Mersey Challenge 2004

Round 1- Weaver Sailing Club

The weather forecast was not promising for Sunday 6^th June 2004. If the general forecast says the wind will be SW force 1-2, then the Weaver will get SW force 0-1. So light winds were forecast, but at least there would be some sunshine. And sunny it was! It felt like the tropics, such was the heat and breathless humidity.

Fiddlers Ferry Sailing Club put out a very strong team. For the first time ever, they had a bigger team than the home club Weaver SC. With a fleet of Fiddlers 8 boats to Weavers 6, it would be like the Battle of Trafalgar on the 25yard long starting line.

Fiddlers Ferry SC team had 2 of their large Falcons, but with a medley of smaller craft with 2 GP14’s, 2 Wayfarers, an Albacore and a Laser. What Weaver SC lacked in numbers, they felt their team made up in quality. Brian Hardy in the Comet and John Ainsworth in the Laser, have a brilliant track record in this event, and they were backed up with another Comet, a Solo, an Enterprise and a Wayfarer. Late in the day, to cap it all, a Streaker ran on the pitch.

Ken Moran would normally have sailed, but as he had fallen off a horse, he was badly bruised in a very important place. And so Ken volunteered to be Officer of the Day. In the Army there is an old saying- ‘Never volunteer for anything’. And Ken will now know how true that is.

On the River Weaver, if the winds are light at the clubhouse, then it is often best to race down to the bottom of the river at Marsh Lock, to the confluence of the Manchester Ship Canal and Weaver Navigation Canal. If there is any wind, then that is where it will be. However, racing down there puts a real strain on the OOD, as he has to man the rescue boat, time in the boats, fill in the racing sheet, and with his other hand….

So that was the plan. Run Race 1 from the club down to the Dolphin at Marsh Lock, and back up to number 5 buoy, and finish over a transit line between the jetty and the Dolphin. Race 2 would start at this same transit line, up to number 5, back around the Dolphin, up to 5 and back to finish at the transit line. Race 3 would start at the transit line, up to 5, back to the Dolphin, and back up river to finish at the club.

This plan had a couple of advantages for the visitors. The Falcons normally suffer in the short tacking, but at the bottom of the river, they should fare far better. And the second major advantage was that there was only one bouy to remember, and so Colin Howard and his crew Ken should manage to get around the course.

Race 1 started in a flat calm, with Colin Howard planted smack on the line, with another outsider John Hamilton of WSC right behind him.The rest of the fleet were stranded. However, once the wind filled in, the fleet got going and gobbled them up.

But it was painfull going. Joab himself would have been tested. As he does, John Ainsworth broke free but with Brian in the Comet and the young Cartwright in the Laser. The OOD shortened the course to put us out of our misery, and Sods Law the wind picked up. At least we had got to the bottom of the river.

The start of Race 2 proved to be critical. If you were right on the jetty end of the line, you made a good start. If you were in the middle, or at the Dolphin end of the line you struggled. John Ainsworth was in the right place and got away from the fleet before a host of spinnakers stole all the wind. It was a magnificent sight though, to see a mass of boats with all those colourful spinnakers flying.

Race 3 had a similar start, but this time everone wanted to be in the same place. John Ainsworth again broke free, but the rest of the small boats were held in the wind shadow of the Falcons and the Wayfarers. And finally the wind got up, and the Falcons came out to play.

The initial dash down to number 5 buoy, had all the makings of a maritime disaster. That is, until the brown Falcon involuntary gybed about 20m before the mark. This split the field so that we could now have two maritime disasters. The Solo took advantage of the carnage and slipped through to pick up at least four places.

But then the white Falcon came storming through the field, and disappeared up-river.

They didn’t win the race, but the message was clear enough. Give these boats the right conditions and they really motor.

At the end of the day, on paper, it looked like an easy victory for the Weaver Sailing Club. But in truth, it wasn’t like that The competition was quite tough, and John Ainsworth and Brian Hardy are always difficult to beat. Fiddlers Ferry SC did well. The Falcons are at a big disadvantage on the Weaver, and they performed well, when conditions suited them.Young Cartwright did well in the Laser, and could challenge John Ainsworth in a few years. And the leading GP14 from Fiddlers was a very impressive machine. We will see a lot more from that boat.

And so it’s a big thank you to Fiddlers Ferry Sailing Club for putting up such a strong team in the first leg. The second leg will be held within the Head of the River race to be held on the 20^th June 2004. You can be sure that the Falcons will pull out all the stops on that day.

Les Hodgkinson,

Sailing Secretary, Chief Cook and bottle washer. WSC