Streaker Inland Championships at Beaver Sailing Club

Phil Priestley to windward of Giles Therkelson-Smith in the Streaker Inland Championships © Robert Stockwin

27 boats from 15 clubs, including two boats from Scotland and ten from the host club, competed in the Streaker Inland Championships at Beaver SC in Yorkshire on 14th-15th September. It was a very enjoyable event with good race management and excellent hospitality. What a splendid idea to have free tea and cake throughout the weekend!

For Saturday's three races the breeze was a south-westerly that provided some good planing gusts and shifts that could be played to advantage - or catch you out!

Having won the Nationals in June, local sailor Martin Penty was definitely the man to beat but Phil Manning, who just pipped Martin in the Northern Championships in July, also had high hopes for the weekend. Indeed, race 1 saw Penty soon leading the fleet, chased hard by Manning, and these two pulled clear of the fleet. Ian Priest was third, Sam Waller (sailing Race Officer Jon Aldhous's boat) was fourth and Phil Priestley fifth.

The course was changed after lunch for race 2 as the breeze had swung slightly. James Dawes attempted a port tack start which looked great for a while but by the first mark he had dropped back as the breeze favoured the boats on the left. The leading bunch soon sorted itself out with Penty in front and this time it was Priest who took second ahead of Manning and Waller.

Waller had gear failure in Race 3 (his forestay came adrift) and had to retire while fighting for the lead with Penty and Manning who went on to finish in that order. Behind them Priest was third, followed by Ian Bradley.

So, at the end of play on Saturday, Penty was comfortably in the lead with three straight wins, and Manning was second, 1 point ahead of Priest.

While Saturday had been bright and sunny, Sunday was overcast with a breeze out of the north-west. Race 4 had a rather hectic first beat. Some boats sailed too far to the left and over-stood the windward mark and so came in fast on port and had to duck those on starboard. The fleet was well bunched on the next leg, a broad reach, but Penty was well placed and on the next beat he took the lead and, from then on, stayed ahead to claim his fourth win and so take the Championship with a race to spare.

In contrast Priest and Manning were back in fifth and seventh places respectively while it was the turn of Priestley and Waller to take second and third. Probably few people realised that Priestley's boat was one of the oldest in the fleet. He was using a sail with a high sail number but the boat is actually 1502 which is nearly 20 years old, proving that older Streakers can be very competitive in the right hands. In fourth place was Giles Therkelson-Smith, who is at least a couple of years younger than Priestley's boat!

Penty could sit out the fifth and final race and did so by helping on the committee boat. The first beat was tricky. The breeze had been gradually clocking right but a late shift favoured the boats on port tack and some attempted to come into the mark ahead of the starboard-tackers. Dave Smith and Veronica Falat got away with it but many didn't! Waller was leading and he gradually pulled ahead while Falat and Priest fought for second place.

The breeze was getting lighter and more northerly and it was becoming harder to find overtaking opportunities. Waller, Falat and Priest took the first three places while Gemma Francis-Burnett was fourth. Manning had a disappointing race, finishing eighth, and so dropped to fourth overall. Priest had done well enough to take second overall, 1 point ahead of Waller. Falat was fifth overall.

The top three Silver Fleet sailors were Giles Therkelson-Smith (seventh overall), Ben Dennis-Smither (ninth) and Gemma Francis-Burnett (tenth). Please note it's not a rule that you have to have a double-barrelled surname to qualify for the Silver Fleet!

This was the penultimate event in this year's Streaker Super Series sponsored by Rooster Sailing and now, with wins in the Scottish, National and Inland Championships, Martin Penty is assured of victory. The final event in the series will be the End of Season Championships at Elton SC on October 19th.

Overall Results: