Tynemouth Wednesday Night Series 2021
As the nights draw in we thought now would be a good time to reflect on a great Wednesday night series we have had at Tynemouth this year. In recent years Wednesday nights have been our best attended series and this year has been no different with a total of 47 different individuals/teams involved at some point over the year, leading to an average weekly turnout of 19 boats and a whopping 24 boats from TSC on the water for a couple of Wednesday’s in June. Its been great to see a large and varied turn out with close class racing in Laser and RS400 fleets along side a varied handicap fleet.
We have to go all the way back to the 7th April for the first of the Sun up – Sun down series, which saw us blowing the cob webs off with a gentle 4 knot breeze – the perfect way to ease those who didn’t sail at Ladyburn back into it. That first Race was won overall by Phil Murray and Neil Schofield, showing the form they would carry throughout the season. One more race the following week won by Neal and Ellen Piper concluded the early part of the Sun up sun down series. After the interlude of the main summer Wednesday evenings the series concluded with 3 weeks of racing beginning 1st Sept, the first of which was sailed in a ideal 12 knots, with Richard Watson taking the win in his Laser, the following two weeks were won by Phil and Neil to wrap up the series as the nights started to get darker. Remarkably not losing any of the series due to weather at either end of the season was unusual yet very welcome welcome.
Overall Winners
Phil Murray and Neil Schofield RS 400
Laser Class Winner
Melanie Landamore
Handicap Winners
Neal Piper and Ellen Piper Miracle
The main mid week series started on the 21st April with another drifter, won by light wind specialists Jacob Ainsworth and Kayleigh Roberts. In fact light winds dominated the start of the series, with wind speeds never going above 12 knots until race 8 at the start of June. Despite this we saw solid attendance and a varied set of race winners including, Nathan Batchelor, Weed and Annabel Gardiner, John Pitkethly and the ever present Murray/Scholfield. Mid season saw the usual down turn in attendance due to summer holidays and members competing at open/national championships, not least the RS400 Nationals which were well attended by TSC. Despite this competition remained and clear the way for some variety in race winners with Dave and Jackie Gebhard, Jon and Sally Cooper both taking race wins. Special mention must also go to Andrew Nel of the Laser fleet who competed in every race of the series and was most likely present in the bar every week too! As with the sun up sundown series we happily didn’t lose a single race to adverse conditions – due in part to good fortune but also a testament to the willingness and ability of our club fleet.
Overall Winners
Phil Murray and Neil Schofield RS 400
Laser Class Winner
Melanie Landamore
Handicap Winners
Colin Gardner and Annabelle Gardiner
It was great to see the club so busy after sailing on Wednesday evening’s, often 25/30 people staying late into the evening and creating a great atmosphere to break up the working week. A big thanks goes to Ann Lee for her tireless efforts behind the bar keeping us all fed and watered throughout the season with a customised selection of pies and pints of Moretti. A thanks also to our sailing secretary Howard Steavenson for his support on the water throughout the series and managing the results and scoring.
Congratulations too all the winners and those that took part in the Mid week series, there is still a few more Sundays left of the season, the RS400 super cup is on the 16th Oct which is looking like a well attend event with all the 400’s on the beach taking to the water, come down and watch them blast around for a few hours then join them in the bar for food, drinks and games after sailing around 1700.