This weekend Bass held the FF Northerns. On Saturday the weather was fantastic although the winds very light and challenging. A strong fleet of 31 boats took to the water and it was Steve Goacher that again mastered the light airs to reign as overnight leader with two bullets.

The eagle eyed amongst you will note that one boat, being sailed by brothers Alan and Eric Smith from Bass, had sail no 1. What you may not realise is that it is actually FF #1. It has been restored by the brothers and relaunched especially for the event. For the maiden voyage, it was sailed in its original state complete with wooden mast, boom and red cotton storm sails (not ideal for the light wind conditions!).

Sunday’s conditions started off like a mirror, but the wind filled in for a slightly belated start just after 11am. Steve Goacher was a premature starter and had to fight his way back from 12th position at the windward mark, finally reaching 4th. Adrian Tattersall won the race but as his next best result was a 5th, it meant Steve couldn’t be beaten and he was able to sit out the last race. Dave Brockbank with a 2nd, 4th and 6th came 2nd. Bass helm Scott Beattie, with John Somerville, found their form for the second day with a 1st and 2nd to secure 3rd overall.

With no club racing, three RSs took the opportunity to sail at Ullswater’s one day open meeting with RS200 and RS400 fleets. Five races were sailed, with four to count, in very unsettled airs that ranged from sitting out (briefly) to flat calm. Out of the 33 RS200s Robin and Ethan Dawson sailed well to secure 2nd overall. Of the 7 RS400s, it tended to be difficult for helms to actually work out what position they had achieved until the results were published. Some consistent positions by William and Ruth gave them 12pts and 3rd overall. Scumper and Zefer had 13 pts and finished 4th overall. Oh to be back at Bass for some steady winds!?

The high winds of the first race led to several casualties, including various team Bass boats (or was it all?!). In fact the strength of it caused Rob Smith to have a change of mind and he opted to crew for twin brother Tim instead of sailing single handed. The OD (and the twins brother) reckoned if they had a spinnaker system that worked they would have done wonders – such is life! Rob’s change of mind meant that Beanacrew, specially prepared for the weekend was left on the shore for (another) brother Andy to rescue (amidst various creaks and groans – was that Andy or the boat though?!) with the help of Scumper.

The wind did ease slightly for the other races, and there were no further casualties. Hector Cisneros with son Ben got in the groove and secured three firsts to have a comfortable overnight lead.

The OD was concerned at one stage that he couldn’t find the black flag on the committee boat, but as it turned out, all apart from one boat were well behaved and stayed clear of the line. In 5 hours the OD successfully had all four races completed, and boats ashore.

The sailors are all having an early meal followed by a sumo wrestling competition – no peace for the wicked!

The winds for Sunday were forecast to be relatively light – and how right it was. It proved to be a totally different kettle of fish.

The promised wind was very light to non existent. The OD eventually tried to start racing which resulted in a series of postponements, general recalls, round the ends and a black flag – well worth finding! All these starts used up what little wind there was so that when the fleet finally got under way the wind died totally at which point the OD abandoned the race -� or was it because Rob and Tim were last? You can’t have a Smith in last place! The abandonment brought cheers from the fleet that could be heard from the shore.

If it was possible, the wind died further with the lake becoming a mill pond. The OD gave up and abandoned the racing leaving the results as they stood from overnight. This scuppered Mik and Toddy’s cunning plan of getting everyone to pack up, whilst they waited for the sea breeze to come and get two good results.

At the prize giving, winning helm Hector Cisneros thanked the club for its hospitality, and the OD for some challenging courses, as well as abandoning the one race of the day that finally got under way. Also, he told the youths not to be dis-heartened by their performances on Saturday as it had been one of the most challenging days sailing that he’d had in years.

Following the excess wind and rain leading up to the weekend, all the sailors had to contend with was sunshine and showers. The winds were light, and racing on Sunday was delayed waiting for the wind to fill in. Attempts to sail the final race were abandoned. Neil Platt from Bolton & West Kirby, with our own Sally Roberts, had equal points with Martin Brennan from Hollingworth, but won the series on the last race tie break.

The forecast was for more wind than Sunday, but there was considerably less as the boats were rigged. By the time the boats were on the water the wind had filled in and looked considerably more promising but, as ever, there were some big shifts to contend with and as a result the fleets were all well intermingled at the windward mark.

The gusts kept coming through, and boats had to work hard to stay upright on the reaches. Rhonwen was caught out by a gust just at the stage when her rudder had lifted, so she ended up in the water (score of 5.2 for the back flip?!). Not content with 5.2 for artistic content Rhonwen tried even harder in the final race and achieved a 5.5 for her capsize. The fact that Sam was laughing at the time isn’t sufficient to raise the score any more!

The Mirror results may look like it was a done deal with Mik Chappell taking both races – what it doesn’t show is that Toddy was in front of him for quite some time. This is a great confidence booster and could be a sign of things to come.

As Ian Preston and Jess Roberts were sailing today, Mike Moore and Mark Rimmer did some pot hunting in the F15 fleet and it paid off with two firsts to take the Jack Pot Trophy.

The final results for the handicap fleet were all dependant on the last race with no less than four in contention for the May Holiday Trophy. Robbie D and Ethan remained in the frame until the final run when Ethan didn’t manage to hold the tiller straight for quite long enough and they capsized. Scumper and Toggle were first to the windward mark but lost the lead to William and Jonathan at the next gybe mark. The gusting tight reach was just too much and William had to recover from a near capsize allowing Shunty and Ruth to have their turn in the lead! But that wasn’t it, the three RS400s remained in close contention, with the lead changing a couple of times, until the final lap when Shunty broke away. When the handicaps were calculated Joan Hardie was first with Shunty second, more than enough for him to win the trophy.

The Graduates have now completed their championship and the final results are shown below

As expected, the wind eased for the second day of the handicap open meeting. With an earlier than usual start the OD was able to run all three races.

The wind shifts may have been subtle, but they could be deadly and several places changed as a result. This led to� the overall result resting on the final race. This is where Naomi (the love of Bean’s life) gets a special mention – partly because she didn’t get one last time L, but mainly because if she’d had the opportunity to fly the gennaker on the final reach she and Bean would have made up the necessary five secs required to beat Scumper and Zefer, and take the winning trophy from them.

Roy Blackburn was getting back in the swing (instead of swim for a change) and succeeded in being first to the windward mark in two of the races. Unfortunately, the first time he did it he was set on rounding it to port instead of starboard and ended up in the way of various boats on his tail.

Toggle did a bit of trawling at one stage, but still secured a prize as first Vareo, Mark Rimmer received a prize in his first Bass open. Lewis Tyson was first Topper. Ruth Critchley received a prize for putting up with her helm who had spat out his dummy twice in one day – we’ll let him off opting out of Saturday’s race after the first beat (otherwise it would have been a hat-trick). In fact it seems that only Bass members received prizes on this rare occasion. One visitor that appeared late on Saturday afternoon was unwelcome and ejected from the clubhouse (well, it was a mouse!)

HANDICAP OPEN

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4 Pts
 1    1049  M SOMERVILLE  RS400        1   4   2   1   4
 2     691  P SMITH       RS200      DNS   1   3   2   6
 3     379  R DAWSON      RS200      DNS   2   4   3   9
 4    1303  W CARRUTHERS  RS400      DNS   5   1   4  10
 5  167828  I MACPHERSON  LAS          2   3   5   7  10
 6  174889  S HALL        LAS        RTD   6   6   6  18
 7    1029  R BLACKBURN   RS400      RTD   7   8   5  19
 8  160516  T CHITTENDEN  LAS        DNS   9   7   8  24
 9    1298  S HUNT        RS400      RTD RTD   9 RTD  27
10     303  M COWAN       VAREO      DNS   8  10   9  27
11    1066  J CONNOR      RSFEVA     RTD DNS DNS DNS  35
12     374  M RIMMER      VAREO      DNS DNS  11  10  35
13   45866  L TYSON       TOP        DNS DNS  12  11  37

                     Points for RTD =  7  11  13  12
                     Points for DSQ =  7  11  13  12
                     Points for DNS = 14

 3 races to count

All Bets Off!

The high winds that started on Friday were still around for the FA Cup final – were these the reasons why there were few takers for the Handicap Open? Those members that turned up were only slightly less reluctant to go on the water than the OD! After a quick show of hands it was decided to race, and all but the feint-hearted ventured out. Scumper and Zefer were the first to go out, but after 10mins (during which time no-one else had followed them) came ashore (but only to rig their gennaker correctly as it would only fly properly on port tack).

Six boats did go out, Scumper was the first to capsize, followed by Jonathan Connor, Sam Hall, Ian Macpherson, and Roy Blackburn. The only survivor was Shunty and Ruth – they sailed the first beat and then came straight ashore.

Roy’s crew for the weekend is Megan, a young, new member. She admitted to never having sailed so fast, and that was without the gennaker! Of course, as mentioned earlier, Roy’s old habits die hard, and they ended up swimming! But they’ll be back for more tomorrow.

As it seemed to be a dead cert that all those taking to the water would be going for a swim the only betting was to be on how long they would stay upright!

Those that didn’t risk life and limb, stayed ashore and enjoyed afternoon tea and biscuits……

With so many capsizes, the OD called it a day after the first race and postponed sailing until Sunday and then sat back and watched the rest of the cup final. First race 10.30!