Saturday’s forecast was wet and blustery, and perhaps the reason for the limited number of takers for the two race Celebrity Glass Pursuit. As it turned out, there were some short, heavy, showers, but the wind was lighter than expected.
The 50 min races had Tog in his Solo starting first with the GP chasing just 30 secs later. In the first race Vice Commodore Jon was sailing with Commodore Naomi as a practice for the forthcoming 24 hour race, for which it is rumoured they could be starting on behalf of the club. They quickly caught Tog on the beats, but offwind, places regularly changed if the wind picked up. On rounding the final mark before the finish, Jon had a strong lead but a gust of wind had him looking at the centreboard wondering whether it would take his weight, if he could get on to it! Fortunately they recovered, but it was to be a close finish as seen above.
For the second race, AJ/Sue took control of the GP. AJ blamed his failure to catch Tog on spinnaker problems… Tog’s 1st and 2nd won him the trophy.
Sunday was less showery, but had various short, torrential, downpours. The westerly F2-3, had some good gusts for the reaches, but proved to be very shifty throughout the day. There were a few capsizes, but Steve/Ruth in a Merlin led the handicap fleet to win the morning race with Peter 2nd in his Laser, and Mike/Joanie in their RS200 3rd. Dave/Lynn won in the GPs ahead of AJ/Sue.
The afternoon pennant race just took the small fleet of eight boats to Scarness so they avoided the worst of the Sale Fell down draughts. Nigel/Glenys capsized at the first gybe mark, but retired after getting help to get their mast out of the mud. Steve/Ruth took another win from Dave/Lynn, with Toggle in his Solo 3rd.
The race counted towards Sandra’s Salver for female crews, which Sue is still leading
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.
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!
After the sweltering temperatures earlier in the week, nature decided it was time to water the gardens with persistent rain/drizzle, and Bass was no exception. With a lack of wind, the lake looked grey, idyllic, but not particularly suitable racing conditions for the weekend’s fleet challenge series.
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.
As the fleet of 17 boats, in which it was great to have so many young sailors, prepared for the Mirror Inland Championship, the lake had numerous calm patches which the forecast didn’t instil confidence in many that they would disappear. However, shortly before the scheduled start the wind did settle and fill the lake.
As the nights draw in after the summer solstice, the high pressure left us with clear skies and light variable winds.
With less than a week until the longest day, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the temperature has improved and the sun is shining. Add a good force 4 from the SW and you have near perfect conditions for Saturday racing.