What a difference a day makes. The sun shone all day, the wind blew enough most of the time, and there were shifts that made all the difference (if you were on the right side of them!).

First of all an apology to Toggle – there may have been a one sided tale told about his efforts in the Lord Birkett, and the bit about the training was a joke – there aren’t actually any places available until next year, but Tog doesn’t really need to attend. Apparently, he was caught out in the massive squall that brought the fleet back from the islands, fell, or was washed out of the back, and broke his tiller necessitating his tow back by the gin palace.

In the GPs Hugh and Rhonwen had two wins, but they had to work hard for it as Mike Fairlamb with Sam Hall kept taking the lead, though in the 2nd race Mike retired after rounding a mark incorrectly. Ginge and Bridget were making hay while the sun shone, and then cooled off with a capsize. Ken Bell clearly wasn’t making hay, came for a sail and finished second with Val.

Tim Smith beat off competition from twin brother Rob, and secured another couple of wins.

In the handicap fleet, there were ups and downs. William, with second crew of the weekend Sally, was several minutes late for the start, but had some good luck with the winds to pull back on Roy and Kirstie to such an extent that he had to avoid Roy when he capsized just in front of him on a gybe mark. Apparently, a 50 degree wind shift on the start line prevented Shunty and Neil from being able to cross the line. Confusion over the course (which may well have changed after it was first displayed) meant Shunty lost out several hundred metres by heading to 9 instead of 0. Although Neil and Judith won on the water, the wind suited the RS200s best of all, and honours went to Andy and Emma.

Roy was left behind for the start of the second race (apparently retying his battens), leaving William, Neil and Shunty to have some good racing. Although William mastered the beats (or was it make the most of some incredible shifts?) to take the lead a couple of times, he lost out off wind to Neil and Shunty. The wind faded somewhat towards the end of the race allowing the RS200s to catch up. Robbie D and Ethan would have easily won had they not got their gennaker stuck, so it was to be Andy and Emma that again won on handicap.

The Mirror Northerns are to be held at the club next weekend

…Old habits that is! Roy was glad to be back at the helm again with Kirsty crewing. It’s a shame he wasn’t au fait with the start times of the pursuit race as he, and several other RS400s, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they should be starting, which made William and Jonathan very nervous as to whether they had in fact started too early! Over the course of the 70 min pursuit, it was the final 5 mins where several places changed – must have been some good handicapping!

As for the second race, Roy was again someway behind the rest of the fleet at the start and he topped it off with a capsize on the gybe mark, and finally tried to run Kirsty over when coming ashore (she’d managed to keep her hair dry until then!)
Of course the main sailing of the weekend is the Martin 16 National Championships, being sailed at Bass for the first time. Commodore Steve Hunt, as OD for the weekend, managed to get in the first 4 races of the 8 race championship. Clearly there is some close competition between the leading boats. The morning races were held in very windy conditions, and one hardy sole raised their spinnaker, but quickly dropped it again. Fortunately the design of the boat is such that the risk of capsize is minimal (I think!)Sunday morning started with what seemed like a nice southerly, but it never quite had the oomphh(?) that the sailors would have appreciated. The Martins continued to have some very close racing, and with just one discard tensions were high leading to a protest!

The delay caused by the Martin 16’s protest proved to be quite fortuitous as there was not a lot of wind, so after the prize giving the boats took to the water for the Jimmy Lancaster Memorial pennant as the breeze seemed to have filled in from the SW. By the time the race started the wind had faded, and a course set for marks 12 and 13 proved too much for William (though Cristina thought she’d missed the opportunity of a trip around the lake!) and he headed straight for shore. Most of the others persevered, but it was to be another 25 mins before the breeze came back, but this time from the South. With a bit of forward thinking, Shunty had included 10 in the course, and that was to be where he shortened the course after 45 mins.

When the fleet handicaps were calculated, it was Hugh and Rhonwen that proved to be the overall winners.

…Old habits that is! Roy was glad to be back at the helm again with Kirsty crewing. It’s a shame he wasn’t au fait with the start times of the pursuit race as he, and several other RS400s, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they should be starting, which made William and Jonathan very nervous as to whether they had in fact started too early! Over the course of the 70 min pursuit, it was the final 5 mins where several positions changed – must have been some good handicapping!

As for the second race, Roy was again someway behind the rest of the fleet at the start and he topped it off with a capsize on the gybe mark, and finally tried to run Kirsty over when coming ashore (she’d managed to keep her hair dry until then!)

Of course the main sailing of the weekend is the Martin 16 National Championships, being sailed at Bass for the first time. Commodore Steve Hunt, as OD for the weekend, managed to get in the first 4 races of the 8 race championship. Clearly there is some close competition between the leading boats. The morning races were held in very windy conditions, and one hardy sole raised their spinnaker, but quickly dropped it again. Fortunately the design of the boat is such that the risk of capsize is minimal (I think!)