Many congratulations to vice commodore Stephen Kirkpatrick and his wife Claire following the birth of their daughter Georgina Elizabeth,� a sister for Henry and Thomas, who weighed in at 7lb11oz on Tuesday evening. Mother and baby doing well.
Well done to Emily for guessing it would be a girl called Elizabeth!
Despite there being strong winds all around, the conditions were unexpectedly sailable. However, there were not many takers, presumably because of the poor forecast.
Mike and Kayla led the fleet, followed by Toggle in his Vareo, but Mike and Eric kept on the pace and were never far behind. On handicap Mike’s F15 beat the Mike’s GP.
In the afternoon race, the course had a couple of reaches that proved exhilarating when the gusts came through. Joe Watkins, thinking the wind had eased over lunch, opted to take out the Laser with a full rig, which proved a little too much on occasions as he had several capsizes, but carried on to the finish.
This time it was Mike Cowan that was in close contention with Mike Moore.� Mike Moore held his position on handicap and leads the series overall.
As the hosepipe ban kicks in in some parts of the county, the rain came down. However, for a change, at least it was warm rain!
The winds were blustery all afternoon, but the straightforward triangular course led to some exciting sailing, some very hairy gybes, and several capsizes.
In the handicap fleet, Steve and Ruth in the Merlin finished 1st on the water and on handicap from Scumper in his Vareo. In the second race, Steve got off to a good start, but a wineglass spinnaker led to a capsize and his demise. William and Elaine in an RS400 finished 1st on the water but were beaten on handicap by Scumper.
In the F15s, Mike and Kayla won the 1st race from Tim and Ian. Ian had a better start in the 2nd race, and was leading when Mike retired when a fairlead pulled out.
Mike and Eric led the GPs, but a nosedive capsize led to their demise and Tim and Martin winning the race.
John Telford beat Mik Chappell in both of the Mirror races.
Scumper topped the chart in the capsize stakes with four capsizes, all well recovered from. Mike Fairlamb was sort of next having struggled to right his boat after capsizing taking down the spinnaker, he capsized another couple of times before limping home to shore. Then Steve was next with a couple of capsizes – both deliberate he claimed!!
Although it should be sunny tomorrow, higher winds are forecast again, so will we get any races in?
A healthy fleet of 25 boats took part in this year’s NW Area championship. The wind conditions will have been challenging for some competitors, and as they were forecast to increase on Sunday an additional race was sailed on Saturday.
Andrew Green from Leigh & Lowton SC sailed consistently to secure four wins and the overnight lead from James Asquith from Redesmere SC.
As expected, the forecast gales came in, with various showers, and racing was cancelled on Sunday leaving the results as the overnight position. Congratulations to Andrew Green on his clear win.
The high winds must have put a few people off this week as the turnout of seven starters was surprisingly low
After almost two years of preparation we have been awarded Volvo RYA Champion Club status. The award will provide a basis upon which our Junior and Youth sections can develop and the young sailors involved will benefit from the programmes available from the Volvo Champion scheme. I�d like to thank all those Club members who�ve helped us to secure this prestigious status, especially Mike Fairlamb who has worked particularly hard.
In addition to the Youth development advantages the VCC status will provide us with free RYA coaching, annual volunteer grants, and many other benefits. This, together with the existing training and Youth Squad initiatives, will help to secure the future of our Club for generations to come.
Best wishes
Dave Nicholson
While Luke Howarth masters the Saturday Series, Ethan Dawson has taken the lead in the Sunday Series. Not sure what Harry did to secure his disqualification!
Adam Savage from the RYA came to give a days training for the Youth Squad on June the 12th. Luckily many of the mornings trainees stayed on as only Ethan Dawson from the Youth Squad made it. Never mind, this means that Ethan will have the upper hand on the start line now! Adam went through the starting procedure over and over and coached the kids on the water. Judging by the smiles and screams we heard we think they enjoyed it!
It was pleasing to see that some of the trainees came back for more the week after and joined in on the Youth Squad racing so that there was a fleet of six toppers out in shifty wind conditions which meant the OD Robin Dawson had his hands full.
It is with sadness that we have learned that former member Max DeRedder has passed away. Max was a long standing member of the sailing club and held the office of sailing secretary for a short while. Our condolences go to his wife Pat.
His funeral was held at 1pm on Monday 28 June in Gilcrux church, followed by committal at Distington crematorium about 2pm.
Another glorious day for sailing, but the morning wind had faded at lunchtime. Before afternoon racing started the wind came back from the south only to be counteracted by a SW sea breeze 15 mins into racing!
Toggle must have still been hyped up after his weekend jaunt to Nothampton because he got into two tussles on the start line, both of which he should have had to turns for!. However Steve Hunt wasn’t going to let him away a third time and Toggle had to do a 720 after colliding with Steve’s boom coming into a mark.
The change of wind direction meant that Sale Fell had its typical effect on certain parts of the course and resulted in moving holes that split the fleet up a bit in the first race and compacted it in the second!
In the handicap fleet, Steve and Ruth in a Merlin Rocket beat Robbie D and Big E in an RS400 in the first race, while Robbie D beat Scumper, sailing his Vareo, in the second race.
Tim Knowles and Pete Bowmer each shared a win in the GP fleet, while Mik Chappell took two wins in the Mirrors.
On Sunday the wind was stronger, blustery, and still from the SW and the course area was again taken through the shadow of Sale Fell. There were numerous capsizes during the day, and as the Official Starter was keen to watch the England match, the two races were relatively short, and sailed without a break for lunch!
The handicap fleet had another two winners – Dave Lawson, sailing Val’s Solo, in the 1st race and Scumper in the 2nd. However, Robbie D won overall.
Tim Knowles beat his competition into the ground (well they both retired!), and that was enough to win him the series with two 1sts.
No Mirrors sailed so overnight leader Mik Chappell won the series.
Although various people seemed to be playing away this weekend, there was still a full complement of racing for numerous members to go at. Shame the wind conditions of Saturday followed through into Sunday. The forecast direction kept getting interrupted by rogue gusts from all sorts of directions. As ever, Robbie D mastered the conditions and pulled out a massive lead with his super lightweight crew Erin to win the race by a handsome margin from Joan and Jack Hardie. Even in the last six or seven minutes of the race, Steve Hunt and Joan Hardie got a breeze that opened up a four minute lead on Scumper and William who had both been close on their tail at the previous mark!
In the F15s, Ian Macpherson with Sally crewing, took the honours from Mike and Kayla. Martyn Stephenson and Steve Hannah get a mention just for continuing to watch how it’s all done from behind!
Pete (or is it Paul?) Bowmer won the GPs from Julian Cruickshank, while Eric Smith out performed Alan Waugh in the Mirrors.
The afternoon racing was devoted to another pennant race which took the fleet around the lake. Although the general wind was blowing in the southern end of the lake with a NW breeze, the sea breeze gusts came and went, and continued to spin around from various directions as they came down from Sale Fell such that after 40+ minutes it was Scumper in his Vareo, William and Elaine in an RS400, Steve and Ruth in a Merlin Rocket, then Mike and Kayla in a F15 in close contention at the leeward mark.
Scumper and Steve took the west shore, while William and Mike too the east shore on the way back. The wind continued to rise and fall, but the west shore route proved best this time. It was to be Steve and Ruth that won the Jimmy Lancaster Memorial Trophy by a small margin from Scumper.
Meanwhile, in the bay, the Juniors were having their own races, the results of which will be brought up to date next week.
Commodore Dave Nicholson gets a mention for being the best dressed OD, wearing a new fathers’ day outfit, complete with shirt and tie. Don’t think it’s a trend that will catch on, and it doesn’t quite come up to the standard of sailing legend EricTwiname who opted to test drive a Laser in a morning suit! (Don’t think he wore the top hat though!)
One of those sailing away was Sam Hall who had two 1sts and a 2nd at West Kirkby Yacht Club in the NW Junior Travellers. While Bass had mediocre winds, West Kirkby had more challenging conditions that kept rescue crews busy but suited Sam. He won a T-shirt and is leading the series.
Toggle and Rory were sailing at Northampton in a Vareo open meeting and clearly had some close racing. Overall Rory was 4th and Toggle 5th