North West Travellers 2002

Wigan Sailing Club - Mirror Open & NW Travellers - Sun 31 March

This was the first open meeting of the 2002 Northern Travellers Trophy. The wind started as a light south easterly, gradually increasing as the day progressed.

Race 1 : The wind was shifting off the start line and Jonathan McGovern and Emily MacKenzie came out of the early exchanges with a good lead at the windward mark. Second round were the Birrell brothers with Tim Gray and Simon Fosket in third. The order was to remain unchanged at the front but frequent place changes in the rest of the fleet saw Katie and Anna MacKenzie recovering from a late start to finish just ahead of Peter Gray and Helen Williamson. Beck Partridge and Millie Cullen were unfortunate to be still left rigging when the start sequence began but did well to catch up to have a close battle with Patrick and Emma Houlihan.

Race 2 : The wind was now more southerly and had strengthened. At the windward mark Jonathan McGovern led from Nikki Birrell. Tim Gray was involved in an incident with his son Peter and had to complete a 720 degree penalty. Jonathan McGovern had built up a reasonable lead only to run aground, resulting in close racing with Nikki Birrell. Tim Gray took advantage and closed the gap, eventually finishing second. With Nikki Birrell winning it was now all down to the last race. Paul and Craig Williamson again sailed consistently to finish forth.

Race 3 : Again Jonathan McGovern reached the windward mark first but the fleet were all close together. Jonathan then led the whole fleet to the wrong mark. Tim Gray was the first to appreciate the mistake and this allowed him to move from fifth into first place. Jonathan McGovern sailed an excellent beat to re-establish his lead and held on to win overall. Tim Gray completed the race second but this was not enough to prevent Nikki Birrell from finishing second overall.

Single handed : The single handed prize went to Mr. J.A. Dunlop (Dovestones S.C.)

Overall Results

1^st.  Jonathan McGovern / Emily MacKenzie (Hollingworth Lake S.C.)
2^nd. Nikki Birrell / Christian Birrell (Winsford Flash S.C.)
3^rd. Tim Gray / Simon Fosket (Staunton Harold S.C.)
4^th.  Paul Williamson / Craig Williamson (Staunton Harold S.C.)
5^th. Katie MacKenzie / Anna MacKenzie (Royal Windermere Y.C.)
6^th. Peter Gray / Helen Williamson (Staunton Harold S.C.)
7^th. Patrick Houlihan / Emma Houlihan (Royal Windermere Y.C.)
8^th. Becky Partridge / Milly Cowan (Budworth S.C)

Single Handed
1^st. J.A. Dunlop (Dovestones S.C.)

Gresford SC Mirror Open & NW Travellers - Sun. 7th April

Dovestone SC Mirror Open & NW Travellers - Sat. 25th May

(It was also the first of the indicator events for the West Zone Squad for this winter training)
21 mirrors from clubs as far a field as Shustoke, Royal Windermere and North Lincolnshire took part in the Dovestones Mirror Open (Part of the North West Traveller Series)
The first race was sailed in very windy and gusty conditions, testing both boats and crew ( one boat even broke a boom). Stuart Bithell and Matthew Mee (70000) from Hollingworth Lake was the eventual winner, after recovering from an early capsise.
In the second race there was slightly less wind but it was still very gusty. Jonathan McGovern and Nicola Brook (69907), also from Hollingsworth Lake, led right up to the last beat. Unfortunately they found a hole in the wind and were overtaken by Nikki Birrell and Christian Birrell (69164) from Winsford Flash.
By the end of race two Dave Hughes from Hollingworth Lake had two wins in the single handed section and decided to sit out the rest of the event.
Going into the last race three boats still had the opportunity to win overall. Following a verbal exchange between Jonathan McGovern and Nikki Birrell resulting from a dispute at the leeward mark, Nikki did turns leaving himself in second position going up the final beat. This would have been good enough to win the event. Jonathan was hoping that Stewart could close the gap and overtake Nikki, which would have given him the win. Despite another capsize from Jonathan, the situation on the last beat was very close. The wind was very unpredictable and Stewart was able to take advantage to overtake both of the boats ahead of him to win the race and win overall. an exciting finish.
Results:
1st. 70000 Stuart Bithell, Matthew Mee (Hollingworth Lake)
2nd. 69164 Nikki Birrell, Christian Birrell (Winsford Flash)
3rd. 69907 Jonathan McGovern, Nicola Brook (Hollingworth Lake)
4th. 69683 Katie Mackenzie, Anna MacKenzie (Royal Windermere)
5th. 12480 Robbie Kwik, Amanda Nield (Hollingworth Lake)
6th. 70153 Gareth Hughes, Cameron Sharp (Hollingworth Lake)
7th. 69943 Ben Crompton, James Budd (Budworth)
8th. 69417 Elena Bremer, Tom Kirkbright (Hollingworth Lake)
9th. 69972 Beck Partridge, Hannah Wilcock (Budworth)
10th. 47566 Eloise Hanson, Kayleigh Hanson (North Lincs)
11th. 69882 Patrick Houlihan, Brendan Sweeney (Royal Windermere)
12th. 59122 Richard Goddard, Alice Walton (Dovestones)
13th. 62993 Neil Evans, Jessica Nield (Hollingworth Lake)
14th. 66669 Nathan Worsell, Alistair Yorke (Hollingworth Lake)

Single Handed
1st. 39970 Dave Hughes (Hollingworth Lake)
2nd. 40984 Tom Gatti

MIRRORS AT BUDWORTH

Good winds and sunshine enticed 11 boats on the 15th June. The alternative attraction (distraction!) of the England match in Japan failed to deter 6 visitors to the picturesque mere in Cheshire.
Nick Groves acting as Race Officer for the day had decided on two short races before taking a long lunch, allowing all concerned to watch the football. In the first race the honours went to the eventual overall winners Johnny McGovern and Nicola Brook, but were chased home by the two McKenzie sisters from Royal Windermere, the reigning National Champion Ian Dobson came in 3rd having fought off the Birrel brothers for 4th place. The second race saw the leading boats finish in exactly the same positions.

The longer final race allowed the McKenzie girls to show some superior boat speed in the lightening wind and held a good lead over last years winners Nikki and Christian Birrel.

MIRRORS AT BASSENTHWAITE

Here are the results from bass, only 6 boats but Gerry and Gareth had a good battle over the 2 days sailing .
1 70153 G Hughes & N Evans HLSC
2 70010 G& L McGill Sunderland
3 69675 T & R Smith Bass
4 68887 R Hodgkinson & K Hankis Bass
5 33434 S Watson & L Cook Bass
6 68852 N & B Wood Bass

Staunton Harold Mirror Open - 13 July 2002

Twenty-two boats braved the scorching sun and windless water to compete at
Staunton Harold on 13th July. The blue sky and red sails may have looked great but the
sailing was painfully slow. The race officer, Mick Barrett, greeted everyone with the
words" it's a great day for doing anything but sailing" and so it proved.
However, Nicky and Christian Birrell from Winsford Flash had other ideas and
won the first two races to tie up their first win at Staunton. Stuart Bithell with Holly Scott
crewing was close in his new boat and won the last race with ease. It was one of those
days when the boat at the front always seemed to get the wind first and sail away leaving
those at the back to struggle in their wake. By the afternoon, several spectators and some
sailors were looking a bit pink after the sun had caught them.
The race for third overall went to Paul and Craig Williamson from Staunton with
only two points difference between the third and seventh boats.
In the single-handed fleet Alan Bennett struggled in race one but showed the rest
the way round to win the next two races easily and was first overall. He was one of
several Shustoke boats who made the short journey to Staunton hoping for a good days
sailing but they were thwarted by the lack of breeze. There were juniors sailing for places
in the north zone squad who found some comfort in seeing that there were experienced
helms in front and sometimes behind, who also got it wrong as the zephyrs filled in from
random directions.
1st Nicky & Christian Birrell Winsford Flash SC . 2nd Stuart Bithell/ Holly Scott
Hollingworth Lake SC 3rd Paul & Craig Williamson Staunton Harold
S/Handed 1st Alan Bennett Shustoke 2nd Len Kniveton Shustoke 3rd Tony Mason
Shustoke.

Single Handed Results

Burwain Mirror Open - 29 Sept 2002

Nantwich & Border Counties Sailing Club Mirror Open - 5 Oct 2002

This was the final of the NWTT and the final West Zone Junior selector event.

(Two Handed)
1 Tim Gray / Simon Foskett Staunton Harold
2 Niki Birrell / Christian Birrell Winsford
3 Anna Mackenzie / Nicola Brook RWYC / Hollingworth
4 Becky Partridge / Kate Robinson Budworth
5 S Sutcliffe / M Starling Shustoke
6 Ben Crompton / James Budd Budworth
=7 Tom Crompton / Sam Robinson Budworth
=7 Peter Gray / Craig Williamson Staunton Harold
9 Gareth Hughes / Cameron Sharp Hollingworth
=10 Moira Moore / Jack Moore Blithfield
=10 Patrick Houlihan / Michael Hanlon Royal Windermere
12 David Moore / John Moore Blithfield
13 Elena Bremer / Tom Kirkbright Hollingworth
14 Andy Foskett / Matt Foskett Staunton Harold
=15 Helen Williamson / Holly Jones Staunton Harold
=15 Robby Cwik / Rhiannon McKeown Hollingworth
17 Emlyn Davies / Henry Cooke TCSC
18 Gavin Tullett / Henry Westropp Royal Windermere
=19 Emma Houlihan / Hannah Wilcox Royal Windermere
=19 Nathan Worsell / Luke Warren Hollingworth
21 Andy Hunter / Sam Watson Nantwich
22 Dave Finney / Josh Finney Nantwich

(Single Handed)
1 Dave Hughes Hollingworth
2 Lindsay Haig Shustoke
3 Keith Jones Nantwich
4 Alex Dunlop Dovestone

Prize winners

1st Overall Tim Gray / Simon Foskett
2nd Overall Niki Birrell / Christian Birrell
3rd Overall Anna Mackenzie / Nicola Brook

1st Junior Niki Birrell / Christian Birrell
1st Under 14 Anna Mackenzie / Nicola Brook
2nd Under 14 David Moore / John Moore
1st Nantwich Andy Hunter / Sam Watson
1st Boat Under 60000 Robby Cwik / Rhiannon McKeown
1st Lady Anna Mackenzie / Nicola Brook
2nd Lady Becky Partridge / Kate Robinson
Endeavour (last to complete all 3 races) Andy Hunter / Sam Watson

Single Handed Mirrors
1st S/H Dave Hughes
2nd S/H Lindsay Haig
3rd S/H Keith Jones