The Bartley Beast Chills out

Published 16:02 on 17 Jan 2022

After 2 strong wind events the third Beast was in light winds with dropping temperatures. This surfaced the largest fleet of 13 double handers to date and a strong single hander turnout of 24.

The forecast had been very light, however Bartley delivered a consistent force 2 to 3 throughout most of the day, and thankfully the fog did not make an appearance. Race 1 started in light but gradually building winds with the fleet bunched up for the first lap before gradually stretching out over the next. Tom Gillard and Rachel Gray provided a Merlin masterclass pulling ahead of the others in the class to book-end the double handers. Pete Gray and Richard Pepperdine got the second in a Scorpion from Sam Knight and Chris Bownes in the RS400.

As the double handers came in for lunch the single handers took to the water. With a slight course change as the wind swung more towards the SW, and a few start line shenanigans, the fleet set off to buoy 3 at the top of the reservoir. It became clear early on that the Laser / ILCAs would struggle in the light conditions as the fully battened sails pulled ahead. When the results were calculated it was the OK of Andy Davis from the Phantoms of Andy Couch and Charlie Chandler. The first Bartley boats were Les and Debbie in the Laser and Streaker respectively.

The second double hander race was held in a nice breeze with close competition. The Javelin was well placed but had a 'bit of a moment' at buoy 8 much to the excitement of the watching single handers as they dropped 5 boats on the spinnaker drop which proved too much to recover from. At the sharp end of the fleet consistency was the name of the game with the same top 5 as the first race.

The final race of the day was a race of two halves. The first half was in consistent and good breeze keeping racing tactical and close. Then on lap 2 a 'mini doldrums' appeared at buoy 0 with boats entering at speed then slowing to zero, finally rounding the mark, and then accelerating off when they finally got through the wind shadow and back to the steady breeze. This split the fleet completely as the RS300s, Phantoms, and OK got through before the shadow appeared and sailed with good breeze to the finish. The rest of the fleet weren't so lucky as the wind dropped to nothing on the last few legs of the course leading to a slow drift to the finish for most of the Laser / ILCA fleet and the Supernova's. This time Andy Couch took the win in his Phantom followed by Andy Davis in the OK and Charlie Chandler in the second Phantom.

Thanks to Steve Ward, Ollie Ridgeway and team for running the day. Full results are posted in the results section of the website. Next event is in the calendar section of the website, entry is via the events section of the website.

Last updated 14:02 on 16 April 2024