 SAT, JUNE 16 and SUN, JUNE 17 Another round of the BFSLYC Championships |
| REPORT 1 - FRIDAY | REPORT 2 - SATURDAY |
| LATEST REPORT 3 - SUNDAY | |
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REPORT ONE: Friday June 15 time 11:34:37 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: HOYLAKE BOUND Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 11:34:37 Hello Everyone Saw the forecast for the weekend which was for cold winds and rain. Left Mablethorpe to drop Kelly & Donna at the bus stop at 8am. Drove through some misty weather onto the M62. It was dull and overcast with light showers, traffic on the M62 was heavy. You had to follow the "pack" up onto the Pennines 1221ft and over the top of the highest motorway in the UK. Up there it was broken sunshine that got better. Arrived at Hoylake at 11.45am, just time for lunch and a coffee in the club when Graham Thwaite turned up at midday. That was just in time to watch a thunderstorm pass over, rattling the windows and chucking it down. The dryish beach on the mud banks is now nice and wet. The easterly wind is up and down from 3mph to 23mph in the gusts. With the heavy showers now rolling in, I think it foolish to push out on the bank to sail. The sun is peeping out again so it's out into the carpark and rig the yacht. That may take more than planned, most bits were just thrown in the trailer. Fitting to the new white yacht that has now been repaired may need some more bits. The axle is in a different position, etc, etc. Just seen the weather forecast. A deep low (993) is tracking across England. Heavy thunderstorms this afternoon making the journey to Hoylake a bit grim with the Friday afternoon workers rushing home. Predicted 10 mph for Sat morn weather from the north west with showers. Robert "Don't Call Me Bob" Coburn has just rolled up with his trailer axle and wheels in a state of collapse The wheels are above the mudguards and twisted. Not sure whether he hit the wall in the narrow entrance or what. Itıs now 3.15 and raining again outside. The Scantleburyıs have arrived with Dave Slawson looking in. Dave broke his sternum at Cefn and is still recovering. 3.40 still raining. Fed up drinking coffee!! Hoylake has a new beach car, since the rust had reached the door handles on the old one. The club has got hold of a Dacia Duster 4x4! 4.58 and rains has finally stopped and we are rigging in the carpark, no wind. DCMB has his "special repair tool" (a can of Elephant Beer) out to fix his trailer. See pictures below. Regards to all Gareth K800 |
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REPORT TWO: Saturday, June 16 time 19:42:37 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: TODAY WASN'T A GOOD DAY Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 11:34:37 Hello Everyone Wasn't a good day for me today. I finished way back in the fleet in our four races. In the last race a ratchet broke. I was able to scavenge some bits so at least I finished the race. Going to change my rig back to the old one for tomorrow's racing and see where that gets me. The wind was coming from Liverpool which meant it was a north-easterly. It was light and variable to start with but built up to 15mph. It poured down with rain on Friday afternoon but today the beach had dried out a bit. We're not racing on the outer banks. The racing is being held on the sand just over the mud area. It's a rippley beach. There's not a smooth patch of smooth sand anywhere. By the end of the four races I was getting tired of rattling round. I was getting blurred vision. Don't know about the others. The beach is quite soft. You definitely need plenty of power. If you crept too close to the mud area the sand was quite soft although it didn't look it. The club's Clog vehicle they bought for £200 which they use to drive around the beach got stuck and I had to drive out, very slowly mind, and pull it out for them. Don't know the exact number of yachts that have turned up but I think there's about a dozen Class 5s. We Class 3s are running a 16 grid. Steve Borrill is doing OK. Alan Scantelbury, who's leading the Brit champs at the moment, didn't have a brilliant day, a pulley broke in one race, but he still managed to get through with the most points. Robert "Don't Call Me Bob" Coburn made an impression on Friday afternoon. Bleeding shame no one else was around to see it. For the second year in a row he's wrecked his trailer driving into the clubhouse driveway. This time he ripped the wheels and axle clean off his trailer. And since last year they've widened the gateway so how did he hit it this time. Robert's put it down to a mixture of stupidity and old age. He said he hadn't had a drink so alcohol can't be blamed. Luckily only the bolts holding it all on were sheered off so he's put different bolts in and it's all back together. He only has to drive 74 miles to home and says he should get there if he drives gingerly. I've taken some pictures of the wreck and Graham Thwaite is sending them down. To ease Robert's suffering he and I went out for an Italian then went down to The Plasterer's Arms on Friday night. No one else had turned up, dunno where the beggars had got to, so we went for a quiet drink. Before we left the clubhouse where we're staying we had a few Screwdrivers made with some of that Czechoslovakian vodka I bought for £2.50 a bottle earlier this year when I was off iceboating. Mixed it with some real grapefruit juice. Robert threw a couple down the hatch which mixed well with the beers he had at The Plasterers. In his own words "he was pronounced dead at 10.30pm" although he was up at the bar at closing time trying to beat the locals to get in another round. There was no Old Speckled Hen at The Plasterers. Oh dear, they're about to lose their international patronage. The Kiwis drank the stuff when they visited the pub in 1997. Anyway we had to drink some other stuff which slid down quite nicely. One up on Robert. He can't remember walking home. That'd be a first. Tonight we're having a quiet night. Went out for dinner to the Kings Court. Had dinner with the three Irishmen who are over. Haven't met them before but they've been to Hoylake before. John Bottomley, Robert Coburn and I are back at the clubhouse and turning in early. Robert's had a couple of Screwdrivers to relax him! Andrew Bottomley's outside in his tent and Chris Wright is stopping in his new campervan in the quadrangle area outside the clubrooms. We thought about getting a hose and squirting water onto Andrew's tent so he thought it was raining. Turning in for the night. Talk tomorrow. Regards to all Gareth K800 |
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REPORT THREE: Sunday, June 17 time 21:56:19 From: "Gareth Rowland" holivans@enterprise.net Subject: SUNDAY NIGHT Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 11:34:37 Hello Everyone My arse is sore from all the shaking about. My arms are sore from bracing myself on the turns, must get some padding in the new yacht!! Wind turned from north east to a north west, nearly square on the beach making it a reaching race. I changed the mast and sail back to old faithful, had 2 good starts but was overtaken by Cooky and Scantlebury. Vibration etc took its toll on the yacht. In one race the shackle broke on the rachet block. Had to stop and fix it, finished the race and not last either. On return to the club another slider in the boom had sheered. With three races today I had 2 thirds and a 5th even with the breakage. Top speed today was 45mph. Plot of races to follow. Results were: Class 3 1 Jon Cookson 2 Alan Scantlebury 3 Richard Austin Class5 1 Dave Green 2 Roger Leah 3 Mark Sidey Regards to all Gareth K800 |
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| IMAGES FROM DAY ONE - SAT, JUNE 16 Click on image to view larger photo | ||
 Derek Nixon and the Hoylakean crew with the Wirral club's new "Clog" 4WD. |
 Regatta winner Dave Green (in foreground) pushes off behind Mark Sidey in one of the c5 starts. |
 Class 3s off and racing on the first day. Gareth Rowland is third from left. |
 Robert "Don't Call Me Bob" Coburn with the remnants of his trailer he demolished in the Wirral clubhouse gateway as he arrived for the regatta. |
 DCMB and his mighty SAAB with his landyacht trailer as it should be. |
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| IMAGES FROM SUNDAY, JUNE 17 Click on image to view larger photo | ||
 The boys from the Emerald Isle. Three of the Irish landsailors who "popped" over for the regatta. |
 The fleet of Class 5s all set and ready to go in one of Sunday's races. According to Gareth Rowland the beach was far from smooth so the c5s would have had a bonejarring time over the two days' racing. |
 Is it all getting too much for Derek Nixon and he's decided to "peg out" for a snooze on a Class 3 axle? |
 Derek Nixon's been sprung and now he's making out he's exercising... or is there something more sinister going on? |
 Derek's at it again... this time proving he's a dab hand with a Singer sewing machine. Word has it Derek moonlights as the local Hoylake seamstress. Check out the cheeky gingham number he's wearing... |
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 Now this is more like it. Sunday morning the clubhouse was a hive of activity and Derek was helping out with sail repairs. Problem was the needle broke on the sewing machine so it was down to "hand No.1" to fix K8's sail. |
 Oh no, not Derek again. Just what is he and Robert Coburn doing and what is Derek about hoisting his sweatshirt for all and sundry to see? According to Robert, they were testing his axle. Then why is Derek exposing himself? |
 The infamous bolt off Dave Slawson's yacht. Dave, who broke his sternum in an accident at Cefn Sidan where the last British Fed round was held, is on the road to recovery. |
 Pretty boy Dave Green packing up after a successful two days sailing. Dave was outright Class 5 winner. Chris Wright is giving some tips on how not to beat him next time out. |
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| MAP of HOYLAKE AREA |
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| [ b a c k t o th e t o p o f t h e p a g e ] POTTED HISTORY OF HOYLAKE REGION PREVIOUS HOYLAKE RACING PHOTOS BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS |