Flying Fifteen (not quite) Team Racing

Due to a multitude of reasons, the normal 20+ entries for this event did not materialise and the team racing was cancelled in favour of straight racing, but for those who did turn out, what a glorious two days of sailing.  The sun was out all weekend and the wind was a southerly force 3-5.  On Saturday, the elite sailors gave the rest of the fleet a 3 minute head start and they all headed to the south end of the lake where Robbie Dawson & Toggle from Bass held the lead going round the windward mark.  They were only overtaken halfway back down the lake when Neil Platt with Richard Rigg (Bolton & West Kirby) managed to get past them and win the race.  Keith Jamieson & Maf Smith (Bass) were holding off the other boats, but lost places when they ran aground.  The second race was held in the bay, but this time no-one got near Robbie & Toggle.  Keith was also holding off the fleet until a last minute change of wind strength and direction allowed some of the other boats to catch up and pip him on the line.

Sunday again saw a race to the south end of the lake, but this time all the boats set off together.  By the time they reached buoy 12 it looked like Neil has the race sown up – but this is Bass!  The wind favoured those at the back of the fleet and they all came round buoy 6 more or less together.  Neil and Adrian Tattersall with Tim Smart (RYA) then took each other high on the reach down to buoy 2, allowing Howard Green & Ian Preston (Leigh & Lowton) to get through into the lead.  There was some tight covering up the next beat, but Howard then overshot the windward mark and dropped back to third.  He nearly took back a place coming to the finish line, but Adrian beat him by a foot.  After more than an hours sailing, all boats finished within a minute of each other

In the final race, the OD again took advantage of the southerly breeze, but this time only sent the boats half way down the lake.  Neil took the lead, but the others were not far behind – Adrian and Howard were less than 10 seconds behind at the end.  Robin and Keith had their own match racing competition with Keith managing to come home first.