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.

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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.

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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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.

Final results

Overall Bart’s Bash standings

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.

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Final results

The Tinkers had a total of six races with the overall winner being Malcolm Ellwood, just for a change, with Stewart Warden 2nd.

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.

Final results