What a difference a few hours make at West Kirby, 10 skippers gathered at 12.30, not a breath of wind, by 1pm a nice top suit and by 3pm an even nicer ‘C’ rig wind.With PRO Peter Baldwin opting for quite a lengthy course with a nice bias on the start line and skippers not 100% sure which end they favoured it was good practice for both the race team and the skippers for the upcoming Nationals at West Kirby in July.
After the first 5 races in top suit, it was Darin Ballington who finally came to grips with the course and registered wins in races 3,4 and 5, closely followed by Andrea Roberts. The wind then quite suddenly gusted up to ‘C’ rig and a rig change rest was called, this sudden increase in wind is now common at West Kirby and one to look out for in 3 weeks time.
Race 6 was won by Bill Culshaw by half a leg, finally getting to grips with the lake and his boat. In the end though it was Darin who took the day with Andrea’s consistent sailing and finishing in the top 3 in every race gaining her second place. Our other lady skipper, Tracey Ballington sailing well in races 3 and 7 to gain 2, 4th places.
After sailing we retired to ‘The Farmers’ for a few pints and a meal and where informed that between Penelope, Emily and Millie they had managed to catch 204 crabs whilst we sailed, a new West Kirby record!
Many thanks to Peter, Bernie and Jack on lakeside and boatmen Dave and John.
- Darin Ballington 98 11 pts
- Andrea Roberts 55 16 pts
- Graham Elliott 9 27 pts
- Martin Roberts 122 28 pts
- Bill Culshaw 21 30 pts
- Mike Parkington 82 34 pts
- Damian Ackroyd 101 39 pts
- Tracey Ballington 07 41 pts
- John Taylor 28 46 pts
- Neil Westbrook 58 65 pts
9 Races sailed. Photos courtesy of Alan Watkinson more in the Gallery
