CraftInsure Supernova NORTHERN 2026 Traveller Series Open
NEW DATE!
Bolton Northern Series Supernova Open.
Bolton Sailing Club host the Travellers series on 14/06/26 (a new date after the first attempt had to be postponed due to a very light wind forecast).
Bolton is a blue ribbon club in the Travellers series with a strong home fleet. it's a beautiful scenic area for sailing on a local reservoir outside the major conurbations of Lancashire. And, coming the day after the Winsford Flash open meeting, you can make it a double header weekend!
A little intro to a Supernova legend
This Bolton Sailing Club legend needs little introduction on the Supernova Traveller circuit. Tony Critchley has been a member of Bolton Sailing Club since he was 11 years old sailing with his Dad in his home built GP14 before regularly crewing in a Cadet Dinghy with a teenager from Bolton called Peter Kay. (No, not that one!!) It was a strong competitive fleet and that experience served as a great apprenticeship for Tony who went on to sail his own GP14 in the 80’s. It was in the early naughties when Tony switched to a Supernova and bought 525 from Mark Giles and says he hasn’t looked back. He was then persuaded by Richard Hartley to try the new epoxy boat. "We need an epoxy in the North so I'll do you a special deal" said Richard. Anyway, along came 1074 followed by 1246 and now in his latest and probably last new boat, 1351.
Tony takes any opportunity to promote the traveller events at the club and reflects on the wide social network and friends he has made over the years and says, “It's great to still be reasonably competitive and sailing in a strong local fleet even at the ripe old age of 67.” At the 2018 Nationals he was given the bittersweet accolade of, 'The quick old guy at the front'. Tony went on to win our club championship in 2020 and then winning the Bolton Open in 2023. He continues to take regular line honours in our very competitive fleet.
If you fancy your chances against Tony, come and join us at our open. Bolton Sailing Club is a stunning location to sail, with 40 hectares of water set in the hills 4 miles to the northwest of the town. Added to this is one of the largest Supernova fleets in the country guaranteeing good competition at all levels.
More information about the club is available at https://sail.org.uk/
The NOR and SIs below may refer to the old date - just apply the new date of 14/6/26 if so.
Report
Bolton Supernova Open 2026.
Well this was the Open Meeting that almost wasn't an Open Meeting as there was only one visitor and that was Will Crocker of North Lincs fresh from his win at Winsford the previous day and following on from his win at Ripon.
This was the rearranged fixture from April and unfortunately many sailors already had commitments so were unavailable including the two Bolton Platinum fleet Mike Critchley and Andy Flitcroft.
Light winds were forecast but as is often the case at Bolton due to the 700ft elevation a little more wind arrived on the day.
In the end 14 boats lined up for the start of Race 1. The race officers Gary and Dale had set a long course using the whole lake and most of the marks and the fleet got away cleanly.
Matt Knowles who is just 18 and sailing a borrowed Supernova for the first time sailed an impressive first beat chased closely by Brown, Aubrey and Tony Critchley (Mike was on holiday).
The wind was shifty resulting in many crossovers and Critchley rounded the winward mark in front closely followed by Aubrey, Knowles and Brown.
Crocker had got caught in the middle but was already making good progress up the beat.
Critchley managed to extend his lead which he held on to to cross the line in 1st place. The rest tussled with each other throughout the race and Crocker made impressive progress to work his way into 2nd closely followed by Aubrey. Matt Knowles gained an excellent 4th.
After an excellent lunch provided by Paddy and served up by Tracy and her team the fleet lined up for Race 2 in slightly less wind and again got away cleanly. Critchley and Crocker didn't get the best of starts Aubrey led the fleet up the beat. Critchley stayed right and picked up a shift which took him to the windward mark in 1st place and he pulled out a big lead and was never challenged. An interesting duel took place behind between Aubrey and Crocker with Aubrey just edging it for 2nd with Crocker in 3rd.
Brown was 4th with Knowles in 5th.
With Critchley having already won the event an exciting last race was set up for 2nd between Aubrey and Crocker and for 4th between Brown and Knowles.
Crocker made a good start in the best wind of the day and led all the way to the first mark followed by Critchley and Aubrey.
As Critchley tacked and sheeted in his tiller extension broke and that was race over. That left Aubrey chasing Crocker for 2nd place. It was fairly close until Brown, sailing his best race of the did his club mate no favours by passing him halfway through the race. Crocker held on to win and secured 2nd overall followed by Brown then Aubrey. Jasper Meji also sailed his race of the day with 4th followed by Knowles.
It's worth a mention that we had probably the largest age differential in any Supernova Open. Roger Prince (80ish) sailing 479 and Om Chandler (13) sailing 684. It's great to see the youngsters, Om and Matt, having a go and both doing really well. The Critchley brothers and Andy Flitcroft had better watch out!
1st Tony Critchley
2nd Will Crocker, South Lincs
3rd Chris Aubrey.
Silver Matt Knowles
Bronze Om Chandar
Location: Bolton SC
