Bala Sailing Club welcomed 36 competitors to their annual 3 hour pursuit race, sponsored by Dickies of Bangor. Although the sunshine was glorious, the absence of any wind in the morning put the event at risk. After a one-hour postponement, sufficient wind arrived, causing a rush of entries.

The course consisted of a single long start lap, with repeated short laps thereafter. After the early start of the Streaker of Phil Hardill, the wind began dropping again during the next hour, when the rest of the fleet was starting. After the first lap, the Streaker still held the lead, followed by the Laser of Andrew Todd, the Scorpion of Andy Davies and Ritchie Adams, and the RS200 of Paul and Sharon Plested.

On the second lap, Paul and Sharon Plested took advantage of the wind shift that caused the beat to become a fetch and pulled away from the chasing pack. They continued to increase their lead for the remainder of the race, to the extent that the chasing boats were not aware that the RS200 was in front of them. The faster handicap boats had, by now, overtaken the Laser and the Scorpion, with the Flying 15 of Neil Platt and Matthew Speight, the RS400 of Paul and Michael Allen and the Flying 15 of Adrian Tattershall and Tim Smart in contention.

On the last lap, the ISO of D. Harrison and Adam Savage, the Vortex Asymmetric of Keith Escritt, the Flying Dutchman of Julian Bridges and Jamie Whitacker, and the RS400 of Nick Holland and Shaun Priestley joined the fray for second place. In the final few minutes, the ISO and the RS400 of Paul and Michael Allen engaged in a tacking duel which resulted in the RS400’s taking second place, allowing the Flying 15 of Neil Platt and Matthew Speight to glide through into third place in front of the ISO.

The next six boats were very difficult to place on the finishing gun as they rafted together up to a mark of the course.

Results

1st P. and S. Plested, RS200, Winsford Flash
2nd P. and M. Allen, RS400, Leigh and Lowton
3th N. Platt and M. Speight, FF, Bolton
4th D. Harrison and A. Savage, ISO, Leigh and Lowton
5th N. Holt and S. Priestley, RS400, Blackpool
6th K. Escritt, Vortex Asymmetric, Grimwith
7th Chris Hogan and Mike Thomas, RS400, Port Dinorwic
8th Andy Davies and Richie Adams, Scorpion, Bartley
9th Dan. Partington, RS600, Bala
10th Colin Newman, Int Moth, Draycote.
15th Adrian Tattershall and Tim Smart, FF, Bala
18th Dave Wall, Blaze, Bala
22th Dave Eccles, Blaze, Bala
25th Richard Fenton, Laser, Bala