The overnight rain eased through the morning, leaving a dry afternoon for the start of the final weekend series of the club championship season for which more than 20 boats took to the water.

The wind was lighter than forecast, but there was still opportunities for planing conditions on some of the gusts.

The occasional light patch created opportunities for some to make up ground, but, generally, positions remained consistent throughout the afternoon, with Simon/Jon in the F15s, Val/Ken in the GPs, and Andy/Lily in the Slow Handicap each had two wins, and therefore made them overnight leaders for their fleet trophies. In the Handicap fleet, Neil won in his Laser in the first race, and Tony in a Solo in the second one.

Another film video from John, this time 360 version so turn your phone/tablet, or drag the image, to choose your view

The wind and rain was forecast to return on Sunday, but, although it was miserably wet, the wind was similar to Saturday, and eased as the morning went on. The F15 and GP sailors were less than enthusiastic to race, while the Slow Handicap were tied up doing other things, including standing in as OD in Mik’s case, which left a the the Handicap fleet of five boats.

The changing winds strengths throughout the day led to a mix of race positions, with the overall result being dependent on the final race. Banter/Izzy’s win in their RS400 put them half a point ahead of Steve/Ruth in their Merlin to win the Comet Trophy.

Final results

The weekend’s results changed the club championship results with Simon/Jon taking the lead in the F15 championship from Mike/Kayla, and Andy/Lily winning the Slow Handicap championship from Mik. Congratulations also go to Dave/Lynn in the GPs, and Steve/Ruth in the Handicap fleet.

Club Championship 2019

Members will note that the lake level has risen considerably over the last week, and with a lot more rain in the pipeline, please consider moving your boat off the foreshore to avoid the risk of damage if flooding occurs yet again.

Some cooler autumnal airs, with blue skies as a backdrop, were the order of the day on Saturday. The winds proved to be variable in both strength, and direction, all afternoon.

Despite getting caught on the Bates’ anchor warp just after starting, Paul, with Evie and William crewing, in their Mirror beat Mik to the windward mark in the light conditions. The story goes that William helmed as Paul freed their spinnaker sheet from under the boat, Mik subsequently passed them, and held the lead to the finish.

The wind dropped during the start sequence of the second race, such that when AJ was starting in the GPs, and creating chaos as is often the case, there was still three late starters from the handicap fleet in his way, not that anyone did any turns…

Dave/Lynn won both races in the GPs, with Paul/Vicky, and Joan/Jack each securing a 2nd place. In the Handicap fleet, Stan won both races in his Solo, and Paul in a Laser two 2nds.

On Sunday morning the clouds rolled in, but brought no extra wind with them. While inspecting the beats, the OD noted two winds, the first from 5-9, the second from 4-1. How can that be possible? Relying on the 4-1 beat, a course was prepared but then the wind backed, seemingly settling on 4-0, so the course was adjusted, and racing got underway.

The wind did continue to have some big shifts to keep helms on their toes. To extend the race time slightly, the OD opted to finish at 0, but as the lead boats were on that final beat, the light patch around 0 quickly expanded over the full beat. Fortunately, after about 15 mins the wind filled in sufficiently to bring the rest of the fleet home.

Dave/Lynn secured another win from Joan/Jack to win the Autumn Cup, and Steve/Ruth won the Handicap race from Stan who won the Skiddaw Trophy, with Steve 2nd overall. Though not sailing, the F15 Dawson Trophy was won by Angus/Mike, and the slow handicap Bates Trophy by Mik.

Final DW results

The wind came and went over the lunch break, but never bedded in properly so the afternoon pennant race was cancelled.

Meanwhile several club sailors have been on the circuit and their results can be followed here
Mike Moore/kayla Sheard – Flying 15 Championship of Ireland, World Championship
Tony King – Solo Inland Championship
John Reekie – Musto Skiff Nationals

John Bracegirdle has been trying out his 360 camera…

Blue skies, southerly wind, temperature in the mid 20s – champagne sailing conditions no less, surely it can’t really be a bank holiday?

The junior were having more fun on the water with relay races, and Pirate netball (not sure what that entails, other than it was described as carnage by one mum!).

The following photos from team Brotherton demonstrate what sailing is all about with fun on the water. Will there be any Olympic hopefuls amongst them?

Racing for the weekend started with two races in the Dawson Trophy long Series. The good weather had tempted Graham and Alan on to the water in a F15, and they held a commanding lead only to round the final mark of their first lap the wrong way (was it really by accident that they were told it should be rounded to starboard?). Unfortunately they did not unwind their mistake, they made it worse by rounding it the wrong way again, and consequently opted to retire just before finishing the race in the lead. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, they led the next race as well, and won it.

The wind held throughout the afternoon for the 30+ boats, across the four fleets, racing which was followed by an afternoon tea with a vast selection of cakes.

Latest results

Sunday’s racing started in similar conditions to Saturday with a good southerly that tempted the OD to send the fleets down the lake to mark 15, with a windward/leeward course which proved to have one of the steadiest winds for a long time. Emily kept shouting she couldn’t sail to 15, but she proved herself wrong by so doing!

During the next race after lunch, the wind faded rapidly which made sailors uncomfortably hot in the heat of the day with no comforting breeze. The wind did seem to be returning, and a new course was set for the final race of the day but, with seconds to go before the sequence began, the sea breeze came in with gusto, so the line and course was reset, hopefully allowing the misery of the second race to be quickly forgotten.

After racing the Commodore had a drinks party to thank everyone that had helped make Bass Week a great success, and it coincided with her parents’, David and Barbara Darling, 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to all!

Monday morning was foggy and grey with little sign of the forecast F1 from SW. As the start time approached, the AP was raised, but there was a hint of some wind filling in so the OD went on the water to investigate. Soon after the decision was made that racing was good to go and the fleets soon joined the OD on the water. As ever, the wind was shifty, but it did ease and prolonged the final lap for the later finishers.

After lunch there was some apathy towards venturing out again, but the OD went out, set a line only for the wind to shift, then disappear, but, with 20+ boats milling around, the OD just waited to see if anything would fill in. The sea breeze did its bit, and racing was soon underway, though when the F15s started there was no wind at the 2nd mark A. Fortunately as the lead boat edged towards A, the wind followed them, then strengthened, and held through to the finish, complete with mega shifts to contend with.

The overall winners were:
– F15 Flying Free Trophy – Simon/Jon
– Handicap August Trophy – Steve/Ruth
– GP Dave/Lynn
– Slow Handicap Mirror Mug – John

Final results

For a pleasant change there was a good wind forecast for the whole weekend, over which a club championship series is being held. The day started with some youth sail training. The wind freshened as the afternoon went on, and there were surprisingly few capsizes. Though a notable one was Val and Ken, having been in the lead earlier in the race, if only because they were caught on camera before colliding with the Bates after righting. The Bates seemed to be a risky place to be with Simon/Jon avoiding colliding with it, and then Mike/Kayla, just before the start of the second race.

Was it the lack of recent experience in higher winds that had various crews on the foredeck clearing spinnaker lines at the start of the windward leg? Banter/Emma joined forces in the RS400, but after breaking their spinnaker halyard, they popped ashore after the first race with the intention of being back out for the next one! – it was not to be…

Generally the stronger winds seemed to be shifty, making it hard work, and resulting in obvious relief from numerous crews as they finished the last race of the day.

On Sunday the wind started lighter than expected, but freshened as the day went on. The morning race had two beats, the 2nd one heading to mark A, partially blanketed by Sale Fell (though it wasn’t meant to be), which proved challenging as to how to approach it. Peter thought it was ideally positioned in the worst place possible!

There were a few more capsizes throughout the day, numerous spectacularly fast spinnaker legs, and some good racing. However, it all took its toll on the competitors that reduced in numbers as the day went on, to the stage that there was only one taker for the final race.

AJ was feeling the pressure with Dave crewing and jumped ship (or was he washed overboard?) on one reach! Steve/Ruth realised it was faster without a spinnaker than bearing away on a gust with kite, then beating back up to the next mark as Banter did more than once. Paul was sailing a Topper but struggled to tack at one stage adding more than 7 mins to his lap time (it was wondered whether he was sand bagging waiting for the course to be shortened!)

The overall winners were Simon/Jon in the F15s, Dave/Lynn in the GPs, Steve/Ruth in the handicap fleet, and Phil/Oliver in the Slow Handicap fleet

Final results