Massacre Pursuit Race 2002

Sponsored by Dickies of Bangor, the 6th Bala Massacre took place on 17th March.  A considerable amount of clearing up and preparation had taken place by the club’s stalwarts after this year’s severe winter storms.

Luckily, Sunday’s weather was moderate in comparison with the previous weeks’ and competitors and spectators even enjoyed glimpses of the sun, although the southerly wind direction proved a headache for the Race Officer, John  Lewis.

There were 35 entries with classes ranging from the modern asymmetrics to classes such as the Flying Dutchman and the International Canoe.  We were pleased that a friend of the club, Ed Corteen, sailing a Vortex had coaxed 3 other Vortex sailors to enter.

The three hour race got under way with the Enterprise, which eventually finished in 11th place.  It was very well sailed by Paul and Sharon Plested who took advantage of sailing in clear winds.  During the first long lap, very little overtaking took place, and the only boats to suffer were those who didn’t handle the tricky conditions near the lea shore.

Eventually the Moth of Mark Bridgewater, the RS 400’s of Tim Hall and Alan Williams, the Vortex’s of I J Lister, Keith Escrit and Phil Whitehead, the Flying 15’s of Neil Platt and Adrian Tattershall broke clear of the main pursuing fleet and chased down the Ent.  Mark Bridgewater in his Moth sailing off a PY of 996 used his superior boat speed on close reaches to take the lead and to win by a large margin.

There was very close racing throughout the fleet with many boats finishing on the same leg.  The brilliantly sailed 49er of Andy Davis and Damian Winstone carved through most of the fleet in the final minutes of the race to gain 9th place.  Prizes were presented to the first ten helms and crews.

Results