Flying 15 Northern Championship 2014 – Waples Wine
Fun Weekend
A weekend to ourselves, no visitors, no scheduled racing, just camping on site, team games, fun in Toppers, barbeque, and rain showers thrown in.
Here’s some pics of the rounders match (which went ahead on Tog’s new grass! – perhaps it’ll repair before Bass Week…), and the Topper challenge (a video will be prepared some time in the future).
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Several bags of charcoal were more than enough to overcome the evening showers that threatened the barbeque – there were several sets of glowing (and singed?) knuckles shared between the generally male chefs before Claire’s bingo got underway, with some novel calling. Mark N took the prize first line, and Judith K the overall prize despite daughter Andrea making numerous iffy claims earlier…
Sunday started with some practicing of gate starts for the GP fleet before for the forthcoming Worlds. Shunty opted to show the way in the first start by skimming the transom of pathfinder Dave/Lynn only to narrowly avoid being wiped out by son Chris in the Gate boat! A couple of starts later and helms were more in tune with the procedure. In the afternoon a one-off race in memory of Pete Ballard, from which donations will be given to the Samaritans. The course took the fleet down to 14, which on the western side of the lake was slightly in the shade of Sale Fell and led to some wallowing, especially by Shunty/Ruth who lost a good lead while the asymmetrics planed to windward of them. Overall, it was the GPs that took the honours, led by Dave/Lynn, ahead of Bean/Alan in a F15, and then Val/Ken.
There was slight embarrassment when someone mistakenly sailed the Commodore’s boat believing it to be a club boat! Intriguingly Sazzle started in a Laser Radial and finished in a Topper – how did she do that?!
A short prize giving was held with prizes awarded by Commodore’s daughter Katia
All in all a fantastic weekend with a difference.
Mike/Kayla had been racing at Ullswater over the weekend and were delighted to beat Steve Goacher in one of the races! Steve has confirmed he will be taking part in the Flying 15 Northern championships which are being hosted at Bassenthwaite on 23/24 August. Book early and save £10
Weekend Pursuits
With many members taking part in The Lord Birkett open meeting at Ullswater this weekend, club racing was slightly quieter than usual and started with another race in the Celebrity Glass pursuit series. Pam and Mik got away keenly, but the slightly blustery conditions caught Pam out at the windward mark and she capsized while tacking round, leaving Mik to take the lead. The GPs proved to be the strongest competition and, although Mike/Eric had a good lead, taking the right hand side of the beat turned out to be the wrong side as John/Nigel took the left side, wiping out Mike’s lead, before moving on to wipe out Mik’s lead too!
Ian/Lezli-Ann and Ian/Elaine had some close encounters, firstly on the start line when Ian C was forced over and had to return, through to the finish when Ian M was in the lead until crossing the line in a dead heat.
In the 2nd race both F15s had some spinnaker problems, though Ian C came off best and held the lead through to the finish
The Toppers had a good turnout and surrounded Mik, but Mik won on handicap from David and Jenny. Mike/Eric held off Alan/Sue to take another win and the current lead in the series.
In the handicap fleet Jim won in his Supernova ahead of Terry in a Laser, maintaining his lead in the series
Sunday started off with light zephyrs crossing the lake, and AJ asked for it to be sorted. By the time racing started the wind had filled in! However, it did ease towards the end of the race which slowed down proceedings a little. Hazel’s persistence in her Topper helped her maintain her lead in the MIrror/Topper series – well done!
As soon as most boats had finished the wind returned, and held for the afternoon race which, unusually, was a pennant race in aid of the Jubilee Sailing Trust but held as pursuit on a fleet handicap basis.
Pam, in her Mirror, led the fleet down the lake to 10, but not having seen next mark 15 kept on going. Unfortunately she had noted the missing mark before the OD who sent the rescue crews to advise boats to use 7 in lieu of missing 15, so she lost out on the extensive lead that she had. Jim opted not to use his H12 and raced in his Supernova, concentrating intensely to secure a lead (that wife Ann couldn’t believe!) which he maintained to the finish. The following four boats, though some minutes behind, were all closely grouped. A couple of Lasers lost their way, missed out a mark, and subsequently retired.
OD Nigel had a barrage of claims that, if the race hadn’t been shortened, their boats would have been taken ashore and wheeled around mark 15, which presently lies in the back camping field, on their trollies. Not certain that Tog would have approved, and there being no formal protests, the results stood.
As for the Boats that travelled to Ullswater for The Lord Birkett Trophy, congratulations to Mike and Kayla who finished 10th overall, and 1st F15 despite the changeable wind conditions
Night Jar 11
With a SSW force 4 wind blowing and 15 boats competing, having two fully crewed rescue boats on the water was essential. There were numerous capsizes and six retirements. Richard Broughton and Peter Winfindale went synchronised swimming and pulled out of the race as did Joan & Jack Hardie who had ended up with mast in mud.
The course was 0-4-2 which gave a long beat followed by broad and tight reaches. The sting was in the tail as a very tight rounding of 2 was essential to cross the line inside the starboard end pin and a tack meant a beat up the biased line without actually crossing it. This left a number of competitors pinching and loosing time by ending up head to wind.
Trevor Morton in the Dart found the stronger conditions to his liking finishing second on the water to the Skiff and winning on PH. The GPs of Mike & Eric and AJ & Sue were next up, the former winning on FH and the latter coming second in both series.
The Toppers handled the conditions superbly with only one of the five starters retiring. Hazel Newport finished fourth on PH and sixth on FH while Rosie Hogg was seventh in both series.
After numerous masts had been cleaned of mud it was inside for another excellent meal, provided on this occasion by Neil.
Night Jar 10
Well, this is one round that nearly didn’t take place! At Start -15mins there was little wind and, what there was varied from E to SW. The beat was to be B-0 but it turned out to be B-A. Well B wasn’t actually in the eventual course which was A-4-1 and a finish line around B. Sounds confusing but it worked ok!
All except the 5 Toppers did 2 laps with John Crosbie’s 400 pulling out a lead on the water from Joan & Jack Hardie’s 200 on the first despite doing turns for touching 1. The fun stared at 4 on lap 2 with a 90 degree shift which brought a raft of boats together. Jim Christie’s Supernova seemed to fare best but a further shift at 1 changed the order again and Joan crossed the line second with Nick Bell’s Seafly and Kath Davis/Janie Britcher’s GP in close contention. David Roger led the Toppers home on this occasion.
It was a relatively short race with a delayed start waiting for wind and a shortened course in case it died again. This gave more time to enjoy Debbie Binns’ excellent meal and for results to be calculated.
Kath took the PH win which moves her into the lead of that Series while Ian Hall in his Solo took the FH race win.
Sunny Summer Solstice
Sun and wind, albeit shifty, tempted 22 boats on to the water for another two races in a championship long series.
The day started with two sets of opposing views from two ‘vocal locals’ as to how and why the anchor warp ended up wrapped around the prop of the Bates last weekend. Was it Tog’s dereliction of duty as he stopped pulling in the warp to lift the front weight, or was it Herb ‘reversing at 100mph’?
While setting the start line there seemed to be two opposing winds – one from the south west, and another from the north. The OD did make allowance for this in the course, but ultimately the SW breeze provided the lion’s share of the wind. The leg that allowed for beating into a northerly wind becoming a fetch that frustrated the Sailing Sec (and others, no doubt!).
In the first race in the F15s Simon/Jon led with a temporary challenge from Graham/Elaine. In the 2nd race, Neil/Judith took an early lead from Simon, but later retired, so Graham secured another 2nd to Simon.
The GPs were eager pushing the start line resulting in a recall signal for which Paul and Mike/Eric returned. The big question is – did they both need to?! Paul worked his way to the front and won, followed by Dave/Sarah. Paul led the 2nd race too, but sailed the wrong course, leading AJ/Sue astray, and losing a lot of ground to Mike (who went on to win) while they corrected their errors.
Tog and Hugh had some close racing in their Vareos, with Tog grasping the lead at the start of the final leg, and finish 1st on handicap. Tog won the 2nd race too, with Ian in his Solo 2nd, and Banter, despite an appalling start after getting into irons, finishing 3rd.
The Mirrors/Toppers were led by Vice-Commodore Scumper crewed by son Cameron. Pam took 2nd, and Hazel. Mik having retired with gear failure in the first race, had some close racing with Scumper/Cameron, and nervously led the way across the finish line. Sarah sailed her first race in a Topper but doesn’t want anyone to know. Word is that she won’t talk [to me] again!
The sunny weather continued on Sunday with a forecast of next to no wind, but there was sufficient to get racing underway. By the time the leaders reached the windward mark the wind was fading and they were all but drifting. Fortunately the few zephyrs that passed through filled the course again, and the breeze held for the rest of the race.
Ian was on form again in his Solo beating Tog by more than a minute on handicap, with Jim in his Supernova 3rd. Mike/Eric led the GPs home with Joan/Jack 2nd, while Pam built a strong lead in the Mirrors/Toppers with Jenny 2nd in her Topper.
The wind over lunchtime was light and not conducive to racing around the lake for the pennant race, so the course kept the fleet in the main bay. The wind freshened slightly, and Robbie D made the most of clear airs in a RS400 to lead the fleet and win on handicap by less than 15 secs ahead of Paul, Mike and Joan in GPs.
Night Jar 9
Val had belatedly realised that she had double booked OD duty and preparing the meal. So she sent her crew to do the easy work on the Bates while she perspired in the Galley!
It was, again, a fine and warm evening and 22 competitors took to the water. The wind was force 3 at the start and mainly WNW so the beat was A-0 with the off wind legs 0-9-3-A.
John Reekie’s Skiff pulled away rapidly after the start followed by Phil Davenport’s 100 but the latter had a monumental broach under kite heading for 3 and was headed for a while by Joan & Jack Hardies 200. Next up were Mike Fairlamb / Eric Smith in their GP and Trevor Morton’s Dart 16.
With the Skiff on its fourth lap and the Toppers on their second, the wind was easing rapidly and flag S was raised at 35 minutes. Andy Sugden’s Streaker, Pam Bath’s Mirror and Jonathan Anson’s Laser, which were all well up the fleet, benefited the most. The Toppers led by Harry Binns and the remaining GP’s on their third lap had to continue round for a further 20 minutes or so to reach the line.
All were ready for yet another superb Thursday evening meal. One helm remarked that he only competed for the food on offer!
Fleet Challenge B
While the Solway Firth coastline was basking in the sun, the weather at the club was cloudy but warm.
Three of the youth squad had gone to an open at Ullswater. Jenny Dunn performed best finishing a creditable 22nd in a fleet of 29 boats which included National Youth Squad sailors.
The weekend racing comprises a series of five races scheduled to be run on a personal handicap pursuit basis, but a computer hiccup, and too many people giving JD earache, the format reverted to mass start with adjusted finish times. With such a light wind being forecast it was a little surprising that there was actually enough wind to race. OD Ethan took some ribbing from the stalwarts in the committee boat, but successfully got both races completed.
The wind did ease at times, and there was no sea breeze despite the sunny coastline, so it was very much a case of being in the right place at the right time. In the first race Mike/Kayla were in the wrong place when the wind eased and the course was shortened as they had to sail an extra lap in lighter airs. Ian won in his Solo, with AJ/Sue in a GP 2nd despite a pitiful start (or was he too much of a gentleman?), and Joan/Jack 3rd.
Pam was in the right place on the startline in the 2nd race getting the best start of all the fleet, and she went on to win the race on handicap. The patchy wind on the first beat led to some different lead boats with Anthony/Jeff taking the lead in their RS200 though they finished 6th on handicap. Ian secured 2nd, and is overnight leader, with Joan/Jack taking another 3rd.
In the absence of paid rescue crews at least we had one willing volunteer….
Sailors for day 2 of the Fleet Challenge B were met with a bit more wind than the forecast of 1mph. Stand in Race Officer Mike Cowan set a figure of eight course with a beat from A to 2. The majority of the fleet were keen to start at the starboard end which resulted in a general recall as most were over the line. They all got away at the second attempt and Robin Dawson with daughter Amber in a RS 200 led the fleet home followed by the flying fifteens of Mike/Kayla and Graham/Elaine. After personal handicaps were taken into account Alan/Sue in their GP14 won the race followed by Paul and Vicki Bowmer also in a GP14.
The OD decided a lunch break was in order and most thought the possibility of two more races was unlikely. However the wind remained and even strengthened for the final race. Robin decided to take the RS 400 out with son Ethan to celebrate Fathers Day and won both races on the water. Alan/Sue won the second race of the day on handicap followed by Ian Hall in his Solo. This left the series wide open with Alan/Sue, Ian and the Hardies all in with a chance of victory.
Joan and Jack Hardie sailed an excellent final race and won on handicap but the 5th place of Alan and Sue was enough to clinch the series by one point from Ian with Joan and Jack a further point back.
Night Jar Double for the Hardies
Mik Chappell is on his holidays in Scotland and the nominated OD, John Crosbie, is somewhere in mid Atlantic so Andy Sugden stepped in as OD and did an excellent job. He was assisted by Mike Hunter and Neil Garrison on rescue as the regular crew are on the back of a recovery vehicle somewhere in Italy.
The 26 competitors were met with a gentle westerly breeze and a beat from A to O was followed with a broad reach to 3 and a close reach back to A to complete the triangle. John Reekie in his Skiff lead the fleet and was the only competitor to do 4 laps, Joan and Jack Hardie remained ahead of the rest and won both the fleet and personal handicap races. Richard Broughton in his Solo came second on personal handicap followed by Mike and Eric in their GP14. John Reekie come third on fleet handicap with Mike and Eric second. Alan and Sue still lead the personal handicap series but only by one point, they also produced a fabulous meal for the sailors after the race.