Report - Andy Bury                                Full Results

The weather gods answered Bolton sailing club’s prayers by not only providing a full lake, but also greeting the 32 GP14 Masters with sunshine and 15 knots of breeze on the weekend of 3^rd/4^th June at Belmont reservoir. 

The first race got away cleanly and a pattern emerged as Neil, Ian and Mark Platt took the first three spots around mark one.  The whole fleet enjoyed a course set by race officers Dave Gaunt and Roger Prince that took full advantage of the size of the lake and a large number of spectators were treated to exciting reaching conditions in the uncharacteristically warm conditions.  First line honours went to Neil with Phil Smith crewing, followed by Ian crewed by Gary Deighan with the final podium position going to Mark with Rob Senior up front.

Race two began with confusion over the starting sequence and despite Ian and Gary building a convincing and unassailable lead the resulting protest saw the whole race thrown out. 

That evening a great meal with copious amounts of wine and beer resulted in many fuzzy heads the following morning. Not may competitors were relishing three races in the mirror like conditions but once again the weather came good and as race three started a nice 10 to 15 knots came in.  The result seemed as familiar as the conditions with only Mark and Ian swapping positions on the podium. 

Race four and despite a couple of restarts for wind shifts and an over zealous fleet, the Platt hold was finally broken, with Paul Owen and Andy Hateley sailing brilliantly to take the race win.  However with Neil and Phil in second the overall result was now decided and they could afford to sit out the re-run second race letting battle commence for the rest of the positions.

Ian who was now sailing with Graham Hutchinson, as Gary had been called away for the birth of his future crew, took the final race and hence was second overall with Richard Instone and James Goodfellow taking second in the race.    Martin Brennan and Alistair Knott posted their best result finishing third but Mark and Rob’s fourth was enough to give them third overall and complete the Platt domination.

John Salomonson and Tim McGovern sailed consistently all weekend and took a handful of prizes including Grand Master, leading 60+ Helm, first Ton up and first crew over 40.

All the competitors appeared to have enjoyed a great event and a big thanks must go to all the sponsors: Exchange Windows Ltd (Main Event Sponsor), Henri Lloyd, Hartech Independent Porsche Specialist, 2020 Fleet Management, Forepoint Limited (Event Graphic Design and Printing), SailPics.co.uk (Official photography).

Overall Results

Results:
1^st Master - Neil Platt/Phil Smith (Bolton &W. Kirby)
1^st Grand Master - John Salomonson /Tim McGovern   (South Staffs)
1^st Helm 60+ John Salomonson  (South Staffs)
1^st Ton-Up - John Salomonson /Tim McGovern  (South Staffs)
1^st Crew 40+ Tim McGovern  (South Staffs)