At last, the sunny weather has found its way through the clouds, and brought along with it some wind to keep the boats moving most of the time (at least). At times, there were some gusts that allowed the boats to plane, but with no capsizes the rescue crews were able to concentrate more on the sunbathing rather rescuing! In the evening there was a quiz to test if anyone was still alert. Despite a slight error in adding up Neil Currie and Co still came out on top with 53/70. There were many red faces in the evening, but we’ll assume that was down to the sun rather than the cocktails, wine, lager, etc, etc!

Big E is still getting to grips with driving a laser – on Saturday his attempts to launch were interesting, as co-ordinating putting down the rudder, and centreboard, pulling in the sails, and avoiding obstacles such as the jetty seemed beyond him for some moments! He’s a clever lad, so no doubt he’ll catch on quick. He reckons he doesn’t want to upset Toggle by beating him too soon – although he’s kept his word to date, how long will that last?

Rule books were out at lunchtime when Dave Nic protested Ginge, but it came to nothing when it was thrown out for failing to comply with the required process (sounds interesting, but it wasn’t really)

Life on the campsite is as interesting as ever, with a naked cleaner pressure washing the gents toilet walls (only due to mould nothing more nasty!). Squatters were noted taking over spare caravans and tents, and became known as the borrowers for all the bits ‘n’ pieces that they acquired for their stay. Shunty was awarded a new nickname for the delayed pick up of various conversations – welcome Digi Steve.

Reason # 69: As I don’t like Baileys I’ll never have one of them!!

Normally the OD would get three points for race organisation, but in today’s pursuit scheduled OD Rory Yardley was substituted by Mike Moore which allowed Rory to race. As with other pursuit races in this series, the finish was very close, and various places changed in the final minute or so of the race. A beat to 0 enabled three RS400s to break through pushing Rory into 4th place. Scumper’s 1st puts him in pole position in the series but equal on points to Hugh, and a point ahead of Shunty.

The sunny weather on Friday meant many started the weekend early by camping on site, together with 12 visiting boats from Southport SC. So there were several barbeques ablaze, together with scented candles to try and dissipate the midges! One not so rowdy group broke into cocktail mode slightly ahead of schedule, and, as ever, there was the odd sore head to be nursed this morning! Of course there were tales to tell of missing bags – Rich Hodgkins had managed to leave a bag on a train when changing trains at Preston. Virgin were very good at locating it but could do nothing other than let it travel on to Manchester and get it sent back to Lancaster. It’s a shame that Rich had already travelled up to Penrith to be picked up by mum Bridget, so Bridget, who had hurriedly finished her barbeque before going for Rich had an extended trip to Lancaster to pick up the bag. This all resulted in a 80min trip being extended to 4 hrs! Bridget kept on smiling though, and the not so rowdy group stayed up to crack another bottle of wine with her.

The second race of the day was part of a long championship series. They same time waits for no man, and OD Mike Moore seemed to take this to heart. As soon as he had set the line and the course he started the sequence whether or not everyone was on the water – indeed, some had stiil to put their sails up. At the time the handicap fleet started, there were still six boats a couple of minutes from the line, so they endured what could be described as their second pursuit of the day catching up with the rest of the fleet. William and Lesley were one pair that had to do this – they managed to secure a clear second to Shunty and Ruth on the water, but on handicap came 4th.

With Bass Week over and done with, many tend to have a rest from sailing or go for a holiday, so this weekend is typically quiet, to the extent that no sailing was scheduled for yesterday (That didn’t stop Herb turning up for duty though!).

Today, despite a reasonable forecast for wind, the wind was as shy as the number of sailors. A late arrival by a Tim Smith enabled the mirrors to have a separate start, but Dave and Sarah Nicholson had to join the handicap fleet for their racing. Scumper didn’t have a crew, or a gennaker, but at the last minute took the opportunity to sail Robbie D’s RS200 with Ethan. The wind had plenty of holes in it, especially down the western shore, but the fleets kept moving sufficiently to complete the race in an hour.

The wind for the afternoon race didn’t look too promising, but the course was set where the wind was, and it picked up sufficiently to sit out at times. William and Jonathan were in the only RS400 for the race, and were maintaining a good lead until the main halyard snapped – so much for a 4 month old piece of string!

It was to be Joan Hardie that won the race on handicap from Robbie D and Ethan

As Andy Smith is neither a lady, nor a crew, I assume dad Alan won the race with Andy crewing – well done – use Club update for full results. So much for making assumptions – it was Emma that won – Well done!

What a difference a day makes. The sun shone all day, the wind blew enough most of the time, and there were shifts that made all the difference (if you were on the right side of them!).

First of all an apology to Toggle – there may have been a one sided tale told about his efforts in the Lord Birkett, and the bit about the training was a joke – there aren’t actually any places available until next year, but Tog doesn’t really need to attend. Apparently, he was caught out in the massive squall that brought the fleet back from the islands, fell, or was washed out of the back, and broke his tiller necessitating his tow back by the gin palace.

In the GPs Hugh and Rhonwen had two wins, but they had to work hard for it as Mike Fairlamb with Sam Hall kept taking the lead, though in the 2nd race Mike retired after rounding a mark incorrectly. Ginge and Bridget were making hay while the sun shone, and then cooled off with a capsize. Ken Bell clearly wasn’t making hay, came for a sail and finished second with Val.

Tim Smith beat off competition from twin brother Rob, and secured another couple of wins.

In the handicap fleet, there were ups and downs. William, with second crew of the weekend Sally, was several minutes late for the start, but had some good luck with the winds to pull back on Roy and Kirstie to such an extent that he had to avoid Roy when he capsized just in front of him on a gybe mark. Apparently, a 50 degree wind shift on the start line prevented Shunty and Neil from being able to cross the line. Confusion over the course (which may well have changed after it was first displayed) meant Shunty lost out several hundred metres by heading to 9 instead of 0. Although Neil and Judith won on the water, the wind suited the RS200s best of all, and honours went to Andy and Emma.

Roy was left behind for the start of the second race (apparently retying his battens), leaving William, Neil and Shunty to have some good racing. Although William mastered the beats (or was it make the most of some incredible shifts?) to take the lead a couple of times, he lost out off wind to Neil and Shunty. The wind faded somewhat towards the end of the race allowing the RS200s to catch up. Robbie D and Ethan would have easily won had they not got their gennaker stuck, so it was to be Andy and Emma that again won on handicap.

The Mirror Northerns are to be held at the club next weekend