BASSENTHWAITE Lake isn�t a lake at all. Its a railway station.

The railway engineers had the option of serving Bassenthwaite by going north of Broadwater, with a station near the village, or south of it, with a station near the lake, at Dubwath.

The railway called that station �Bassenthwaite Lake Station�, to distinguish it from the proposed �Bassenthwaite Village Station� � but the arriving tourists thought that was the name of the lake.

Eventually, Ordnance Survey gave up trying to keep the proper name and so Broadwater now appears on maps as �Bassenthwaite Lake�.

Although Derwentwater has long been known as �Keswick Lake� in West Cumberland, the Ordnance Survey has so far managed to keep its resolve and stick with the proper name.

The railway caused the opposite at Windermere. When it reached the small town of Birthwaite, it decided to call the station there �Windermere� as the Lake District connection would bring more traffic than Birthwaite the town ever could.

So the visitors arriving by train thought the town was called �Windermere� because that�s what the town�s station was called.

Thanks to Andy Smith for this piece of info!

Congratulations to Sam Hall who has been offered a place in this year’s World Laser Radial Youth Championship. However, as the championship ids due to be held in Japan it is unlikely that Sam will accept the offer – Unless there’s a sponsor out there willing to help!

Sam Hall has finished in 4th place in the Scottish Laser Grand Prix in a standard rig this weekend at Largs Sailing Club.

Three Smith brothers sailed at the Yorkshire Dales RS200 open last weekend. Bean and Naomi Smith took 5th overall, but we are not certain where Andy and Rob Smith finished. Y&Y report

Congratulations to Sam Hall who won 2nd place in the North West Junior Travellers at Budworth S C on Bank Holiday Monday. Pictured here with a cup and a trophy that he won

Toddy and Alan Waugh were down preparing their boats on Saturday, but Toddy just couldn’t wait for sailing to start on Sunday and had to go out for a sail, if only for 10 mins!

Well, our 2009 sailing season has finally started and we�ve already hosted a major event (before our own boats have even touched the water)

Last week�s Topper Association Winter Regatta was a resounding success and we�ve had lots of thank you notes from competitors and their families, a typical one reads:

�I would be very grateful if you could pass on my thanks to Bassenthwaite Sailing Club for the excellent time we had at the Topper Northern Winter Regatta. Your Club managed to combine relaxed friendliness from every one we met with efficient organisation on and off the water, and my son and I thoroughly enjoyed our week end. I hope you have a successful season on your beautiful lake.�

I�d like to thank those of you who helped to make the event a success either during the preparations running up to the weekend or during the event itself (which was pretty hectic for many of you)

The competitors and their families were most impressed with the welcome we gave to them and the efficiency of our organisation, all of which is down to your hard work and dedication.

From our point of view I�m sure you will agree that the visitors were particularly polite and well behaved, it was a pleasure having them on site.

The Topper Association has already spoken to me about the possibility of us holding another major event in the future, hopefully this will come to fruition.

Thanks again

Dave Nicholson

Some of the longer standing members will remember Dot Ingledow. Unfortunately she passed away last week. Her funeral was held at Carlisle Crematorium on Friday 27 March

Rich Critchley sent a photo of some keen swimmers at Pilkington Sailing Club in January. The second photo is of the 1993 winning Americas Cup boat Stars and Stripes with a well known club member at the helm (also in January). I know which sort of practice I prefer!

No, it’s not Mike Moore in the centre of the boat (does look like him though!)

Below are some pictures of The Youth Squad that turned up at the meeting on 25th Jan.

Emma Smith introduced the new social organisers Becky and Robin Dawson, discussed the sailing programme,�and all were happy to start bolting on their races onto club races half way through the season when they had gained more confidence. Also, she explained the roles of the council, clarified the situation on boat hire, discussed who needed key fobs, volunteered Joe Watkins to be in charge of the Youth Squad notice board. Afterwards all played some pool and ate pizza!