Richard Catchpole and Gary Coop of Leigh and Lowton SC, sailing an RS400 were the winners of the Bala Long Distance Race weekend, latest event in the Great British Sailing Challenge.
In total, 61 boats from 38 classes signed up for the weekend, with a huge array of craft lined up to race each other under the Great Lakes handicap numbers.
Over the 5.2 nautical mile course for the Long Distance Race, the biggest distance covered was by Dave Walker and Chris Cooke’s Nacra 20 catamaran, which notched up 23 nautical miles around four laps of the course in the four hours of racing.
However, the winners on handicap were Dave Exley and Nige Hall, proven champions of the long distance format having raced their RS400 to victory four times at the legendary Lord Birkett Trophy which takes place on Ullswater Reservoir every summer.
Behind Exley and Hall were five other RS400s who seemed to be in their element, able to fly the gennaker on some of the close reaches and able to tack their way effectively through the ever-shifting breeze.
On Sunday, the sunshine had gone but at least the breeze showed up for three back-to-back average lap races.
With the breeze blowing Force 2 to 3 but with some occasional Force 4 gusts, the sailors were kept on their toes and again the random conditions suited the relatively stable RS400s.
However, Colin and Oly Murray’s Norfolk Punt came good for the final race, taking the win ahead of the 400s.
In terms of overall scores though, the RS400s won the day, with Catchpole and Coop joined on the podium by Chris Pickles/ Mark Lunn and Jon Heissig/ Nicky Griffin.
Great British Sailing Challenge – Bala Leading positions
1st RS400 Richard CATCHPOLE Gary COOP 3 1 1 -7 – – 5 pts
2nd RS400 Chris PICKLES Mark LUNN 4 2 -6 2 – – 8 pts
3rd RS400 Jon HEISSIG Nicky GRIFFIN 2 3 -7 4 – – 9 pts
4th RS400 Dave EXLEY Nige HALL 1 4 5 -6 – – 10 pts
5th RS400 Caroline EXLEY Andy DAWSON 6 5 3.5 -8 – – 14.5 pts
6th Norfolk Punt Colin MURRAY Oly MURRAY 11 6 -9 1 – – 18 pts
7th RS400 Louise MCKEAND Martin SPENCER 5 13 8 -14 – – 26 pts
8th RS200 Alistair COATES Thomas COATES 14 8 -15 10 – – 32 pts
9th Laser Alex CLEAVER 10 -20 17 11 – – 38 pts
10th RS200 Martin SMITH Barbara SMITH 15 11 12 -13 – – 38 pts
11th RS400 Graham TULLETT Natasha LISTER 21 -12 10 9 – – 40 pts
12th VX One Neal PIPER Mike / Richard SMITH / WATSON 26 10 11 -18 – – 47 pts
13th Osprey Alec MAMWELL Arthur BUTLER 28 9 -13 12 – – 49 pts
14th Javelin Brian DIXON Mark DIXON 8 -27 22 20 – – 50 pts
15th RS400 Richard BRAMELD Todd BRAMELD 22 15 -16 15 – – 52 pts
