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David Mackay's first open event.

Click on the picture to see it in all its glory.  No, its not Dave, but the ultimate father/son winner of the Newbiggin Winter Pursuit Open series in which Dave made an excellent start to his Open career.  He was joined by Alec Mamwell (Phantom) and Steve Gibbon/Mike Scott (420) on a cold weekend in December.

The Newbiggin Winter Open is for all boats slower than a PY of 940 - not for large fast Asymmetrics for example, but none the less an interesting event.  Newbiggin have supported KWSC at our Open for a few seasons now so some of us decided to venture over to the Queen Elizabeth II Park Lake, near Ashington, to support them.  Next season we are reserving the weekend in the club's sailing calendar so many more of us can support this event. (This year the Sunday clashed with our working party).  Look out for more news of this next year but make a date in your diary for Sat/Sun 4-5 December 2004 now!  Dave Mackay reports on his adventure.

On the week-end of 6^th and 7^th December Newbiggin Sailing Club hosted their annual Winter Pursuit Open. As in previous years the event was held at QE2 Country Park Lake about 2 miles inland from the Newbiggin clubhouse. It’s an attractive lake, as well as being a wildlife reserve and home to a huge colony ( or is it a gaggle ) of swans. A heated marquee served as a clubhouse, coffee shop and briefing area. The grassy shore allowed lots of space for rigging boats and meeting fellow entrants.

Pursuit racing has a very simple appeal. You are given a start time based on your handicap, you cross the line on your start and basically just go after the fellow in front. For the slow boats it’s a chance to fend off pursuers. For the faster boats it’s a challenge to work through the field (the more powerful rigs are excluded) and when the race officer calls time you have a pretty good idea of where you are at!

Three KWSC boats sailed on the Saturday. An interesting course was set largely following the shoreline. A surprising number of spectators, the numbers swollen by those disembarking from the scenic railway (Woodhorn Museum Christmas Fair was also in full swing) must have enjoyed the spectacle as the boats swept by within yards of the marquee and along the lake edge before rounding by the otter sanctuary and heading off for the top mark. The star performers on Saturday were Gerry McGill and his son Luke sailing their beautifully set up Mirror dinghy with a precision which saw them unchallenged. Alec Mamwell had a good day too, rocketing around the course in his Phantom single hander to secure second place in both races.

Two of the Kielder boats had to miss Sunday’s racing due to club commitments but others joined in. Dazzling low winter sunshine added glory to the scenery but the lack of any breeze resulted in a drifting course for the first two races. Chris Graham and Kirstene Tarn from the home club sailed their RS200 into 2 first places. Tied on points however Team McGill pulled out all of the stops for race 3 and flying enough sail to chase a Spanish Galleon down they made the race their own.

Final results:

1. Gerry McGill & Luke McGill Mirror Sunderland Yacht Club

2. Chris Graham & Kirstene Tarn RS200 Newbiggin by the Sea S.C.

3. Michael Wilde & Julian Colman Enterprise Tynemouth Sailing Club

At the prize giving Gerry heartily commended Newbiggin by the Sea Sailing Club on the success of the event and this was echoed by all. It was however generally agreed that a bigger turn out would have been welcomed. Rarely is Sailing a spectator sport. At QE2 and given the reasonable weather conditions and the many other attractions, it came close to it. Certainly the swans seemed to take it all in their stride. Here’s to next year.

David Mackay.

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