Event Report - Border Counties Midweeks Series 2023
Published 17:42 on 17 Jul 2023
If you have not heard of this series, it is described on the website as follows:
"Inspired by the North West senior travellers series,which we have attended and enjoyed (except for the travelling part) for many years,we have set up a series of races at various clubs throughout North Wales and the Border Counties."
This probably does not do it justice, because what you actually get is a fantastic bunch of people, spanning a huge age range in one of the most diverse cross section of boats we have seen at Bala SC for quite a while!
With 26 boats in 2021 and 2022, it was great to see a small increase this year with 33 boats taking to the start line. Once again, the mix was fantastic with a strong showing of SuperNovas, Blazes, Comets, Solos and Lasers. These were complimented by a diverse ticklist of most dinghys you could find on Apollo Duck as well as a couple of multihulls. It was great to see 3 double handed teams out on the water as well.
10 Bala SC members appeared on the signing on sheets with 7 also from Shotwick. Winsford pulled in 10 members and representation was also present from Bassenthwaite, Leight and Lowton and finally Nantwich and Border Counties. A huge thankyou to everyone who travelled!
The weather was very changeable but at the start, a SW breeze allowed a perfect set of starting conditions from the clubhouse with about 1/3 of the lenght of the lake being used in the first beat. 3 different courses were used with 2 races taking place before lunch then a final race after. Each race consisted of 2 laps with an average time on water of around 45 to 50 minutes per race so plenty of sailing time for everyone. Fortunately the conditions were not overly challenging and the 3 safety boats had a quiet day with only a couple of people taking a light bath but recovering with no problems to resume their racing. The competitors were also treated to regular fly overs from various aircraft (I assume) from RAF Valley, honestly we did not arrange this in advance but they were great to see!
Previous winners (Dan Partington - 2021 and Peter Coop - 2022) were part of the starting line up with Peter still sailing a Supernova which he had contested the previous 2 years in but Dan moving from from the D Zero he used in 2022 across to a RS Vareo (previously winning in a Laser radial in 2021).
The front of the pack was very tight, mainly consisting of the RS100's, D-Zeros, Aeros and a few Supernovas. With 3 races and 1 discard forming the final positions, Dan Partington (Bala SC) having spending plenty of time getting use to the Vareo this year on Balas waters took a clean sweep of first places to reclaim top spot for 2023. Second place was taken by Paul Allen (Bassenthwaite SC) in his D-Zero with a (14)-3-2 and Peter Coop (Winsford Flash SC) taking 3rd in a Supernova with a 3-2-(5). The final 2 spots in the top 5 were picked up by Andy Todd (Bala SC) in an RS100 and Gareth Williams (Leigh and Lowton) in an Aero 7.
Highest placed junior went to Nayth Kukla (Windsford Flash SC) in his Topper, just pipping local lad Finley Partington (Bala SC) in his Laser radial by half a point! Highest place female went to Dawn Frost who took 14th place overal crewing with Peter Thomas at the helm (Nantwich and Border Counties) in their GP14.
As usual, events like this do not arrange themselves and a huge thank-you needs to go out to all of the volunteers at Bala SC for supporting on this event. As well as the Race Control and administration team, it was great to have 3 fully manned safety boats out on the water as well as a busy galley providing hot drinks and breakfast baps at the start of the day.
We hope every attendee enjoyed their day at Bala SC but I think the soundbite from the series social media page sums it up perfectly.......
"Thank you to all the team at Bala for putting on a great day of sailing at Llyn Tegid, great to see so many home boats out hopefully you all enjoyed yourselves. Lots of messages off people saying how much they enjoy your club, lake and hospitality. Thanks again we couldnt put these events on if it wasnt for all the volunteers. Best turnout ever 34 entries ( 33 sailed) but if you factor in double handers then that goes up to 38 people sailing, not bad for a Tuesday. Thank you all."
Last updated 15:47 on 27 November 2025