With William Carruthers having just completed the move from Flying 15 to RS400, it seems there are several moves in the air. Dave Nicholson will be getting a new GP, Phil and Rich Hodgkins are between boats – will it be a GP?, Malcolm Clayton moving up to the Hodgkins boys’ boat. Will Michala take Malcolm’s boat, and will Roy Blackburn move from Lark to RS400?

With the arrival of William’s RS400, there was a lot of encouragement to get on the water and boost the fleet of RSs on the water. But when was he going to make that first move? Bridget couldn’t wait for him to ‘get his knickers wet!’ Would he be in shorts and T shirt? Daughter Emily had been promised the first sail, so everything had to wait until Sunday afternoon when she turned up and nervously got changed. But she did get in the boat, she did reluctantly fly the genniker, she did have to crawl on the foredeck to rerig the genniker after dad had forgotten to tie the ends of the sheets, she did sail the whole race, stayed upright, didn’t win but enjoyed it! Well done!

As for the rest of the weekend’s racing, there was plenty of sun, plenty of wind, some exciting courses, the odd capsize, some close racing, and innovative starting procedure by use of Herb’s whistle! Scott Beattie took three firsts from Paul Burnell to win the Mellor Mug, Mark Somerville won the Handicap Isel Cup with three firsts, but it was all on the last race in the GPs with David and Lynn Lawson taking the honours from Phil SMith and Toggle Cowan

FF MELLOR MUG

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1    3673  S BEATTIE     FF           1   1   1 DNS   3
 2    3521  P BURNELL     FF           2   2   2   2   6
 3   93673  J SOMERVILLE  FF         DNS DNS DNS   1   9

                     Points for RTD =  3   3   3   3
                     Points for DSQ =  3   3   3   3
                     Points for DNS =  4

 3 races to count

ISEL CUP

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1  161866  M SOMERVILLE  LAS          1   1   3   1   3
 2    1140  J CHRISTIE    VORTEX       2   2   1   3   5
 3    1210  S HUNT        RS400        3   3   2   2   7
 4     501  N CURRIE      RS400        4   5   4   4  12
 5    2324  R BLACKBURN   LARK         5   4 RTD   5  14
 6    1125  JoHALLIDAY    RS400        6   6   6   6  18
 7   69960  M CHAPPEL     MS         DNS DNS   5 DNS  25
 8     103  A NICHOLSON   VARIO      RTD RTD DNS DNS  26
 9     937  W CARRUTHERS  RS400      DNS DNS DNS   7  27

                     Points for RTD =  8   8   8   8
                     Points for DSQ =  8   8   8   8
                     Points for DNS = 10

 3 races to count

GP14 COMMODORES PRIZE

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1   13176  D LAWSON      GP           2   1   2   1   4
 2   13791  P SMITH       GP           1   2   1   2   4
 3   13142  R HODGKINS    GP           3   3   3 DNS   9
 4   12329  J WOOD        GP           4   5   6   4  13
 5   13118  V BELL        GP         DNS DNS   5   3  19
 6   13238  D NICHOLSON   GP           5   4 DNS DNS  20
 7   13326  S WATSON      GP         DNS DNS   7   5  23
 8  913161  D SPENCE      GP         DNS  OD DNS DNS  25
 9   13371  J RILEY       GP         DNS DNS  OD DNS  25
10   13733  A HODGKINS    GP         DNS DNS   4 DNS  26

                     Points for RTD =  6   6   8   6
                     Points for DSQ =  6   6   8   6
                     Points for DNS = 11

 3 races to count

At the end of the Whitsun break, and with all the glorious weather, a lot of sailors were obviously tinkering about at somewhere other than the club!

Those that did sail enjoyed some good racing. Toggle Cowan took to the helm for a change, sailing the first race with his wife Joan, and then the final race under the watchful eye of Robin Dawson – If only Toggle had listened to his helm he wouldn’t have been at the centre of so much ribbing – Toggle became a master at close rounding of marks, so much so that he is now the proud co-owner of a multi coloured boat! (i.e. coloured with paint that matches some of those marks he rounded so closely). Ken Bell did query whether competitors were allowed to move marks as well as the race officer, but Toggle assures us he did do turns for each of the marks that he came into contact with!

As the results show, only two boats sailed all four races and therefore were in the running for the Tinker Trophy this year – John Halliday in an RS400 and Jim Christie in a Vortex. Jim sailed consistently to take the trophy – so will he be at this year’s prize giving, or will he be ‘doing his hair’?

TINKER TROPHY

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1    1140  J CHRISTIE    VORTEX       2   1   1   1   5
 2    1125  JoHALLIDAY    RS400        3   2   6   4  15
 3   13118  V BELL        GP         DNS DNS   4   2  28
 4   13733  A HODGKINS    GP           4 DNS   3 DNS  29
 5  913791  M COWAN       GP         DNS DNS   5   3  30
 6  170613  S DUNNETT     LAS          1 DNS DNS DNS  34
 7   13142  R HODGKINS    GP         DNS DNS   2 DNS  35
 8       4  P DILLON      TOP        DNS DNS DNS   5  38
 9   66942  J FERGUSON    LAS        DNS DNS DNS RTD  40
10    2324  R BLACKBURN   LARK       DNS DNS RTD DNS  41

                     Points for RTD =  5   3   8   7
                     Points for DSQ =  5   3   8   7
                     Points for DNS = 11

 4 races to count

The sailors at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club were not going to let recent events spoil their Easter weekend, as the Club continues to organise great club racing despite the recent theft of the committee boat. The wind was not always the best for racing but everyone enjoyed taking part and it was good to see lots of families taking their children out on boats on Saturday.

This season will see the GP14 fleet continue to build on the success of last season and the club is developing a strong active handicap fleet, offering sailing to all ages and abilities.

In the championship series the results were – Flying Fifteen Easterly Trophy won by Scott Beattie and John Somerville with Ian Campbell and Tony Fisher 2^nd. Dave and Lynn Lawson won the GP14 Bass tankard with Robin Dawson and Mike Cowan 2^nd. Tim and Rob Smith won the Mirrors Image Trophy and the Handicap fleet Easter Trophy was won by Mark Somerville. This is a promising start to the season, as the GP14 fleet head for the Scottish Area Championship next week we wish them well as John Telford and Andy Smith defend their Championship Trophy and Phil and Rich Hodgkins defend the Junior Scottish Cup.

FLYING 15 EASTERLY TROPHY

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1    3673  S BEATTIE     FF           1   1   1 DNS   3
 2    3560  I CAMPBELL    FF           2   2   2   1   5
 3    3332  W SOMERVILLE  FF           3   3   5   5  11
 4    3473  M MOORE       FF           4   4   4   4  12
 5    3521  P BURNELL     FF         DNS DNS   3   3  14
 6   93673  J SOMERVILLE  FF         DNS DNS DNS   2  18
 7    3330  P NUTTALL     FF         DNS DNS DNS  OD  19

                     Points for RTD =  5   5   6   6
                     Points for DSQ =  5   5   6   6
                     Points for DNS =  8

 3 races to count

GP14 BASS TANKARD

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1   13176  D LAWSON      GP           1   1   1   1   3
 2   13749  R DAWSON      GP           2   5   2   2   6
 3   13839  H GODFREY     GP           5   3   3   3   9
 4   13327  M FAIRLAMB    GP           6   2   5   4  11
 5   13142  R HODGKINS    GP           3   4   4   5  11
 6   13259  W ROBERTS     GP           4   6   7   6  16
 7   13238  D NICHOLSON   GP          OD DNS   8 DNS  22
 8   13733  A HODGKINS    GP         RTD   7   6 DNS  22
 9   13013  J SEDGWICK    GP           7 DNS DNS DNS  29
10       2  B WOOD        TOP        DNS RTD DNS DNS  30

                     Points for RTD =  9   8   9   7
                     Points for DSQ =  9   8   9   7
                     Points for DNS = 11

 3 races to count

HANDICAP EASTER TROPHY

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1  161866  M SOMERVILLE  LAS          2   1   1   4   4
 2     501  N CURRIE      RS400        1   4   3   3   7
 3    2324  R BLACKBURN   LARK         5 DNS   2   1   8
 4  174889  A THOMAS      LAS          3   2 DNS DNS  15
 5    1125  JoHALLIDAY    RS400        6   5   5   5  15
 6  166400  S COBB        LAS          4   3 DNS DNS  17
 7  160516  T CHITTENDEN  LAS        DNS DNS DNS   2  22
 8     331  R YARDLEY     RS300      DNS DNS   4 DNS  24
 9   70142  T SMITH       MIRROR     RTD RTD DNS DNS  25

                     Points for RTD =  8   7   6   6
                     Points for DSQ =  8   7   6   6
                     Points for DNS = 10

 3 races to count

MIRROR IMAGE TROPHY

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2 Pts
 1   70142  T SMITH       MIRROR       1   1   2
 2   69960  M CHAPPEL     MS           2   2   4
 3   68852  N WOOD        MIR          3 DNS   7

                     Points for RTD =  4   3
                     Points for DSQ =  4   3
                     Points for DNS =  4

 2 races to count