Light winds and sunshine was forecast – didn’t really get much of either! The sun did come out from time to time, and there was a pleasant light breeze before the start, but an over eager handicap fleet (or was it the commodore?!) led to a general recall for which two sound signals were heard but no sign of the flag! Just as well everyone knows what was meant. However, the delay caused by the restart resulted in the slight breeze that was there faded. Shunty and Ruth were first to the windward mark, followed by Neil and Judith and both boats continued to open up their lead for the rest of the race while William and Elaine fought with Robbie D in his laser for best of the zephyrs that trickled across the lake from time to time

Surprisingly the fleet headed out for the second race, but, as it turned out, the wind filled in, was light but did hold. The short, simple triangle of a course worked well and safeguarded against the wind dying again

Saturday racing was held in somewhat variable winds. The fleet believed they were heading out for a gentle saunter around the course only to find that the wind came in in droves and then disappeared for a while. Of course the exciting bit was when the wind came in! Scumper and Zefer took advantage of one gust and were disappointed that the shoreline was coming up all too quickly!

Toggle is, of course, worthy of a mention for trying to take out his (capsized) opposition. Apparently Toggle was� bearing away on a gust but managed to catch Hugh’s mast and spin him round as he was righting the boat, throwing Hugh back in the water. It is suggested that Tog was causing havoc in three’s and should have done turns on those occasions too, but no doubt we’ll be updated with the alternate version of events!

Sunday’s racing started with a forecast of more wind than Saturday, but it has yet to materialise! At least the black cloud didn’t dump any rain.

In the GP fleet the race was over after the first mark, the lead had changed three times by then, but a procession ensued.

The afternoon turned out to be in better winds, and there was an occasional capsize, and a little bit of mayhem at one of the windward marks as the course caused boats to loop it!

The entertainment for the evening has started with a game of rounders. To date there’s been no casualties, but there’s time! This will be followed up by a quiz night.

Will tomorrow’s forecast of showers and lots of wind come to fruition?

Too piggin’ true it did! There was a great reticence to venture out on Monday following the high overnight winds, even though it had eased slightly. With no Flying 15s taking to the water Mike Moore opted to be OD and made sure the sailors got there monies worth of excitement. Shunty and Ruth were recalled for being over the line at the start (but Toggle went back too!). Scumper and Zefer took an early lead, but a capsize let Shunty back in on the action and he pulled out a big lead. When there was no shorten course after two laps William and Elaine opted to come ashore, and William then allowed(?) the boat to run Elaine over as she held it on the slipway. Despite having had several capsizes, William’s retirement caused Andy and Emma to continue for the rest of the race to help secure their position the series. Big E and Toggle battled on as well, having suffered several capsizes as well. Little did they know they’d be out there for almost 90mins! (They should sleep well tonight)

Although Shunty is a past king of the Enterprises, his lead was not sufficient to beat Mark Ninnim who sailed well to win the race on handicap.

After a long lunch break, the wind hasn’t eased and the fleet opted to forego the fourth and final race of the series

As Rhonwen takes leave from the club for a sabatical (well sort of – we think she’s really gone to keep Cecile company drinking pints of whatever they can lay their hands on in Paris) she’ll have some memories of her final race to take with her and haunt her. On a screaming reach, a gust of wind hit them and they were flattened instantly. It was to be another 20 mins before they were upright and limping home

Other casualties included Robin and Becky in the Vago – they didn’t make the start, but went out for some screaming planes, included several capsizes, including a final one within spitting distance of the jetty albeit too deep to stand up (comfortably!)

With another series complete, the championships have been updated and are posted below

That was the sound in the clubhouse as the fleets rounded the gybe mark outside the clubhouse. There were some near capsizes but they all actually survived the gybe.

The overnight winds had eased a little, though by the time the boats were being launched a squall made getting into the boats and away from the shore somewhat of a challenge.

The Catapults were one boat lighter this morning because of the high winds, but the wind is scheduled to ease in early afternoon. There’s always a chance the forecast could be right! However, just after writing the last bit the wind got up again, white horses everywhere, no gennakers to be seen, and some more hairy gybes.

At one stage T was washed out of the boat and Scumper had to haul him back in (not the first time that’s happened!). Robbie D flew his gennaker on the bottom reach to the leeward mark and took loads of ground off Andy and Toggle, however, the drop was not to be and the suffered their first capsize – another two followed later in the race.

Coming ashore was as hairy as the lunch. Andy capsized on to the jetty. Robbie D took refuge in the reed bed (sshhh don’t tell anyone), Shunty went for a jaunt waiting for a gap at the slip…..

Scumper won on handicap from Andy

Races 2 and 3 were sailed in equally heavy winds – Shunty ran aground with his gennaker up and promptly capsized, then retired. Andy Smith retired following Toggle pulling the jib fairlead out. Robbie D continued his capsize practice, one of which was caught on video -�Will they, won’t they?. As you will note the numbers dwindled as the sailors burned themselves (or their boats) out! Scumper being the only SAILOR to finish all three races (The 2nd race he sailed Toggle’s Vareo)

The Catapults were again being led by Roger Hodgkinson, though other places seem to be shared more evenly! Again, the blustery winds caused the occasional capsize!

It was one of those mornings. A good breeze (at times), with hollow patches in between, but did anyone really make the most of it all?

First Scumper and Robbie D only just made it to the start line on time, but as they crossed the line a recall signal was sounded so they ducked back just in case (turns out they weren’t over the line in any case!). They made up ground to be just 8 seconds behind Shunty and Ruth at the windward mark, and managed to pass them on the next leg only to capsize at the next gybe mark. Finally their main halyard snapped, fortunately it was just at the end of the race so they managed to finish.

William and Elaine didn’t realise they were one of the boats over the line, and were recalled by the rescue boat so they lost a couple of minutes by the time they restarted. Their gennaker had a bad habit of dropping out of the cleat on big gusts, much to Elaine’s disgust, and had to be rehoisted. The final blow was no sound signal aat the finish. It seems they had missed out YZ at the end of the first lap as they were too busy watching whether Toggle would survive a hairy plane – he did, but lost a lot of ground because he had borne away below the leeward mark so much.

Bean and Naomi’s only problem was that brother Tim sounded the recall signal and they had to return through the line. They were only a boat length over after all!

Tim Chittenden and Ian Macpherson took Tim’s FF out for the first time and were slowly getting to grips with the mass of ropes and the alternate location of all the control lines. One of their issues was gybing the spinnaker and it got in a bit of a tangle at the first gybe mark. It’s all a learning curve.

Andy T and Lucy in the Vago went for a swim on one beat, and that slowed them down somewhat

Shunty and Ruth seemed to survive the race, but tipped their boat over at the end to remove the remains of the slot gasket. No sailing in the RS for them this afternoon. Or so we thought – although they were going to borrow Mik’s FF, they ended up sailing Toppers

Thomas Bainbridge’s problem was tacking round at marks!

According to Herb, Mik sailed the race with his sails at half mast – perhaps an exaggeration but probably some truth in it.

Dave and Sarah’s biggest problem was that they had no-one to sail against! I only he’d waited as Stu and Debbie Spence had to sail in the handicap fleet in the afternoon as they had no-one to sail against. Co-ordination!

The afternoon race was held in stronger, and more exciting, winds. There were again some eager starters with Bean and Scumper being recalled. Certainly less eventful, but more exciting racing.

Series results were somewhat consistent – Bean and Naomi took the handicap series with four firsts, Mike and Eric had two firsts in the GP series, while Mik won all four Mirror races.

It was very blustery when 9 boats took to the water today for the latest races in the Youth Squad Saturday Series.� 6 toppers, a taz, a laser radial and a byte started the first race.� There were numerous capsizes before and during the race and credit goes to all the sailors who got back in their boats and carried on to the finish.� Well done to you all! Lewis Tyson in his topper and Joe Watkins in his byte led the fleet from start to finish with Joe finishing first, but Lewis winning on handicap by 50 seconds.� They did three laps while Robin Crawley did 2 laps in his topper.� Ben, Ethan and Christina Tully all in toppers and Luke Howorth in his taz managed one lap in the very testing conditions.

The wind eased a little for the second race.� Again, Joe won on the water but Lewis beat him on handicap – this time by only 28 seconds.� Robin finished ahead of Christina by less than a minute.� There was a very close finish between Ben and Ethan.� Ben had been in the lead, but Ethan (who was sailing with a reefed sail) was catching up at the end of the race.� Ben managed to get one last gust of wind which saw him cross the line first.

Especially not casual sailors!

Would the forecast come anywhere near true today?

Well as yesterday, the wind filled in and there were more thrills and spills. Bridget clearly dressed for the occasion in her gnome outfit! (Why does she think I’ve altered the photo?)

Old habits die hard in that OD Ian Campbell was keen to get the racing off on time, and so the fact that a lot of the fleet hadn’t quite made it to the start was not going to be an issue (for him!)

Just as well the sailors understood the course as it turned out that Ian couldn’t follow what was going on because a short beat to A took the fleet through the start line an extra time!

William treated Kayla to her first capsize of the season when he was washed out of the back of the boat. The next lap she was treated to a further capsize when there was a nose dive following a gybe.

There were several others that capsized, especially when gybing. But Scumper and Robbie D went in backwards when the mainsheet fixing broke. This let Shunty get through but, Scumper took the lead by the end of the race. It was Bean and Naomi that sailed best on handicap to win.

Lunchtime was a welcome reprieve after an hours hard sailing.

The final race of the series was equally windy, but very gusty, and the OD again went for a start to suit himself instead of the sailors leaving Shunty and a couple of others giving the fleet a bit of a head start. Again Bean won the race on handicap, but it was Scumper that won the Isel Cup from (a very achy) William and Kayla.

Andy T and Toggle teamed up in the Vago and promptly practiced there capsize skills, as did several others including Shunty. Notably, and very audibly, Ginge and Jose went swimming after a gybe and they needed help to get their mast out of the mud. This scuppered their chances of winning the Commodore’s Prize which went to Val and Ken Bell.

The Mirror Orsova Cup was won by Mik Chappell with two firsts

That is the message from Cecile and Marie who have popped back across to see some friends this weekend. As ever, they were spotted in a local hostelry, busy celebrating in their usual way – with a pint in their hands!

The forecast was for 21mph winds, gusting 37mph – would it come true?

As the winds had been light during the morning training session it was much to everyone’s surprise that the wind did pick up substantially, though not to forecast levels, and there were many spills and thrills – Could it have been the commodore with the highest capsize tally? Just as well he didn’t invest in a new burgee as it wouldn’t have lasted the race!

Racing was delayed while a stand-in OD was arranged – the rescue crews! The line was set for them, together with the course, and all they had to do was start it. Shame they didn’t realise that it was championship racing as they only started one fleet. Not to worry, most of the sailors knew what to do.

The wind picked up as the afternoon passed, and with it coming from the South West, Sale Fell did its very best to cause havoc with holes, and down draughts, for the sailors to contend with. The gybe mark was the down fall for many.

Scumper and Robbie D led the way in the handicap fleet with William and Kayla securing second place. Jose and Ginge won the GPs, while Mik won the Mirrors, although Alan Waugh did take the lead at one stage to give Mik a run for his money.

After a gap of three weeks for some sailors, the going proved tough work, though apparently there were some masochists out there too – Bridget kicked her leg (the proof was in the tread of her boot!), while Ruth had a similar graze on her leg (probably caused during one of Shunty’s various capsizes!)

Kayla was warned that if she saw something sticking out of William’s shorts it was only his tiller extension, which seemed to tuck under there all too often!

The met office recorded wind for Saturday peaked at 10mph – clearly Bass continues to ‘benefit’ from its own microclimate. The forecast for Sunday is more wind – will another day’s sailing be lost?