Category: News

Sad News

Many Flying 15 sailors will be saddened to learn of the death of John Hardisty. John has had a long association with the club, and was a regular visitor to Bass Week until about 2015. Indeed his wife Lesley first attended when she was a teenager!

Our thoughts are with Lesley and their family at this sad time.

Funeral will be held at 1445 on Wednesday 6th September at Mountsett crematorium, Ewehurst Rd, Dipton, Stanley. DH9 9JP

Dress code – No suits. Bright colours.

No flowers, donations to Cancer Research.

Sad News

It is with great sadness that we have learnt of the unexpected passing of Judith Corry yesterday. Judith has been ill for some time and was pleased to make it to Bass Week.

Judith and her family have had sailing in their blood, had association with the club for over 40 years, and been active members for nearly 10 years.

Our thoughts are with husband Angus, and son James, together with the rest of their family at this sad time.

Judith�s funeral is planned for 12 Noon 15th September at Saltwell crematorium. Everyone is invited back to the Ravensworth Arms in Kibblesworth NE11 0ER.

Coffee and Cakes for Caroline

We will be holding a Cancer Research Coffee Morning in the clubhouse, Bank holiday Saturday at 1030. Everyone welcome.

Tea, coffee and juice will be provided. Please support the event by bringing along a contribution for the table, biscuits, scones, cake, etc.

Catch up with friends, enjoy some culinary goodies and make a donation to support the invaluable research work carried out by Cancer Research UK.

Anyone taking part in sail training can choose their cake and we will keep it safe for them!

Thank you.

Spreading our wings

It�s all go on the road this week, with members all over the UK and some in Europe representing Bassenthwaite Sailing Club.

At the Solo Nationals at Hayling Island Sailing Club, Ian Hopwood is very respectable 10/95 after 8 races.

Representing Cumbria at the NSSA championship at Draycote Water SC, Henry Bullen and Matthew Somerville are racing an RS200 and Henry and Thomas Kirkpatrick are sailing ILCAs. Henry and Matthew are currently 5/21 in the fast fleet and finished 2nd in the knockout Mount-Haes trophy! In the 28 boat ILCA 6 fleet, Thomas and Henry are sailing hard, posting some good results in the mid-teens.

It�s been a blast (literally) at Abersoch Dinghy Week, with big winds and waves taking it�s toll. Steve Hunt and Ruth Critchley are 3/14 in the symmetrical fleet which is made up mostly of Fireballs and Merlin�s. In the asymmetric fleet, the battle of the Exleys has traded blow for blow, with the odd capsize here and there driving the debrief banter. With 2 days to go, Dave and Jack are 5/27 with Charlie and Caroline in 7th. Also in the Assy fleet is Phil and Oscar Davenport sailing their RS200 and Paul and Grace Allen sailing a 59er. Phil and Oscar started strong, revelling in the big winds and seas (1.5 mile offshore!) and are currently 11/27 and 6/15 RS200. As for Paul and Grace it was all a bit much, having counted an 8th, 7th and 6th but didn�t launch when it was wild and are now back home for Grace�s birthday tomorrow.

Oversees, newly crowned Irish National Champions Phil and Oliver Smith , sailing Lamborbeanie sit in 4/53 after 5 races in the Mirror World Champs.

And finally, proper oversees, it�s been high drama at the RS Feva World Championship at Follonica in Italy. For Toby Kidd and Charlie Rowell, it nearly didn�t happen because Toby had a dislocated finger and whilst on route to Italy received a phone call to say he needed urgent surgery. Toby ended up heading home, getting sorted and then flew out alone to join Charlie, Stacey and Martin in Zurich. Grace Stockdale and Iona Cheyne are also competing at the worlds, with both teams in the bronze fleet and looking forward to lighter winds � it looks like wild conditions after viewing the event photos.

Follow results below for all events mentioned.

Solo results

NSSA results

NSSA ILCA results

Abersoch Dinghy Week results

Mirror results

Feva Worlds results

Wet weekend

After a week of unsettled weather, the weekend was set follow suit with more wind and rain! However, whatever might be happening elsewhere did not affect the Bass micro climate as, on arrival, the lake was mirror like.

A very light breeze filled in quickly, and there was interest in having a race, so, after a brief postponement, a dozen boats over three fleets started the first race of the weekend series. The wind was fickle and shifty, and two laps were completed.

Though several boats headed straight to shore on finishing, some wanted to race again , so they did, but it was drifting conditions for both legs, with the wind starting to fill in after some boats finished!

Sunday’s wet and windy forecast came to fruition. Although there were some gusts passing through, the drizzle seemed sufficient to discourage most of the sailors that turned up from opting to race, as the general wind strength appeared sailable.

It was just Neil/Archie in their RS200, and Paul in a Laser, that rose to the challenge and raced. The conditions were good, no capsizes, but very few scary planing opportunities. Two races were sailed back to back before lunch, but that was enough so there was no further racing.

In the GPs, Dave/Lynn won both Saturday races to win the McMillan Cup, with Nigel/Glenys 2nd.

The handicap Grisedale Cup was won by Mike/Jack in a Graduate, with Neil/Archie in a RS200 2nd.

Alex/Saskia in a Mirror won the Round Table Tankard for the slow handicap

Final results

Congratulations go to Phil and Oliver Smith having won the Mirror Irish National Championship at Sligo, which are a precursor to the world championship being held this coming week.

Bass to the rescue!

While waiting for enthusiastic sailors to appear and prepare to race in the blustery conditions, a report from a lady worried that her husband hadn�t returned after some wild swimming led to Bass rescue rushing out to track him down. Fortunately he had been seen earlier, with fluorescent float, so they soon spotted him again and reunited him with his wife. He had got somewhat disoriented in the choppy waters, but had suffered no harm.

Although two helms, and one crew, had turned up to race, enthusiasm was solely with Banter, so racing was cancelled for the day.

Before returning rescue craft to their moorings, they checked on a couple of paddle boarders struggling to make headway in the conditions, and subsequently took them back to their launch site.

Sunday�s forecast was wetter and windier, and perhaps several took heed as there was just one helm that turned up to compare reality with the webcam view! Racing was cancelled for the second day in a row.

Summer is here!

With the warm weather set to remain for a few more days at least, and, for a change, with a forecast of strong, gusty winds all weekend, there was a lower than usual turnout for the championship weekend series. Those that turned up were pleasantly surprised that conditions were less gusty than forecast, and� very sailable,

There were a couple of capsizes, but sailors enjoyed some good planing conditions, especially in the first race. The winds were very shifty and challenging for some on the beats.

Ian/Lezliann led the first race in the handicap fleet, while in the second race Banter/Oscar in their RS200 were delighted to break away from Ian/Lezliann in a F15, and John in a Solo before finishing with a good lead.

In the other fleets, consistency was the order of the day with Dave/Lynn winning both GP races, and Bean/Lucy winning the slow handicap races.

Sunday’s forecast was more blustery than Saturday, but remained sailable. James/Jenny capsized before the start and gave up. Emma in a Mirror found the blustery weather too challenging without a crew, while Emma/Jules made it to the end of the first beat, capsized, then went for a bit of a blast! Paul in a Laser� had a couple of capsizes as well, but continued to the end of the race.

Again, there were some spectacular reaches to be had, and enjoyed!

In the handicap fleet, John in his Solo won the first race, but Banter/Oscar in their RS200 went on to win the next three races and the Isel Cup, with Ian/Lezliann in a F15 2nd, and John 3rd.

Dave/Lynn had three wins and won the Commodore’s Prize for GPs with Val/Ken 2nd.

Bean/Lucy in their Mirror had three wins also, winning the Orsova Cup with James in a Tera 2nd

Final results

Sad News

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of Caroline Storey. It is heartbreaking for so many Bass members, especially her close family.

Before joining Bass, Caroline was a Bass Week regular, often seen smiling on the trapeze of the infamous Orvil, or in the bar drinking gin fizz. She’ll be dearly missed.

The Funeral is July 6th
11.15 @ Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium
Then onto the Norfolk Arms at Ringinglow.

Please send donations to Western Park Cancer Charity rather than flowers.

RYA Regional Junior Championship 2023

A busy weekend hosting the RYA Junior Championship had over 150 helms competing in nine fleets with seven races scheduled.

The morning SE breeze veered to the SW mid morning, but when the course mark laying was nearing completion, the backed to the SE again with a light 2-4kts. Some repositioning was necessary before racing got underway about noon.

Most sailors were well behaved on the starts, with only a few single recalls which resulted in the use of the U flag for some fleets on later starts. The wind faded substantially for a short while during the first race of some fleets, but quickly came back and strengthened, and, fortunately, there were no more major wind shifts.

There was one brief light shower, but the sun eventually broke through the clouds around 4pm, and the wind faded soon after, so subsequent starts were postponed until Sunday.

Sunday started with a poor forecast but a typical SE katabatic (so we’re led to believe) wind which was likely to fizzle out at noon! The championship race course was set up to the south end of the main bay and into the narrows near Scarness.

Racing was underway as scheduled at 10.30 with winds from 3-8 kts, but soon after high noon, with the wind too light to start more races, the AP was raised. It would be another hour before the wind returned, fortunately from a similar direction, and racing got back underway.

By the 2.35 deadline for the final start signal, there was only one of the 35 races in the championship that could not be raced.

Overall the competitors were were well behaved at the starts, with only one general recall, and a handful of single recalls.

A busy weekend, with a lot of racing and time spent on the water, proved to be very enjoyable and successful, and, no doubt, will have many competitors sleeping on their journey home!

Final results

Club racing

As recently circulated, there will be club racing alongside the Flying 15 and GP open meetings in the form of single handicap fleet. It will follow the schedule of racing of the open meeting sailing instructions.

Beware that start times are earlier than usual – 1300hrs on Saturday and 1030hrs on Sunday

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