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!