A beautiful evening, though the winds were light, tempted out 13 boats this week for the last race in the main Night Jar series. Neil/Judith led the fleet with Rory 2nd and Eric 3rd, but when the personal handicaps were calculated, it was to be the GPs that took the first 4 positions, led by Kath/Glenys, with Alan/Sue 2nd maintaining their lead in the series.

GPs took the top two fleet handicap results with Dave/Lynn and Mike/? 1st and 2nd, and Joan/Jack 3rd. Neil/Judith still won the series overall.

With a forecast of light winds from the north east again, to be greeted with a light southerly was somewhat daunting. The opposing winds would affect sailing all morning, and after three attempts to set a start line racing finally got underway, even though the first beat turned into a fetch! The opposing winds created calm patches around the course, and various boats even had to tack occasionally!

With only Joan/Jack in their RS200 and Ian/Elaine in a F15 in the handicap fleet, Joan mastered the conditions, beating Ian across the line and winning the race.

Val/Ken took the lead in the GPs after Mike/Alan (Waugh) had a bad shift (as he put it), and they didn’t let it go. After a tussle with Hugh/Rachel, Mike secured 2nd place.

Latest results

The afternoon pennant race is typically sailed around the lake, and although the Hardies were disappointed to note racing was being kept in the northern bay, the conditions never improved to a level that would have seen the fleet return from around the lake before the end of the Mens’ singles final!

There was a late shift of the wind direction, and another revision to the course, as a hint of a sea breeze came in. Mike/Alan took an early lead, but the wind faded later and swung back to the forecast north easterly, and the Hardies took the lead. Val/Ken broke through to 2nd finishing moments ahead of Ian/Elaine. On fleet handicap, Val won, with Mike 2nd.

Sue Watson rushed from work to try and regain the lead in Sandra’s Salver, which proved worthwhile.

If conditions seemed challenging at Bass spare a thought for those 200+ boats drifting at Ullswater in the Lord Birkett. Many Bass boats thought better of it and retired while they were not too far from the beaching position, but others persevered for up to 4 hours! Overnight Dave/Lynn were lying 2nd with Bean/Naomi 13th. The final results showed that Dave/Lynn finished 3rd, Phil/Naomi, 4th, Pete Lawson 21st and Scumper 25th as well as several other members.

Keith Thomas has provided the following pics of our top finishers, who lasted the full course!

With many members racing away at open meetings including The Lord Birkett at Ullswater, the fleet was reduced on Saturday. Although the wind was from the north east, unusually this season it was mild and not too strong!

Neil/Judith, in their RS400, built up a strong lead in the first race, winning by more than 5 mins on handicap. However, there was only a matter of 30 secs separating the next three boats. The main battle seemed to be between Mike/Alan and Hugh/Rachel in the GPs whose positions swapped on a regular basis. Mike didn’t help his cause when he belatedly noticed that he was going to miss out YZ, and had to back track enough that Hugh passed him again. Similarly, rounding 4 the wrong way lost him many secs as he unwound his error. The final outturn was Hugh finished 2nd, Mike 3rd and Alan 3rd in his Mirror.

In the 2nd race, Neil again pulled clear from the fleet, but the variable wind strength, partly brought on by a passing rain shower, lost him vital minutes such that, on handicap, he was 6 mins behind the leader, finishing 5th. Despite racing for more than 70 mins four boats finished in close succession – Mike/Alan sandwiched between F15s of Ian/Elaine and Tim/Martin (newly bought), and then Jim in his Supanova. On handicap, Mike was 1st, Jim 2nd, and Hugh 3rd, winning Mike the series with 5 points, with Hugh 2nd.

Sunday’s forecast had been for less wind than Saturday, but we are talking about Bass! The wind strength made sailors build up a good appetite before lunch, especially as the race was slightly longer than usual. There were capsizes again, and though Joe was mastering his boat better than on Saturday, his strength had been zapped by the end of the race and suffered a couple of capsizes as the wind increased before lunch. Tim and Big E, both in Lasers, also had their fair share of capsizes – one of Big E’s took him the wrong side of the mark, but he dutifully unwound his error before continuing.

Banter Phil’s only competition in the Asymmetric Cup was from Joan/Jack in their RS200. After the first lap, he got to grips with the gusts and opened up a strong lead only to capsize and risk it all. Fortunately he recovered in time and stayed far enough ahead to win on handicap. In the afternoon he took an early lead, again capsized, but so did the Hardies. Unfortunately for them, they got the mast stuck in the mud, and they decided to call it a day, but the OD opted to let (make?) Banter continue to the end of the race! Two wins in one day was sufficient to catapult Banter to be series leader (for the rime being) – Well done!

In the MJM Trophy, Mike/Kayla led the fleet but it was the GPs that performed well on handicap with Dave/Lynn taking two 1sts, maintaining their lead in the series, while Mike/Alan shared a 2nd and 3rd with Mike/Kayla. Ethan persevered and completed both races, taking advantage of Joe and Tim’s capsizes to beat them in the morning race. In the afternoon, Joe bowed out and went in a rescue boat while Tim found a crew and raced his F15 – obviously too many capsizes for one day.

Tales for the day include the warning that the habit of using your teeth to hold a sheet can be risky in windy weather, especially when the sheet snatches and breaks your tooth as Mike Moore can vouch for!

Toggle loves to get a mention, so he was keen to point out hat there was an erroneous tweet (never!) on Saturday claiming that Banter had pipped him at the post when in fact it was Hugh.. Ah such is life.

If any of Saturdays sailors discover that they have an extra race timer, it is probably the club’s as one mysteriously disappeared…

Apologies to Mik that the webcam problems have forced him to use the Armathwaite Hall webcam to keep an eye on sailing over the weekend. Normal service has been resumed (for the time being), and Mik will keep be able to keep his eagle eye on events

Next weekend may be somewhat quieter with several boats away at open meetings, including the Lord Birkett at Ullswater. The present forecast is for little to no wind – just what you need when in a fleet of 200 boats!

After a day which had almost all weather conditions on offer at some point, the Gods eventually decided to supply lots of wind for Thursday evening’s racing. There were plenty of capsizes, even before the start, but the conditions were sailable. The small fleet of 7 boats sailed three testing laps, with only one retirement. Alan proved that, even following a 5% adjustment to his PH, you can’t keep a good man down. Dave Lawson, sailing a Solo won on FH and Val & Ken were second in both.

Despite high winds on the coast, and a similar forecast for the lake which would probably have prevented sailing, Bass again enjoyed its own weather conditions. Although windy, with some strong gusts, sailing got underway with the first race being a pursuit as part of the Celebrity Glass series. Joe Watkins continued to practice his capsize skills in an RS300, as did others on some of the tighter, and gustier reaches. Scumper gave the rest of the fleet an extra minute due to being late for the start yet again! Mike/Alan in a GP led the fleet for a good while until passed by Mike/Kayla and Scumper, who had a close race, regularly swapping positions even up the last beat, on which Mike regained the advantage and won the race. After a long hard sailed race, the F15 sailors voted with their rudders and sailed ashore for a well earned break rather than sail the 2nd race back to back.

Although the wind eased slightly as the 2nd race went on, there were still good planing conditions, which the Vareos took advantage of, taking the first three positions, with Toggle being pipped at the post by Hugh. Scumper’s win gave him a clean sweep in the Dodd Cup.

In the absence of his regular crew, Ian teamed up with Tony again (in their matching sailing suits!) and took advantage of the additional weight to challenge Mike/Kayla from time to time. Though Mike won the race, Ian won the F15 Blencathra Trophy series.

Although there was no racing in the GP’s Mustard Pot, the series was won by Hugh/Rachel. Alan Waugh won the Mirror AB, and Ethan the Tppper Long B series.

There may not have been any boats on the foreshore after they had all been moved to safety in the morning, but it didn’t stop 10 boats venturing out to race in the squally conditions. Two F15s, a GP and 7 single handers took part in the first race in the last long series of the season.

Alan and Sue opted to split up and crew for Mike Fairlamb and Graham Kirkpatrick respectively. Alan would have an early exit after Mike capsized a couple of times. Not sure whether anyone survived without a capsize (though Jim Christie might have!), and even Scumper found the gybes challenging. Hard work but some exhilarating sailing to reward their efforts. Scumper won the first race with 3 mins to spare, followed by Toggle and Joe Watkins.

Numbers were slightly depleted for the 2nd race, the capsizes continued and all but Hugh finished. Scumper again won with a 3 min lead from Jim Christie and Toggle.

In the F15s, Mike/Kayla retired after breaking their gooseneck – unlike Mike to stick it in the wrong hole! That left Graham/Sue to complete the course and come ashore as overnight leaders. How many years is it since Graham has been able to celebrate that?!

You’d never have guessed it from the weather. Torrential rain showers, a little bit of sun, but a good breeze to power the boats round.

Joe Watkins was out in his new RS 300, honing his capsize skills on a frequent basis. He would have been pleased that the lake is so high because he turned fully turtle at one stage without getting his mast in the mud!

Scumper took advantage of the reaches to strengthen his lead and win 2 mins ahead of Toggle. Ethan, sailing with his dad in the RS 200 was just a further 8 secs behind that – if only he hadn’t had the near capsize….

A pennant race in the afternoon in aid of the RNLI (have you paid your donation?) took a slightly reduced fleet around the lake. With the wind coming from the west, Sale Fell would have its inevitable effect on the winds in the southern end of the lake. Graham/Nick got a fantastic first beat in but ended up in the middle of the lake (not the route to take on a round the laker!) and lost his lead big style as most of the fleet took the gusts on the shore line and passed him. On the way back up he did get back in the mix, and even back into the lead at one stage, tussling with Scumper and Mike/Kayla as the wind toyed with one and all, through occasional gusts, holes and major shifts!

On handicap, Scumper beat Mike by 30 secs, followed by the other F15s. Val/Ken led the GPs and took 5th overall. A crewless Rear Admiral returned to his Laser, suffered several capsizes, and brought up the rear!

The race counted towards Sandra’s Salver, and put Kayla on equal points with Sue, but ahead when the tie is split on the last race.