray and Rachael Rhodes. In fact the finishing order of the top 3 in the final race turned out to be the top 3 overall. Behind the winning 49er was a three-way tie for 2nd place, but with Blackburn’s better finishing place in the final race making him runner-up, with the Scorpion and RS400 in 3rd and 4th overall respectively. Top local sailors from host club, Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club, were Emma Clayton and Faye Caswell finishing in 7th in their Mirror.
Following the previous weekend’s 320-boat Bloody Mary, Michael Sims was leading the GJW Direct SailJuice Winter Series in his Solo. But after finishing 13th in Yorkshire the Carsington competitor is nudged off the top by Gray and Rhodes’s Scorpion, winners of the Series in 2012. With six of the eight events now complete, the Series standings are very tight at the top.
Entries were getting very close to full for this weekend’s Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy at Northampton, while the final event of the Series is the John Merricks Tiger Trophy at Rutland Water on 1 & 2 February.
The beautiful Yorkshire Dales scenery brought the photographers out in force, and you can see more of their work here:
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Photo credits to: Paul Hargreaves/ John Cheetham/ Paul Williamson/ Dave Walker
Navigators & General SailJuice Winter Series, UK's premier winter handicap racing.
