ISO Open - Glossop & District SC (4th & 5th October 2003)
Glossop's ISO open meeting, part of the travellers series was held over the first weekend of October (4th and 5th). Saturday started on typical Derbyshire morning (Cold wet and miserable), with two races back to back and then one to follow after a short gap for food. Racing started at 1pm in a force four north-westerly breeze occasionally blowing up to five. Of which there were a total of four boats retiring through either gear failure or due to the blustery conditions taking their toll on competitors. Race one was a simple triangular course with many wind shifts thrown in to separate the fleet.
Graham Shaw and Alan Jones in ISO 1179 used their local knowledge to take control staying out front throughout the race closely followed by Pete Lindley and Annie Smith in ISO 1013 Team RWO (Pete looking for his 5th victory on the trott at this venue). Throughout the rest of the fleet there were many changes in position due to casualties along with good sailing in the constantly changing conditions.
Race two quickly followed of the back of the first race with fewer boats on the start line "the wimps" (Ed). Dave Burke and Steff Lucas in ISO 682 took the early lead into the second lap holding off RWO, this was short lived as RWO took control to finish the race in first. Burke & Lucas were pushed into second whilst Shaw & Jones had to fight through the fleet to gain third.
Race three saw the full fleet of boats starting once more, however the conditions proved to much for several entrants who retired early in the first lap. Again RWO was held of by Burke & Lucas in the first 3 laps, however Burke & Lucas caught a very big gust and were pointing towards the bank with the kite up! Dave Burke (helm) hit the eject button and chucked the boat in the drink with the mast skimming the rocks. Flyweight Team RWO caught the same gust seconds later and dropped their kite immediately, overtaking the upturned local big boys, and taking their second bullet of the day. Meanwhile Shaw once again had to fight of stiff competition in the survival conditions to take another third place.
Evening entertainment was the usual Italian restaurant in the very Italian Glossop! Words of "It's not exactly quite like Malcesine" were murmoured several times during the meal (by all accounts). Also as a massive dissapointment, Pete introduced Annie, Paddy & Julian to the legendary Harleys. Big dissapointment here - they had redecorated!!! The "New York, Paris, London and Glossop" mirror is still there, but unfortunately the zebra skin patterned wall decor was replaced by red with black lines and squares! Shock horror! At least the Old George Pub / Hotel was still serving the guests at 00:15!!
Sunday was an early start to the racing with many tired bruised competitors having to defrost their boats and in my case most of my sailing gear. Again we had a north-westerly breeze but this time only a force one blowing up to two at times. The first race of the day gave the local talent of Shaw & Jones the edge quickly taking the lead over RWO who from a commanding start had dropped to third behind Gordon Thompson and Chris Fletcher in ISO 727 (Team ISO phat) by the first mark, however this was short lived as RWO took back second and continued to finish in such position, whilst Burke fought back taking third from Thompson.
Race five was sailed in a fresher breeze over a simple two mark course. RWO took the lead from Burke on the second lap to go on to finish in first whilst the local boats of Burke and Shaw had to fight it for Burke to take second and Shaw third, this was to be reversed in the final results as Dave Burke and Steff Lucas from Glossop took third place (9 points), Graham Shaw and Alan Jones from Glossop took second (8 points) whilst Pete Lindley with flyweight crew Annie Smith in Team RWO stormed away with first place (5 points).
Ed's Comments:
Having only being sailing the ISO class for less than three months now, and never sailing against another ISO or in such strong SHIFTY conditions I was pleased to come fourth behind such strong competitors in such varied conditions. I totally enjoyed the weekend - even though we didn't make the evening meal in the metropolice of Glossop! Many thanks to the event sponsor RWO Marine Equipment Ltd providing many prizes throughout the fleet for all levels of competitors up to ninth overall position, as well as Glossop & District SC for providing VERY tricky conditions on the water (even though it's not normally like that) and good cheap food on the shore (this is the norm though).
