ISO Northern Circuit - Bala Lake SC (1st - 3rd May 1999)

The inaugural ISO Northern Circuit event was held at Bala in North Wales over the first 3 days of May. The winner was Glossop-based Graham Shaw in 1179, crewed by newcomer Matthew Barnes who is gaining crewing experience before helming his own ISO.

Saturdays 2 races were held in force 2-3 winds and resulted in close racing throughout as a prelude to an evenings frolicking in Bala Town. New helm / crew R. & E. Wigley, sailing 1009, stormed into a first beat lead but spinnaker problems led to their downfall. Having won both races narrowly from John Mather & John Heyes in 1166, Graham needed only two wins on the Sunday to complete a series triumph and he achieved this in style with finishing boats overlapped on the line in race 5. If the lucky gust in race 3, which had allowed him to close 300 yards on race leaders Mather & Heyes, had held, he would have had a clean sweep.

Bala Sailing Club provided excellent food on Sunday night and all was set on Monday for a battle for the remaining top places between Mather & Heyes and father and son team Alan & James Padgett from West Riding but the glorious sunshine killed any chance of wind and the happy bunch said their goodbyes and departed for their home waters.

A successful first event for the Northern ISO circuit which brings much-needed fleet racing and fun without travelling 270 miles to the South coast every fortnight.

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