Flying Fifteen TNT Post North series at Ogston Sailing Club

The TNT Post North series visits Ogston © Chris Swallow

The TNT Post North series visits Ogston © Chris Swallow

For the first time the TNT post north series visited Ogston in the Derbyshire countryside for their resurrected Flying Fifteen open meeting. With boats travelling from Dovestone, Middle Nene and Burton Upon Trent joining the local boats 16 Flying fifteens lined up in light and shift winds on Saturday afternoon.

Paul McCarthy and Andrew George (3944) judged the first beat to perfection to lead by a substantial margin and were never headed but David and Sally McKee (3905) were snapping at their heels by the finish taking second place from Jeremy Arnold and John Arnold (3672) in third. In race 2, over the same course with slightly more wind, David and Sally romped off to secure the win but behind all sorts of mayhem occurred.

Arthur and Angie George (3949) emerged to finish second followed by Chris Swallow and Scott Smith (3932) in third. By the time all the protests had been heard and settled the English Goal against USA had been missed by the Protest Committee as well as those watching ITV HD.

So with a week to go before mid-summer the temperature was a balmy 11 degrees for the Sunday racing and a pitifully gentle breeze just disturbed the glassy lake. After a short delay the PRO judged there was sufficient wind for racing to commence. So race 3 had David and Sally resume where they left off the previous day and take the win from Paul now crewed by his regular crew Garry Butler in second.

Race 4 had the best wind of the weekend. Chris and Scott had the lead for the first lap but got caught up with the enterprise fleet just starting as they went through the gate and David and Sally needed no further invitation to go through and take yet another win. Chris and Scott finished 2nd with Jeremy 3rd.

After a short sojourn ashore for lunch we all set out to the moorings to get ready for the final race. David and Sally made what had to be the best move of the weekend and slipped their moorings and headed for the pontoon for an early shower. The rest of us went out for what can only be described as abject misery as the wind died to next to nothing, the rain started and every leg turned into a beat. Jeremy secured the win and second place overall with Arthur and Angie second and John third.

The TNT Post North now moves onto Bala in August and we all hope summer might be with us by then.

Results

1st - David and Sally McKee - Dovestone SC
2nd - Jeremy Arnold and John Allen – Middle Nene SC
3rd - Paul McCarthy and Gary Butler/Andrew George – Burton SC

1st Silver - Colin Pierce and Mandy Thackray – Dovestone SC
1st Classic - Gavin Cassidy and Lucy Clouigh – Dovestone SC