…is better than a good day in the office. That could be Shunty’s mantra for the day. The Bates just happened to be in the way when he tacked, left go of his tiller, and had the first bump with the refurbished Bates. Later he capsized. He couldn’t even blame his crew as he was in his Solo! Fortunately these mishaps were all in the first race, pushing him down to 5th, although finishing 11secs quicker would have landed him a 3rd.
Throughout the morning there had been a strong contingent enjoying their first training session of the season
The weather clouded over after a sunny morning, stayed cold, and rained briefly. Windwise it was mixed (nothing new there!) varying from sitting out conditions to light airs in the lee of the shore at times.
There was enough wind for Ethan to capsize his latest boat, an RS600, and Scumper had to capsize his boat between races to sort some rigging issues. Dave/Lynn’s racing didn’t follow their typical format of leading from the start, one bad lap and they were pursuing the rest of the fleet for the rest of the race (perhaps Lynn should have taken the helm again?). After a poor start,Mike/Eric worked their way through to the front by the finish of the first race, with Joan/Jack 2nd.
With a couple of F15s racing at Windermere, there were just two contenders at Bass. Some consistent sailing by Ian/Lezli-Ann gave them two wins over Tim/Elaine.
Scumper won both handicap races, with Banter 2nd in the first race, and Shunty 2nd in the second one.
Clear blue skies with a 2-3 from the SE greeted sailors on Sunday morning. Though not much warmer than Saturday, the sunshine certainly made it feel hotter. The figure of eight course pleased many sailors, including Jim (wonders will never cease!). Scumper had his sister Gayle crewing for the first time in many a year, so it is, perhaps, not surprising that there was a minor episode of kite trawling. Fresh back to the water, Alastair was fully expecting to be giving his Vareo an early wash and go swimming, but the boy did good, and stayed upright all day!
Dave/Lynn took a while to find top gear, but they did get their act together to win the morning race ahead of Mike/Eric. Mike won the afternoon race, with Joan/Jack 2nd. In the F15s, Tim/Ian and Ian/Lezli-Ann each had a 1st and a 2nd.
Jim won both races in his Hartley, with John 2nd in his Pico.
Despite narrowly avoiding a collision with Ian/Lezli-Ann, Robbie D/Banter in their 400 went on to win the morning race with Alastair taking 2nd and Neil in a Laser 3rd.
The afternoon race looked promising, but the wind promptly faded after the start sequence began. Robbie D took over 30 secs to cross the line, and Hazel, in her Laser 4,7, several minutes! Consideration was given to abandoning racing, but it was a sunny afternoon! With the wind filling in, the fleet was left to sail a second lap in a better breeze which would benefit some tail enders on handicap. Shunty won on handicap, with Hazel 2nd and Ian H in a Solo 3rd.
In the F15 open at Windermere, Simon/Jon finished 5th and Mike/Kayla 7th