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GP End of Season Championship

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There is a healthy list of entrants for this weekend’s GP14 End of Season Open Championship. The forecast was for some good winds (with a touch of rain!). The rain held off, but the wind swung more to the South resulting in Sale Fell having its inimitable effect on the sailing area.

It took three goes before there was a clean start, and that was only due to the black flag having an effect! Neil Marsden took an early lead, which he strengthened and won the first race. The Sale Fell effect resulted in occasional squalls passing through the course and catching out some sailors, seemingly capsizing in pairs!

The second race enjoyed a cleaner start, with just two early starters. Unfortunately one didn’t return…

Although the course area was similar, there were some unfortunate shadows on the left hand side of the course at times, causing some bunching initially, challenging conditions, and changes in positions.

Matt Thursfield came out best, and held his lead to the finish, with Mike Senior 2nd. Neil Marsden secured 4th and is overnight leader, on equal points with Mike Senior.

On Saturday evening there was a formal dinner to celebrate the end of this year’s GP Grand Prix, followed by a prize giving.

Sunday started damp but faired with the forecast SE breeze, though without the forecast force 6 gusts! Eager starters quickly toed the line with the reintroduction of the black flag.

Although Mike Senior was first to start at +2 secs, Neil Marsden again held him off in the shifty conditions. The occasional gusts led to a couple of capsizes, and there some unfortunate collisions. Dave Gebhard had sailed well, holding 3rd place but capsized at the penultimate mark, and again on the final beat, before retiring. In the Vintage fleet, Steve Parry with a jubilant stand in novice Bass crew, Louise Rodger, secured a healthy lead to take their 3rd win, and the series.

Despite a desire by several sailors to take advantage of the full length of the course area, the OD must have taken pity on Neil Marsden who admitted to being shattered after race 3, and kept the course in the main bay. The Commodore’s claim to sailing fame over the weekend was getting the best start in the last race! Though in a strong position, Neil Marsden defended his lead by covering Mike Senior’s every move. By the end of the first beat Andy Tunnicliffe took a lead which he held to the finish, with Neil working his way through to 2nd, thereby securing the series. Best Bass finisher (apart from Louise), was Dave Lawson who came 7th.

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Overall winner Neil Marsden

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Winners of the Vintage fleet – Steve Parry and Louise Rodgers

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F15 Team Racing

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A forecast of strong, gusting, winds may have been the reason for a lack of visiting boats for this year’s F15 Team Racing, but there was a strong club contingent making nine boats in total. The winds were not as strong as forecast so there was some good sailing conditions, which proved challenging at times as most boats had varying results. The exceptions being AJ and Jack Hardie who broached in the first race, and spent the rest of the race bailing out (perhaps he needs to spend the evening puffing on those buoyancy bags?!). No broaches in the following races, but their position did not improve over the rest of the day. At the other end of the fleet, Neil Platt and Big E bagged three bullets, though visitor Cammy Dunn and Steve Lee put up a good fight, leading most of the final race of the day.

Steve took the helm of Mike’s boat, with Kayla crewing, and after a poor first race moved forward through the fleet in subsequent races, and they are on equal points with, but just ahead of, Ian and Lezli-Ann.

Conversely, Simon and Jon’s positions slipped through the course of the day, but they lie 2nd overnight on equal points with John Reekie and Rory.

In club racing it was the start of the October series; Robbie D sailed with Banter in the 400 and led both races, but it was new member David Hazleden in his Solo that won both races on personal handicap. After her success last week, Pam was in a strong position in the second race, but unfortunately capsized at the final gybe mark and retired.

Latest results (PH)

Sunday’s first race wasvery light and shifty, with numerous position changes. Ian Campbell’s mainsail fell down, forcing retirement, meanwhile Sally jambed her finger between spinnaker pole and mast, forcing retirement also. When Simon dropped from 1st to next to last, he retired as well!

There was a better wind for second race no incidents. The Scottish Invaders were clear winners of the Team Trophy which Ian Preston had left at home. Neil Platt, last year’s recipient, awarded the Grotty Potty to Simon for a number of incidents that would take too long to mention. There was a very informal prizegiving held in the bar whilst the commodore was eating his Sticky Toffee Pudding….

Final results

Endeavour Trophy

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Best of luck to Scumper and Zefer who are racing in the elite Endeavour Trophy competition at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham on Crouch this weekend. Eight races, seven to count. Winds there are forecast to be somewhat lighter than Bass today for the five scheduled races which start at 10.30am

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Thomas’ Twitter

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20131011-220432.jpg20131011-220441.jpgJoanie, Pat and Carol are plied with Champagne at Prescott sprint hillclimb in the Cotswolds by Alan whilst basking in the hot October sun, Keith took the photo but where is Toggle ?
Is Toggle the one on the right I wonder?

Fleet Challenge

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This weekend’s racing comprises six races for all fleets with the results calculated on a personal handicap basis. With a fleet of 17 boats, the start line, and rounding of the first few marks, was unusually busy resulting in boats ‘appearing’ unexpectedly and some emergency tacks, so it was important to try to get clear air as soon as possible.

Steve/Elaine led the first race, but personal handicap pushed their result down to 15th place. Only 5 secs on corrected time separated Alan/Sue in their GP, Ken in a Solo, and Jim in a Supernova, finishing 2nd to 4th respectively. Having sailed well in her Mirror, Pam had some close racing throughout the afternoon with Mik, ending the day in pole position with two firsts to count.

Apparently Mik and Pam were so close at one stage that Mik had to do turns after bumping into Pam after she asked for water.

Another 2nd place for Alan in the 2nd race put him 2nd overall overnight. Kath/Glynis won the last race of the day and lie 3rd overall.

The only capsize of the afternoon was by Banter during a gybe and he combined it with a spectacular backward flip out of his boat!

By the time racing started on Sunday the drizzle had moved in. The wind was slightly stronger than Saturday but it was the gusts, combined with dead runs and gybe marks, that kept catching boats out – three capsized at the first gybe mark almost simultaneously! Pam earned another win and had an unassailable lead securing the series with two races to go.

Although the drizzle disappeared after lunch, the morning capsizes had taken their toll, and numbers racing reduced to eight boats. A triangular course meant there was only one gybe mark to contend with, but gusts still challenged the F15s and flattened some of the other boats on the reaches. Peter sailed well in his Supernova in the conditions, winning race 5 and beating Tim/Ian in their F15.

By the final race, there were just six starters and only three finishers, with the honours going to Tim/Ian and giving them 2nd overall ahead of Alan/Sue. Even at just over 30 mins, there were some that felt they had sailed one lap too many. Clearly, there will be many that sleep well tonight!


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Annual Prize Giving – Deadline 6 Nov!

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The annual prize giving dinner dance will take place at the end of this month. Please make sure that those hotly contested trophies are available to be collected on the night by returning those that you won last year to the club, engraved and polished – the deadline was the end of October!

If you intend to come along to the annual dinner (30th November at the Castle Inn) could you please send your cheques and choices from the attached menu, together with any seating preferences, to Claire Duncan by email ([email protected]), post or in person by 6 November. The price per head is �30 and this includes a live band. We are aiming for a 6.30pm for 7pm start to try to ensure there is two hours dancing time.

If you want to book a room do it quickly to ensure you get the reduced rates!

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Playing Away

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This weekend five club boats travelled to Windermere for the GP Northern Championships.

AJ, sailing with Commodore Andy, has been good enough to report on the proceedings.

He starts with explanations for their overall 21st position out of 25

For the Saturday he says �I don�t do no wind�, as for the Sunday, he tells us the wind was not as strong as at Bass (perhaps he should ask Steve/Ruth how long they spent drifting on Sunday).

All weekend he said � I think Andy needed to remember the bit for the boat still in his garage� that he forgot to include with the boat initially, as there’s clearly no alternate explanation as to why �Hand in the Glove� was not in the top few boats.

To make matters worse he slept in the car overnight to be on time for Sunday racing, while Andy went home to the comfort of his own bed only to turn up on Sunday after AJ had rigged the boat.

AJ also ponders that it may be interesting to see what happens at the GP Open at Bass in three weeks without Andy crewing… Will the boat go better there when he won�t be crewing?!

At this point AJ decides to stop musing else Andy won�t talk to him again

Moving up the fleet, Val with Ken came 19th, and Mike with Sally 13th. Paul Bowmer was 3rd, and Dave/Lynn 2nd to winner Mike Senior.

All change

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Sunshine and a warm wind tempted out a good fleet of boats for a weekend series counting towards the club championship. Although there seemed to be a steady breeze coming down the lake, the sea breeze would have its effect from time to time.

Banter took the lead in his RS100 only to realise he didn’t remember the course properly, and when called back to re-round 3, he capsized in fits of laughter! Asked why he didn’t write the course down, it was because he lost his pencil last time he capsized… Although Robbie D won on the water in his RS300, Scumper was close enough to win on handicap, as he did in the 2nd race as well. Tog took 3rd place in the first race, but John/Janis sailed well to take 3rd in the second race.

Neil tempted Judith to make a guest appearance in the F15 and kept a strong lead, while Mike/Kayla chased Tim/Ian, managing to pip them on the finish line by the smallest of margins. Ian had a guest crew in the form of John Somerville, while Chris had daughter Kat as his guest crew. Chris opted to demonstrate the art of ‘polishing his keel’ on some soft ground at one stage – perhaps he shouldn’t have done it while racing?! In the lighter winds of the 2nd race, Mike/Kayla led throughout with Ian/John 2nd and Neil/Judith 3rd putting Mike in pole position overnight.

In the GPs, Kath also had a guest crew with Jack Hardie getting some practice in the front end of a GP; they won both races from Richard.

Although Pam built a strong lead in the Mirrors, problems with her spinnaker resulted in it slipping away to Mik with only minutes left in the race. Emma made a guest solo appearance in a Mirror, finishing 3rd. Mike was the only finisher in the 2nd race, so leads overnight.

The forecast higher winds for Sunday had the lake filled with white horses, despite some reluctance, there were several takers.

Jim and Peter opted to use storm sails on their Supernovas, while Scumper and Banter found crews and sailed their 400s. Banter/Alastair had a fantastic port on port start, but it went downhill from there, culminating in a prolonged capsize at the gybe mark. Scumper/Tog pulled out a big lead before trying the gennaker which resulted in a capsize at another gybe mark. The gennaker remained tucked away after that, but they went on to win on handicap, securing the series trophy.

Three F15s raced as well. Mike/Kayla led throughout, though Tim/Ian were in close contention for a while until they had to fend off Ian/John which they managed, albeit with the closest of margins. the result may have been very different if Ian/John had realised where the windward mark was and didn’t have to reach back downwind to round it!

Over lunch the wind has eased, but would it pick up for the final race? The wind did not strengthen but it did swing to the east, so a suitable course was set. However, as the fleet got closer to 5, Skiddaw created a shadow similar to the Sale Fell effect, and there was a lot of wallowing, tacking and gybing to find steadier winds.

Banter’s start was not as impressive as the morning – he managed to go between The Bates and the inner distance mark, despite them being tied together, so he had to untangle himself then do turns.

He was half way up the 2nd beat before before he was able to pull his gennaker pole in! Despite these problems he still beat Scumper on the water!

Steve/Ruth led the whole race, but the wind filled at the end resulting in him losing to Jim by just 2 secs on handicap.

In the F15s, The wind dumped Mike/Kayla in a hole, and they eventually retired, meanwhile Ian/John took the lead with Tim/Ian 2nd

Final results

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