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All sailors who have had the misfortune to capsize and require rescue assistance over the last couple of seasons will be aware of rescue boat driver Chris Graham.
It is with great sadness that we learnt of his tragic death in a car accident early on Friday morning. Chris was 19. Chris’ funeral was held on Friday 1st September in Christ Church, Stricklandgate, Penrith and afterwards at the Conservative Club. Family flowers only. Any donations, via the club please, will be passed on to Cockermouth Mountain Rescue of which Chris’ grandfather was a founder member |
Bass Watch
With the schools regatta over Club sailing was somewhat quieter this weekend. There was a good, warm breeze from the South. OD Pete Nuttall was determined to start on time, but that must have been his own version of Chico Time (Pedro Time?), because it didn’t!
In the first race, the course came back to zero and caused some issues as the wind swung around Sale Fell and the fleet had to beat into the mark. Robbie D lost out to Shunty and William but with the GPs and FFs close by they would win on handicap
The course for the second race stayed in the southerly breeze which led to some spectacular spinnaker legs. With boats capsizing everywhere the rescue crews were kept very busy. After everything was packed away, a call from the coastguard resulted in rescue craft being re-launched to help out some sailors that were in distress at the southern end of the lake. With the air-sea rescue helicopter in attendance, a second rescue craft was despatched with Toggle Hasslehoff aboard to recover the dinghy which the sailors had abandoned
Sunday’s racing was held in stronger winds, but they were still curving around Sale Fell reinforcing the need to stay, or get into, in the stronger gusts to keep driving. A knotted mainsheet resulted in Robbie D losing a place at one mark because he couldn’t bear away. The wind picked up in the afternoon and there were several capsizes (most of them by Roy and Kayla), but Shunty was a casualty when he tried to use his gennaker to catch Robin up and couldn’t handle the gust. Judith Currie had opted out of the last race, so Sam took the front seat in Neil’s RS. While hoisting the gennaker, they ended up going trawling, and Sam had to recover the sail. We’re not sure whether Sam ended up in the water because he fell or jumped!
GP14 Worlds
Congratulations to Andy Smith and Mark Somerville after coming 20th in the GP14 Worlds held at Sligo NI just before Bass Week. Will the Guinness sales be up or down for Bass Week?
Frustration in the Sun
Everyone should have been delighted that there was a weekend of sun with a warm wind, but for the sailors the biggest frustration was that the wind was by no means steady. The first race on Saturday had boats beating on three of the four legs. Neil Currie had taken an early lead with William not too far behind, but on the only leg that wasn’t a beat the others caught up and there was several place changes. Neil had to settle for a second to Robbie D, while William ended up fifth behind Steve and Scumper. While waiting between races several sailors opted to cool off by trying some barefoot water skiing (not easy at 2-3 knots from an RS!). When Toggle tried, he lost his balance and catapulted backwards into the water.
Sunday’s racing was around the lake – with a north westerly it was never going to be an easy race, but challenging was an understatement. There were gusts, and holes, and shifts, and down draughts. After 50 mins Steve Hunt was first to mark 13 some 20-30m ahead of William, by mark 12 he was 5 mins ahead and the GPs and Mike Moore in his F15 were all mulling around. The wind started to settle down for the beat back up the lake but Steve lost a lot of ground finishing just 2.5 mins ahead of William. Unfortunately the others were still in easy reach of the finish and the race was won by Dave Lawson with Mike Fairlamb crewing
JUBILEE SAILING TRUST
PN Boat Helm Class 1 Pts
1 13176 D LAWSON GP 1 1
2 13905 H GODFREY GP 2 2
3 45096 TOP VISITOR TOPPER 3 3
4 3473 M MOORE FF 4 4
5 1298 S HUNT RS400 5 5
6 1658 VISITOR BYTE 6 6
7 937 W CARRUTHERS RS400 7 7
8 1140 J CHRISTIE LAS 8 8
9 160516 T CHITTENDEN LAS 9 9
10 167828 I MACPHERSON LAS 10 10
11 3521 K JAMIESON FF RTD 12
Points for RTD = 12
Points for DSQ = 12
Points for DNS = 12
1 races to count
Time for a Change
The ‘Ladies, crews and junior’ race was held last Thursday in somewhat challenging wind conditions. 13 boats took part with many normal crews moving to the back of their boats to try out some helming. Unfortunately for some, the move from the back to the front of the boat for the normal helms proved a bit confusing – Toggle spent ages stationary at buoy 3 waiting for Robbie D to sort out his kite! Noting the strong wind and the forthcoming NSSA regatta, Sam put his radial rig on his laser. This proved to be a good decision as he was third overall and winner of the junior race. Ken Bell took the helm in the GP, but Val decided against flying the kite. Again this proved to be the right decision as they were second overall and won the crews race. Despite having to avoid Rhonwen who did a really rubbish tack (Rhonwen’s words!!) in her water at buoy zero, the overall winner was Emma Powell who helmed an Enterprise with Andy Smith crewing. Emma takes the ladies prize for the first time.
Enterprise Champs
Congratulations to Mark Ninnim and Emma Powell following their recent runaway success at the Scottish area championships which were held at Berwick. Four straight wins – what else could anyone wish for? Well done!
GP14 Open
Thursday night, Night Jar A finished last week. Overall winner was Mike Turner and Sue Watson in a GP. Mike had done two OD duties during the series, but only needed to count one to win. Ginge was second. Alex Hill (Laser) was third overall and wins the laser/handicap trophy. Tim Smith wins the mirrors and Keith Thomas the Flying Fifteens. In all 44 helms took part over 10 races (two races were abandoned before they were started due to high winds).
16 boats turned out for this weekend’s GP open. Although the winds were very light there was enough for two races each day – the third race on Sunday was not started. Beautiful sunshine and we all enjoyed the view whilst waiting for the wind. Very close racing through all parts of the fleet and after the first two races, Telf, Ian Dobson and Dave Lawson were all on 4 points. In the third race, Neil Platt then went and threw a spanner in the works by winning (old habits die hard!). Places changing up every beat and a few deft over-taking manoeuvres downwind. Telf managed to hold on to the lead in the fourth race to win overall. Hugh & Rhonwen were winners of the silver fleet and Mandy Mitchell with Jon Close from Winsford Flash won the Bronze fleet. First time for a long time that a quarter of the fleet had lady helms.
Overall Results
Position/Fleet Helm Crew Club Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Total Net 1 Gold John Telford Andy Smith Bass 3 1 3 1 8 5 2 Gold Ian Dobson Katie MacKenzie Burwain 1 3 2 3 9 6 3 Gold Dave Lawson Lynn Lawson Bass 2 2 4 2 10 6 4 Gold Neil Platt Phil Smith Bolton/ 4 4 1 4 13 9 5 Gold Martin Brennan Alistair knott Holling 5 5 6 5 21 15 6 Silver Hugh Godfrey Rhonwen Bryce Bass 8 8 5 6 27 19 7 Silver John Riley Nigel Lewis Bass 7 6 8 7 28 20 8 Silver Mike Fairlamb Eric Smith Bass 6 9 7 9 31 22 9 Bronze Mandy Mitchell Jon Close Winsfor 11 11 9 8 39 28 10Silver Julie WaddingtonChris Waddington 9 10 11 DNF 48 30 11Bronze Rana Din Peter Bramwell Holling 13 12 10 10 45 32 12Bronze Val Bell Ken Bell Bass 10 13 12 11 46 33 13Bronze Dave Nicholson Sarah Nicholson Bass 12 14 13 12 51 37 14Silver Andrew Brook Nick Brook Holling 14 7 DNC DNC 57 39 15Bronze Graham Ashby Leigh Ashby Bass DNF DNC 14 DNC 68 50 16Bronze Martin Wright Des Wright Bass DNC DNC DNF DNF 72 54
Credit Where Credit’s Due
We are delighted to advise that following a nomination by the club, Herb Telford is to be awarded the RYA’s Community Award for Lifetime Commitment.
Over the past 30 years Herb has been on Committee of Cumbria CC Schools Training Centre, a senior member of NSSA Regatta Organising Team in mid 1980’s. At club level he was involved with RYA Team Racing at Bass SC in 1977, is a former commodore, been on council and assisted with bar, grounds & jetties, and boats & buoys sub committees. Presently he is most well known as official starter, and is also one of our four trustees.
Herb and his wife Aileen have been invited to receive the award at an official ceremony later in the year.
Congratulations and well done.
Jack Lawson
It with sadness that we have been informed that long time member Jack Lawson passed away peacefully after a long illness. Jack was a highly competitive sailor in both the GP and Flying 15 fleets as well as enjoying skiing and golfing. The service will be held at All Souls, Netherton, Maryport
Our thoughts are with Jack’s wife Carol, his sons Peter and David and their families at this sad time
Pot Hunters Clean Up!
With the summer on its last legs (or so it seemed), the hot balmy days of the past week were a bit of a distant memory asthe the air cooled and the weather front moved in from Ireland bringing blustery wind and rain.
The handicap fleet were a little too eager for the start (or was the line so biased?) that there were two general recalls much to the dismay of the lasers who were all being good and staying behind the line. In several instances throughout the racing the leaders came a cropper to the gusting winds and ended up capsized – First Scumper, then Neil, then Shunty, and off course Toggle doesn’t like to miss out so Robbie D ended up in the water as well! With no other GPs to sail against, Hugh sailed in the handicap fleet, stayed upright and on the tails of the RS and of course won! The second race was similarly windy – William took the right side of the first beat and the lead, and broke away until the next beat. Shunty went for another swim and an early finish, Robbie D who had earlier sussed the wind conditions and advised Herb not to use mark A, ended up capsizing at A with his gennaker up (and also took an early exit from the race. Neil trawled his kite on the final 50 m leg to the finish and let William back through but it was Hugh that again took the honours on handicap
Toddy and Ron Lee braved the elements again in their Mirrors but found it a bit too challenging. However, at least they tried. Well done
The strong winds forecast for Sunday must have passed through overnight, and although the sun tried to break through, it was drizzly most of the morning race. The handicap fleet saw some extremely close racing with four RS400s each taking turns at the front. Andy T tried to slow Scumper down by somersaulting out of the boat on a spinnaker reach. Not content with doing it once, he got back in the boat, bent down and fell out again!
Hugh had competition in the GPs and from the Ashby’s for the morning at least, so the win on a single race was sufficient for him to take his first trophy of the weekend – the Macmillan Cup
With no GPs for the afternoon, Hugh rejoined the handicap fleet, secured a third position and his second trophy – the Grisedale Cup.
As Toggle had no helm for the day, he took out the mirror in the hope of cleaning up, but he was no match for Mik Chappell who took the Round Table Tankard with two straight wins.
GRISDALE CUP
PN Boat Helm Class 1 2 3 4 Pts
1 13905 H GODFREY GP 1 1 DNS 3 5
2 1049 M SOMERVILLE RS400 3 2 1 2 5
3 1298 S HUNT RS400 2 RTD RTD 1 10
4 937 W CARRUTHERS RS400 5 3 2 RTD 10
5 1148 N CURRIE RS400 4 4 4 5 12
6 3473 M MOORE FF DNS DNS 3 4 21
7 167828 S HALL LASER RADI RTD DNS RTD RTD 26
8 103 A NICHOLSON VARIO OD DNS DNS DNS 31
9 338 R YARDLEY RS300 DNS DNS OD DNS 31
10 1072 R DAWSON RS400 RTD RTD DNS DNS 32
11 130338 RiCRITCHLEY LAS RTD DNS DNS DNS 39
11 160516 T CHITTENDEN LAS RTD DNS DNS DNS 39
11 213142 R HODGKINS LAS RTD DNS DNS DNS 39
Points for RTD = 11 7 7 8
Points for DSQ = 11 7 7 8
Points for DNS = 14
3 races to count
GP MCMILLAN CUP
PN Boat Helm Class 1 2 3 Pts
1 13905 H GODFREY GP DNS DNS 1 1
2 13401 G ASHBY GP DNS DNS 2 2
Points for RTD = 0 0 3
Points for DSQ = 0 0 3
Points for DNS = 3
1 races to count
ROUND TABLE TANKARD
PN Boat Helm Class 1 2 3 4 Pts
1 69960 M CHAPPEL MIR OD DNS 1 1 2
2 913791 M COWAN MIR DNS DNS 2 2 4
3 61512 S PAGEL MIR DNS DNS 3 DNS 9
4 35784 R LEE MS RTD DNS DNS DNS 9
4 12324 D TODHUNTER GP RTD DNS DNS DNS 9
Points for RTD = 3 0 4 3
Points for DSQ = 3 0 4 3
Points for DNS = 6
2 races to count