As the darker evenings draw in, the second Night Jar series draws to a close, and the overall result was determined on the final race. Jim Christie sailed well again to win the race but Jo Watkins beat Neil and Judith Currie by a couple of positions to take the trophy.

Sunday

The wind is from the SE again – will OD Ian make use of the southern end of the lake in his courses?

The answer was yes! A beat to 13 took approx 35 mins, but with the wind freshening as forecast, the reaching back down to 2 only took just under 20 mins!! Gybing in the stronger winds took out various boats including Toggle at 14, and just after his spinnaker block fell apart (for which he was probably grateful as he could no longer fly it!). Steve and Ruth in their Merlin had a couple of spectacular capsizes, one due to Steve slipping in the boat (another burgee donated to Neptune!). Martyn and Steve capsized their F15 and were merrily bailing out on their way ashore. Other casualties were, Ethan, Nigel (his burgee was battered, but survived unlike his tiller which proved not to be strong enough to stop him falling out of the boat!), Jim and Alistair.

The offwind legs enabled William and Tom in an RS400 to catch Neil Garrison in a Dart (though he did have three on board). William’s lead was sufficient to win the race on handicap.

Mike Moore failed to cover on the last beat and paid the penalty as Tim pipped him at the finish line to win the Scarness Cup with three straight wins, and that determined that they would take their boats off the water before lunch!

Dave and Lynne also won the GP Graham Cup with their third win from Mike and Eric.

The wind did not relent over lunch, so racing for the afternoon was cancelled. However, Steve and Neil did opt to go out for a bit of a blast in the Dart, and Steve was surprised at the speed!

With no racing, Toggle took the Wythop Series with his two wins

No Mirrors sailed so Alan Waugh, as overnight leader won the Reflection Trophy.

Saturday

The school holidays may be over, but Summer may have returned (temporarily)! A wonderfully warm southerly greeted sailors, and OD Ian Preston opted to make best use of the wind by sending the fleet all the way round the lake. It may have been a hard slog to the bottom in the first race, but the breeze held for the spinnaker legs back. There were a couple of lasers that capsized, but they still made it round.

In the second race, the main fleet just went to 10, again in a steady wind, although it had eased from the first race. William’s crew Alistair hadn’t crewed for 15 years, never sailed an RS400, or flown a spinnaker, and was pleased to lead the racing (they were even in front of Robbie D and Ethan when they had to retire as the main halyard gave way). However, the downwind legs were not sufficient for them to break away from the rest of the fleet, and with the wind filling in from behind (as it does!) Toggle was able to scream into the leeward mark and take lots of ground, winning him the race (as he did the first).

In the F15s Tim and Ian led Mike and Kayla in both races.

Dave and Lynn beat Mike and Eric in both GP races, while Mik and Alan each shared a win in the Mirrors.

More wind tomorrow!

and it’s sunny! Not as much wind forecast as the last couple of days, but many could be relieved at that.

Although the lake was flat at 9am, the breeze covered the lake in patches, and eventually filled in shortly after the start. However, it proved to be the bet race of the day, because in the afternoon, the wind died, then it seemed a if a sea breeze was to be the saviour. When the race started, there had to be a general recall, and there was a further delay. It was 1545 before racing got underway, then the wind disappeared again, so it was a long haul, but the series results were all depending on the final race so most persevered.

Mike Moore and Sally Roberts took the honours in the F15 from guest helm Mark Ninnim with Ian Preston. Martyn Stephenson had been impressed at not coming last in the morning race (he was second last!), but more impressively he finished second in the afternoon race 🙂

Dave and Lynne Lawson, won the GPs with three straight wins from Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith.

Robbie D and Big E secured the handicap series from Mrs and Mrs Bean

The Mirror results were consistent through out the series with Mik Chappell winning from Alan Waugh.

At least it was a sunny afternoon to be drifting around waiting for wind!

Sunday

The wind is blowing with some strong gusts passing through – but it’s sunny! Will it all last? The brief answer is yes! The beats tended to be blustery, with associated shifts, and several boats capsized as a result, but there were some enjoyable spectacular spinnaker legs while the gusts were passing through.

The wind eased over the lunch break, but while the fleet were waiting for the committee boat to test out an unusual way of mooring the boat to windward of the anchor, it freshened again. There were more capsizes, including Dave and Lynne again, and some excellent gusts to take advantage of on the reaches. However, the fleet were a little disappointed that racing remained in the bay when it was felt that the wind was ideal for sailing around the full lake.

Saturday

A showery start to the day, but it stayed fairly dry throughout the afternoon racing. The winds held, with some strong gusts passing through that caught out many of the single handers, and, unusually, Dave and Lynne Lawson at one point!

Mark Ninnim and Emma Smith did a little bit of mark repositioning when they got their mainsheet caught on a mark. Although Robbie D had already rounded the mark, the rest of the fleet benefited from broader reach from 0 to 1.

More of the same for tomorrow?

For the second weekend in a row, there has been a round the lake pennant race which counts towards Sandra’s Salver – clearly a keenly contested award, which goes to the top lady crew over the seven race series, as various women make a special effort to compete. With one final race to go, Elaine Hunt is still in the lead. The pennant race itself was as frustrating as round the lakers get. Although Robbie D and Big E broke away from the fleet early on, at the leeward mark, after 40+ mins, his lead had been reduced to 1’20 from Mike and Kayla in a F15, William and Elaine in a Rs400, and Steve and Ruth in a Merlin Rocket. The return up the lake seemed to have many more holes than the beat down! With spinnakers going up and down like a yoyo, Mike and Kayla got the spinnaker sheet wrapped around their keel, and each time they tried to fix it something else occurred. Mike assures us that Kayla didn’t swear (audibly?!). At that stage Robbie D broke away from Mike and others caught him up. However, it was not until the lead boats were through Scarness that the fleet properly split up, albeit too late for some of the faster handicap boats to beat Mike. Scumper had a stormer of a leg back up the lake, closing the gap on overall winner Robbie D to just 33 secs on adjusted time. Positions 4 – 7 were just 60 secs apart after 90 mins racing.

An current update of the championship positions are posted below.

There was a wealth of experience in the committee boat – two trustees and all three past commodores – must be more than 100 years sailing experience, and probably 200 years in age! But did it help?

Racing was delayed waiting for some members held up in M6 traffic. Mike Moore made it, but his crew had already been borrowed by William.

With a good SW wind, the courses all seemed to hug the shadow of Sale Fell, so there were inevitable dull patches throughout the course. However, there were some good reaches at times to make up for it.

It seemed to be a day to keep the rescue crews on there toes, with most, if not all, of the single handers capsizing at some point in the afternoon.

There were a couple of minor gear failures that caused helms to capsize – Dan Marskell went in on the start line when his main sheet went, and former member Andrew Nuttall had a spectacular capsize on a reach when his toe straps broke. What a fun way to get back to grips with the sport!

Tomorrow should be sunny and slightly less windy – let’s wait and see whether the forecast is right!

Well almost! With Bass Week over and the grounds cleared, there was a one day triathlon run from the club on Saturday before normality returned with racing on Sunday.

Well almost! The weather had other ideas. Fourteen boats took to the water for the morning race, the course was set, the start signalled and off they went. But nobody got very far as the wind died completely and there was no alternative but to signal that the race was abandoned. Competitors were towed back to the Club by the safety boat crews to start an early lunch.

A sea breeze set in at around 1.30pm and the race officer correctly decided that it was sufficient go around the complete Lake. The race was the Banana Stakes named after the prize of a bunch of bananas presented annually to the winner in the distant past by the late Bill Anderson who was a wholesale fruiterer. It was sailed on personal handicap with all boats starting together.

So, in light winds and glorious sunshine, competitors headed to the Keswick end of the Lake at which point the RS400�s of Steve and Elaine Hunt and Neil and Judith Currie were leading on the water. These boats were to stay ahead for the remainder of the eighty minutes it took them to complete the race but the crews then had to wait to see how the later competitors � some taking two hours to complete the course – had fared. And it was a crew who were sailing on the lake for the first time in 2010, Stuart and John Brookes in their Flying Fifteen who were declared winners. The GP14�s of Nigel Lewis and Claudie Black and Dave and Lynn Lawson took the next positions ahead of the Mirror of Alan Waugh.

The race was a round in the Sandra�s Salver series for lady crews and Claudie Black�s result moves her into third position in the standings behind Elaine Hunt who leads the series from Michaela Sheard. There are two rounds remaining in this competition of which the next one will be contested this coming weekend.