Despite a small contingent vying for the opportunity to race to secure the first trophy for next year’s prize giving, there was no wind, and as it had not appeared after a short postponement, racing was cancelled bringing the season’s racing to a close.
The results for last week’s racing were calculated and showed that Jim Christie had won the Winter Trophy on fleet handicap with Mike Fairlamb 2nd, and Paul Gannon on a personal handicap basis with Jim 2nd.
The prize giving is being held at Hundith Hill on Saturday, and the AGM will be held in the clubhouse at 2pm on Sunday. Come along and have your say!
With the season atva close, don’t put off coming down to take your boat away, or make sure it is positioned above typical flood levels and securely tied down against potential winter storms.
On Saturday evening we celebrated bonfire night with a large bonfire and great array of fireworks, complete with hot drinks and hot dogs.
Sunday’s forecast was for some gusty winds, but it started off mirror-like and slowly filled in with a cold NW wind, which was pleasantly counteracted by a sun-filled sky throughout the day.
After losing so many days sailing recently, and with only three days racing left, sailors were keen to get back on the water, and we had a complement of 11 boats. Paul in a Laser had a flying port on port start, and kept ahead of Neil’s Laser for two full laps. Mike/Eric in a GP won the first race ahead of Mike/Kayla in a F15 with Jim in his Supernova 3rd.
After lunch, some holes in the wind bunched the fleet up a little, and although Mike/Kayla finished 1st on the water ahead of Banter/Jonathan in a 400, on handicap Jim took the honours, with Mike/Eric 2nd.
A poor forecast on a damp Saturday afternoon, and the threat from Storm Brian, all resulted in no contenders, despite the conditions being sailable.
Despite the risk is that Sunday’s conditions would be worse, Brian was on his way and left some good sailing conditions, but no one was tempted so racing was cancelled and the six rescue and race management team had another early finish.
A mirror like morning lake was not reflecting the longer term forecast, but the wind quickly filled in for the 18 boats racing in the annual Viking Trophy which is awarded to the best performing team of three. However, the wind quickly filled in to provide some great racing conditions, though a squall during the first start made everyone wonder how many races we would manage to get in.
The squall did pass through, but the base wind level remained force 4. The gusts flattened one or two boats, and consequently shredded a spinnaker! No one chanced flying a spinnaker on the reaches, not that there was a need to, but they were flown on the runs, with some spectacular planing conditions.
The first two races were led by Simon Longstaff/Jon Denwood and Neil Currie/Rory Yardley, but Steve Goacher/Tim Harper quietly pulled through to win both races, and he led the final race from the start, with Mark Somerville/Mike Cowan securing a good 2nd place. Not surprisingly, Steve’s team are overnight leaders.
[lg_slideshow folder=”album/17sundry/F15 team racing” display=”slide”]
As can be seen, Sally thoroughly enjoyed herself, and never gave a thought to her panda eyes!
Would the winds be kind so we can get the two remaining races in? No chance! If Steve Goacher says it’s windy, is anyone going to challenge him?! So the overnight results stand, despite Simon Longstaff trying to manipulate an alternate resolution…
FF Team Racing Team Scores 2017
R1
R2
R3
R4
R5
Best and the Worst
12
11
18
41
The Committee
20
17
16
53
The Octonauts
21
23
18
62
King�s Team
29
34
31
94
The Old Codgers
45
42
44
131
Tower Boys
44
47
45
136
After packing up their boats, there was an early prize giving in which everyone was a winner. In a close run contest, Ian Preston would have been awarded the Grotty Potty for having his boat pre-launched (well the tide came in to almost have it floating), but he was disqualified by not entering, so Athol King antics of falling out of his boat four times put him in pole position ahead of Mike Moore who was knocked out of the boat, hung on by a leg and holding the tiller, but struggled to pull his head out of the water!
Athol awarded with Grotty PottySteve does it in his sleep!
Ian Preston got another mention from his friends at Blackpool and Fleetwood for failing to provide the breakfast bacon baps they had travelled all this way to enjoy!
In support of Countryfile�s nationwide ramble for Children in Need, all the sailors sponsored Jon Denwood who has gone for a ramble around Sale Fell with Neil Currie. Contact him if you want to sponsor his efforts.
The blustery winds that were forecast did not come to fruition, resulting in good sailing conditions for the select few that raced, albeit in cooler conditions that in recent weekends.
Val/Ken in their GP led the races generally, giving Neil in a Laser a run for his money, making good use of the intermittent planing conditions. Neil finished first on the water in the first race, and though Val crossed the line first in the last race, she hit the mark, and had to re-round it, letting Neil get through in the meantime. New member Mathis had a tussle with the start mark, getting caught up in its mooring rope, giving the rest of the fleet a bit if a start!
On handicap, Val won both races on personal and fleet handicap basis, with Neil 2nd.
Sunday’s forecast was for light airs and the risk of rain, but with enough ripples on the water to get racing underway. However, the wind was swinging considerably, so a hopefully middling beat to mark 1 was set. With 1 relatively close to the shore, it was partly shadowed from the wind making the beat a little slow and challenging for some. Though the first lap was slow, it would have been too short to stop for lunch, so the fleet continued for another two thirds of a lap to finish at mark 0. Though it was fine for the leaders, led by Neil/Rory in a F15, the wind faded and the tail enders had a slow return home.
The breeze returned for the afternoon, but remained light. Neil led the fleet but it was a day for GPs, though Dave/Lynn had to work to pull back and win on a fleet handicap basis ahead of Joan/Jack. On personal handicap, Paul/Emily won the morning race, and Jim/Poppy had a better race winning the afternoon race.
Fortunately sunshine won the day and the rain did not appear, but the flies in the race office did!
Dave/Lynn presently lead both the fleet and personal handicap Sunday series
After a cold night, the Southerly breeze was pleasantly mild, and lighter than the general forecast, but forecast to increase over the morning. The only takers were Mike/Kayla in their F15, and Dave/Lynn in their GP, but they had a good race, and relying on the least number of mistakes to win! With several marks in unusual positions, the course took a little understanding, and Mike headed for mark S instead of mark N which lost him some ground and Dave broke through for a while. Even over the relatively short duration of the race, the wind increased considerably, and there were some exciting offwind legs. One gust proved to be a bit much for Mike and caused him to broach, losing him some more ground.
On handicap, the honours went to Dave with Mike 2nd.
There was no takers for the afternoon race, so lunch then home; just as well as the wind continued to increase, and the rain moved in.
Congratulations to Sandy and Douglas Simpson who have just returned from the Mirror Inlands, Junior and Youth Nationals where they finished second overall, counting 1, 3, 2, 2, 2 and discarding a 9th. Chris Fuller won it, but they won the Junior Nationals, in a fleet of 11 boats.
Some blustery conditions on Saturday morning eased to leave near champagne racing conditions in the (slightly) warmer weather with sunny intervals. Today’s racing is for the final weekend series of the championship season, but as the winners have already been determined, numbers on the water were lighter than usual.
Dave Lawson led Val Bell in both GP races, but they shared their crews with Ladies v Gents in the second race.
Steve/Ruth led the handicap fleet in the first race taking 1st on handicap with Jim/Poppy 2nd. In the next race, Steve took the lead but failed to notice that nobody was following him up the 2nd beat because the course had changed! By the time he realised three boats had got away, and he finished 4th with Scumper 1st and Jim taking another 2nd. Bob had similar problems following the course after the one he’d written down had been scuffed off.
In the slow handicap fleet, Mik in his Mirror won the first race, but in the next race there was a dead heat with Paul in a Topper.
Sunday stayed dry with another mild southerly breeze, but it didn’t encourage any more on to the water. With no GPs sailing, the Stables Prize goes to Saturday’s overnight leader Dave and Lynn Lawson, who opted to try their hand in the handicap fleet and give Scumper a run for his money, which they did very successfully as he was unable to break far enough ahead, and they won race 3 on handicap. Joanie had had enough sailing for the weekend, so Tog retreated to the Solo only for the gooseneck to break soon after starting.
After lunch the wind eased slightly, but results on handicap were consistent with a finishing order of Scumper, Dave, and Tog. The trophy goes to Scumper, with Tog (aided by Joanie) 2nd and Dave/Lynn 3rd.
Paul Gannon won races 3 and 4 with John Roberts 2nd. Although the positions were reversed in the final race, Paul had sufficient good results to win the trophy.
Congratulations go out to Vice Commodore Naomi Smith and husband Phil on the birth of their daughter Lucy, a brother for Oliver.
Congratulations go to another Smith, Naomi’s brother in law Andy after his stirling performance with Phil Hodgkins at Derwent Reservoir over the weekend winning all races to win the GP14 Northern championship!
Despite a poor pre=registration for this year’s Bart’s Bash there was a turnout of 13 boats in the light northerly airs. There were numerous threats of rain, but it was limited to a few spits and spots. Steve/Izzy in a Merlin led both races but on handicap Tony King in a Solo that beat them by just a few secs each time. Paul Bowmer took a 3rd in the first race, and Jim/Poppy 3rd in the second race.
While we have a team away at the 24 hour race�we have our annual visit from the Tinker Association for one of the rallies, and we hold an all fleet handicap series with nine boats taking part on another sunny Saturday. At lunchtime the winds seemed to be very light but they filled in sufficiently for a good afternoon’s racing during which there were no capsizes, or exciting tales to tell!
Hugh led both races in his Vareo, followed by Joe in his Laser, which were their positions on on corrected time as well, while Ian in a Solo took 3rd in the first race and AJ/Sue in a GP 3rd in the second one.
With a low pressure moving in, Sunday’s forecast was looking somewhat gusty, but as Bass has its own micro climate we were lucky and got more racing in.
The Tinkers led the way and demonstrated that conditions were suitable though, for a long while, AJ and Sue had no competition and were wondering what they should do with their their unexpected spare time. However the overnight leaders did appear so Sue had to sail but was able to postpone her ironing for a few more hours!
Sensibly AJ opted to race in his F15 and was able to avoid capsizing, but his competition were not so lucky, each suffering several capsizes over the two races. Joe had less critical timing of his capsizes and secured two wins, and the weekend series trophy.
To quote TS Elliot the Night Jar series �ended with a whimper�. It was very wet, it was windy and nobody really wanted to go through the routine of rigging and launching.
John & Hazel said they might if they had someone to sail against. �But when newly qualified driver Harry arrived at the Club in his Mini and said he could be tempted to go out, they had second thoughts.
A fair number of others turned up just for the food and Sarah and Neil didn�t disappoint with their large helpings of Pizza.
So the Night Jar Fleet handicap awards go to Mike & Eric from Tony, Val & Ken and Neil. �The Personal handicap leading places are the same with the exception that Val & Ken move above Tony.
