Beaver SC Winter Handicap 4th December 1999

Location: Beaver Sailing Club

The second catamaran event of the winter series took place at Beaver S.C, just North of Doncaster on Saturday 4th December, and after the horrendous gales the day before, it was very pleasing to see so many visitors turn up on what turned out to be a good day's sailing.

The first race got away at 11:30, briefly led by Barrie Hoggard and Paul Smith, but both were overtaken on the next running leg by National champion George Carter, who then led the field for the rest of the race. Mid-way through, the wind increased to a squally 5-6, resulting in retirements by Bob Hancock breaking two battens on the gybe mark, and also Bob Carter who suffered a double whammy with an early capsize, followed by completely ripping his sail along the stitch line from leach to luff, again on the gybe mark.

By the start of race 2 the wind had eased to around 10 knots, and it was ex. National champion John Postlethwaite who shot across the start on a port flyer to open up a 50yd lead by the windward mark, and was never challenged for the rest of the race. George Carter managed a safe second, winning him the event overall, and Steve Hanby was just robbed of third at the finish by Bob Carter, closely followed by Paul Smith.