First to the Birkett on Ullswater. Out of 235 entrants Simon & Jon finished 6th Overall having been 3rd after the horrendous Saturday race. Mark & Zepher finished 13th by manually holding a broken boom together and Mike & Kayla 21st despite running aground and damaging their keel. The carnage on Saturday reduced those going into the second day to 80. We lost Dave & Lynn with a bent mast while Alex & Olivia retired with undisclosed problems. Back at Bass Saturday was abandoned after a storm brought tumultuous rain and whitecaps to the Lake.
Sunday brought sailable conditions and new winners. In the morning John Riley /Nigel Lewis topped the GP’s and Peter Whipp the Handicap Fleet. Lunch was enlivened by Poppy chasing up her Kayak Challenge RNLI sponsorship money and liaising with OD Tim Chittenden to obtain publicity for presenting it.
Ten boats started the afternoon Pennant after Tim promised not to send the fleet beyond 7. Instead it would be two laps of an elongated Bay which was quite sufficient after everyone was becalmed in the 8-7 narrows. Rory and crew were first to escape in their Fifteen with Jim’s Nova and Peter Whipp’s Dzero (you may well ask!) in pursuit.
But the Main Event came on the run to the finish on the final lap. Mike & Eric were a length ahead of Ken & Val rounding 2 to starboard. The dice up the fetch to the final mark before the line was riveting with both helms continually trying to get to windward. Val went into 3 still behind but tight and with more speed. Mike’s repost was to luff her head to wind on exit! And with that He and Eric claimed the Pennant.