13th Great North Asymmetric Challenge at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club
by Bass Press 24 Sep 01:51 NZST
21-22 September 2024
Sixty-nine boats from as far afield as Scotland, Wales and the South Coast landed on Bassenthwaite's sunny shores for the 13th Great North Asymmetric Challenge, sponsored once again by Trident UK.
Weather forecasts were spot on, the last sunny weekend of 2024 and breeze from the northeast, meaning a leeward gate near the club shoreline offering good spectating for the parents and grandparents, which turned into high drama entertainment in Sunday's building breeze!
Twenty-seven RS200s topped the fleet trumps, with good numbers of RS400s, RS Fevas and Laser 2000s. It was encouraging to see three ISOs join the GNAC for the first time, two of which were new mark two's, built locally by Alex and his team at Ginger Boats.
True to Saturday's forecast, sunny skies and fairly stable north easterly force 3-4 (actually a little more than forecast) was all the ingredients OD Robin Dawson and his crack team of lap counters needed to run four high-octane, back-to-back races on an average lap course with a leeward gate helping keep the carnage to a minimum. Overnight the visiting RS200s were looking strong, with little between Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst (Beaver SC) and Alistair and Helen Norris (LLSC/ RW Bay). Also in contention, but a few points adrift, was Bass members Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman sailing an RS400 and Paul and Jude Allen sailing a 59er.
On Saturday evening the second shift of volunteers arrived at the galley to serve 130 portions of pie in two stints. Soon after the third shift arrived to clean 130 plates, a super effort by 15ish Bass volunteers. Saturday evenings entertainment included live music and was fuelled by toffee vodka...
Sunday's wind forecast had improved overnight, however the morning dawned lighter than forecast. As the breeze danced around and refused to settle, some thought it may not happen. The Bates headed 1.5 miles up the lake, finding a building breeze from the favourable southerly direction. This offered visitors fine views of Scarness Bay and Skiddaw Mountain as they sailed gently to the start line. As the last few boats arrived, the breeze kicked in from the NE and all sixty-nine boats headed back to the bay. By the time the racecourse was quickly reset back to something similar to Saturday's, the breeze had built to a solid F4 with some punchy gusts. Due to the small postponement, time was cracking on and two races followed. The breeze was, at times, full on which resulted in many capsizes and a few bumps as boats blasted downwind into the leeward gates. After two races, weary sailors returned to shore with lot's of interest in who had won. With so many variables in such a mixed fleet, some thought the RS400s would dominate given the days planning conditions.
So... after six races with five to count, sailing an RS200, Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst were crowned 2024 GNAC champions, counting just 11 points from five races. An incredible scoreline in fleet of sixty-nine. In 2nd place, also sailing an RS200, Alistair and Helen Norris counted 23 points, beating Paul and Jude Allen sailing a 59er into 3rd on countback. 1st RS400 and 5th overall was Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman. Travelling 370 miles from Poole YC, 1st ISO was Rob Howlet and Henry Collins in 8th overall. Paul and Sharon Freeland finished 11th overall and 1st 2000. And last but not least, Laia and Aggie Priestley finished 30th overall and 1st RS Feva, an incredible result given the winds and the quality of the fleet.
A big thanks to the team at Trident UK for generously sponsoring once again. And to sign off this years GNAC report, a massive thanks to Red Seal Rescue who once again kept us all safe in yet another breezy event at Bass. Results and photographs by William Carruthers can be found here.