2008 HOLLINGWORTH LAKE SAILING CLUB GP14 CLASS OPEN MEETING
GP14 OPEN MEETING, 18TH MAY 2008
Most (all?) of the best GP 14 sailors in the North West came to Hollingworth Lake on a sunny Sunday, with a moderate and variable north easterly wind. The cause was probably to battle against the local hero, Matt Mee (Fireball World Champion helm) and a strong contender for the forthcoming GP 14 Worlds. The fleet of 17 boats was divided into 10 Gold fleet sailors and 7 Silver ones, which proved very accurate in terms of overall results.
Matt Mee, crewed by Andy Tunnicliffe, made clear from the start of the first race that he intended to win the event with a clear lead. Neil Marsden and Derek Hill stepped back into a GP again after a long absence and took a little time to adjust with some major shifts to confuse everyone. They survived to take runner-up place, ahead of Neil Platt, crewed by local Nicola Brook, whilst brother Mark Platt and Alex Pilkington came third and fourth.
After lunch, 2 races were sailed back-to-back. Now Marsden was beginning to get back in gear and took the lead from Mee. But Mee gradually wore him down and broke through to another win, and the event. Neil Platt took another third, ahead of Bill Kenyon and Ben Ditchburn. In the last race, Mee handed over the helm to his crew, but did not finish the race, giving Marsden the win, against a revived local Martin Brennan and Alistair Knott who knew the best way to keep up front and ahead of Kenyon.
Results:
1st. 13924 M Mee/A Tunnicliffe (HLSC/RWYC) 2 points
2nd ‘1’ N Marsden/D Hill (BFYC) 3 points
3rd 13904 N Platt/N Brook (Bolton & WKSC/HLSC) 6 points
4th 13900 B Kenyon/B Ditchburn (Budworth) 7 points
5th 13914 M Platt/A Pilkington (Bolton) 8 points
Silver Fleet
10th 13561 C Knott/R Long (HLSC)