With the 5 Round Series nicely poised, 15 skippers turned out for Round 4 of the BMMBC Winter Series and again it was a 100% DragonForce turnout.

Those travelling from the North reported that less than 10 miles from Askern Lake there was no wind and pouring rain, but at the lake we were greeted by a good westerly breeze, with sporting gusts coming through and no rain. In fact it stayed dry all day and the sun even made a 10 minute cameo appearance during the afternoon.

Paul Rudkin briefed the fleet and racing got under way just after 10am with some skippers on ‘A’ rigs and others on ‘B’.

Chris More started the day by sailing away from the fleet and taking a very clear win, chased down by Jo Sharpe and John Bush. In the second race, Dave Darwell got into his stride and took the bullet and in the third race, rapidly improving Balne Moor skipper John Hinde took the win. John took the fourth race too and then Dave won races five and six.

Jo Sharpe popped up and took the win in race 7, then Dave took another bullet to take us through to the lunch break. A good morning with 4 different winners in 8 races and excellent fare at the from Joanne Moon and her team at Lakeside Cafe as always.

Straight after lunch, with the wind freshening and some of the gusts overpowering even ‘B’ rigs, Dave Darwell took two wins. In the 11^th Race, Mick Tonkinson, another rapidly improving skipper who’d been in the hunt all day took a very well deserved win. Races 12 and 13 were won by Joanne, the 14^th by Dave Darwell, Joanne again took the 15^th and Dave the 16^th to finish off an excellent days racing.

So, 6 different winners in a day of 16 very close races, with several other skippers sailing very well and deserving mention. Chris Wright from Ripon sailed well all day, getting 5 second places and never being far from the business end of the fleet, Simon Richardson was also there or there abouts all day with two seconds and four thirds and Jim Haddock had several good finishes, the best of which was a second place in race 3. Chris More sailed very well as always, but was hampered by one or two rig breakages which kept him out of the top 3.

The final results after 16 close races were:

Dave Darwell                21 points

Jo Sharpe                     35 points

Chris Wright                 51 points

Mick Tonkinson            60 points

Simon Richardson        61 points

And the Series couldn’t be closer going into the final round in two weeks time. With one discard the scores are:

Chris More                    9 points

Jo Sharpe                     10 points

Dave Darwell                11 points

John Bush                    16 points

As always, great efforts from Cliff Paskall Jefferies and Paul Rudkin and big thanks to the skippers who are supporting this series and making it so strongly contested and yet friendly very good fun.

Sorry, no photos again, everyone was too busy sailing.