By Chris Boshier

The weekend of the 19th of March marked the second Round of the British Contender Association's Travellers Series with a trip up to Foremark Reservoir in Derbyshire to see our friends and fellow travellers at Burton Sailing Club.

14 people made the trip up to Derbyshire and came from as far away as Cornwall (well done Allan) perhaps, because, unusually for this time of year we were met with a bright warm sunny day fooling some of us to make an early spring move and don our summer wetsuits even before the clocks change, there was even one hardy fellow in a shortie even before the clocks change, which must be some sort of record.

Saturday's forecast was for 6 to 8 knots with Sunday being a bit windier. The first day was sailed over Olympic courses and the contenders had the reservoir to themselves all day, the wind was a prevailing South South Westerly, coming in over the hill and the trees leading to some interesting windshifts and certainly challenging conditions for the race officer to try and set a course and line for us, well done Tim, excellent job.

The first race got off to a reasonably uneventful start with the fleet splitting left and right but by the top mark all seemed about equal, there was some confusion over the spreader mark so everyone decided to go round it anyway (we really should listen a little harder at the briefings next time!) Martin Metcalf unfortunately had to put a hitch in to make it which probably cost him a place while Tom Hooton and Chris Boshier got away down the reach, leaving Martin to battle it out with the rest of the fleet. At the finish it was Chris, Tom and Tim Holden.

Race two got underway after some jiggling of the course for the now Westerly wind and after another reasonably uneventful start (or very uneventful for those who were too far away when the wind shut off after the 1 minute gun). The wind decided to shift back to it’s original position around halfway up the beat, causing anyone on starboard at the time to be dunked unceremoniously into windward (summer wetsuit not such a good idea for that one!) Martin lead from the top mark but being chased down by Tim and Tom who swapped positions a few times but ended up with Tim over Tom.

Race three got underway after another re-jiggle of the course back to where it was for race one and the wind settled down for the rest of the day. All was pretty square at the top mark, with Tim and Tom rounding first and heading off down the reach in a slightly freshening breeze (Tom was on the wire while the rest of us sat disappointedly in our boats (that boy really should eat more!). The 2nd reach turned into more of a run and caused the fleet to bunch up quite considerably making the bottom mark rounding interesting for some.

Tim had got to the bottom mark first and lead from Tom and Chris, with the pack close behind, after a bit of place changing up the beat the race settled down and at the finish it was Tim, Chris and Tom.

At the end of the day Tim and Tom’s consistency was showing through as they lead the scoreboard.

Sunday greeted us with a little more wind and a 10 o’clock start. The club had the good idea of using club marks for the day as it would save the amount of time moving everything around if Sunday were to turn out anything like Saturday. The other nice thing they did was to put our racing around the club racing so that there was no interfering during racing and give us a rest for lunch, great idea, let’s do the same next year.

Race four got underway with a little confusion from the visitors as to where we were going (fortunately there was a dory to show us the way, thanks guys! ) as the course was a beat, a couple of reaches, another small beat and a run to the top of the reservoir.

I’m not sure what happen in this race as I broke my kicker (another good reason why I’m glad of the lunch time break), but the results say that it was Tom, Tim and Allan Orton.

After a rest and a bite to eat we were all out again for race five and obviously there was something in the lunch as most of the fleet were over the line and the AP was put up. This was followed a few minutes later by a black flag, just for good measure!

The race got underway and everyone behaved, odd how a black flag will do that sometimes.. By the top mark, Tim and Tom were off again, this time chased down by Allan and Martin. By the finish it was Tim, Tom and Martin for the top spots.

By the sixth and final race the wind had settled down again and got up enough for wiring most of the time, this levelled the field and most met at the top mark, those coming in from the left rather regretting the decision with some having to gybe round to find a space.

Tim led followed by Tom and the rest of the pack, the rest of the race was general good close racing again causing some interesting language and exchanging of views at mark roundings, the wind direction remained reasonably consistent until the last beat which caused a few place changes amongst the pack, but the finish was Tim, Tom, Chris, closely followed by Stuart Backhouse and Allan Orton.

Overall it was another great event hosted by the affable Burton Sailing Club, Tim won the event showing that experience did indeed beat youth (but only by 5 points), Tom was 2nd and Martin 3rd Overall, This puts young Tom top of the 2011 travellers series after 2 events with Tim and Chris behind him, full event results below.

And congratulations also to Craig Hellon who was the most improved helm of the event.

Thanks to everyone who turned up and it was great to meet some new faces, hope to see you again on the circuit soon.

The next BCA Travellers event is at Oxford over the 2nd and 3rd of April, see you all there.

Overall Results: