After a beautiful start to the morning the cloud came in together with another cool north easterly breeze. Pre race discussions revealed some of the events of yesterday, notably an incident between Mik and Mike. Mike’s version being that he was sailing merrily on starboard tack, chatting to Kayla, when suddenly Mik came in on port and rammed him. The collision was sufficient to do a bit of damage to the mirror, and if it hadn’t of been a flat end to start with it would be now!

As boats were setting off for the start the onshore wind proved a challenge for several, especially Hugh sailing a Vareo in his first race of the season as he ended up in the reed beds with Dave Wright in an RS200.

In the Asymmetric Cup, Andy Smith sailed his RS200 single handed and was able to trounce his brother Bean, partly due to taking better advantage of the offwind gusts, but his result would not count due to not having a crew. Shunty started at the wrong end of the line and had to work his way up the fleet, but on the second beat he and Ruth were on port tack as Joan and Jack were running towards the mark on starboard. Shunty reckoned both boats luffed up, but at the end of the race he retired, although he won on the water. Although William and Elaine were next to finish, on handicap it was Bean and Naomi that won on handicap. The driest wetsuit award goes to Naomi – she wasn’t going to go over the top of her wet boots so left Bean to get her close enough to the shore so she could step out into shallow water, and left Bean to struggle getting the boat on the trailer and bringing it ashore

In the MJM Trophy fleet, Mike Moore led even though he couldn’t remember where mark 1 was from the previous day (even if it was nowhere near where it should be!). Ian Macpherson was late for the start having been told by Herb that the MJM fleet was starting, only to find he told the asymmetrics they were starting second!

Perhaps sanity will be restored for the second race, but that seems unlikely

During the lunch break the wind seemed to have strengthened to some like Saturday’s strength, and certainly on the beat many had to work to keep their boats flat. However, offwind the power didn’t seem to be there and it was a struggle for the ‘faster’ to break clear. Although Shunty broke away in the asymmetric fleet, William struggled to stay ahead of Joan and Jack Hardy! Toggle almost got a mention for failing to keep up with Hugh, but Hugh slipped back and Toggle secured a 3rd on handicap behind Joan, and Bean. Anyway Toggle, opted to have a go in the Vago with T and duly caused a capsize as they came ashore – Bean reckoned it was because Tog was floundering in the bottom of the boat instead of being out on the wire

In the MJM fleet, Mike Fairlamb came out on top in front of Scumper in his laser, with Mike Moore slipping back to 5th

Flying 15 open is being held next weekend alongside club racing

Not as muggy as Saturday, but certainly a lot sunnier 🙂 The light airs struggled to fill in, but when the OD went out and set a line, Herb started to get frustrated when the boats on the shore with sails up made no effort to move to the start line. Robbie D checked what was happening on the radios only to be told that the line was set and everyone had to get on the water NOW! Well Herb did reckon they’d been waiting 45 mins. So the boats that were ready went out and others followed only to find Herb wasn’t waiting any longer, so Scumper, Toggle, and William gave the rest of the fleet about 6 mins start. Robbie D and Ethan took an early lead and their only competition was Roy Blackburn with Lewis Tyson. The light breeze did hold, and it looked promising for the afternoon race around the lake.

Not sure what is it about water from the sky (rain), but sailors seem to avoid it where possible. So when it came down torrentially everyone huddled in the foyer waiting for it to pass over, which it did after 15mins or so. However, it had killed the wind so racing didn’t seem to be too enticing. About half an hour after the start the wind filled in from the south and boats were able to do some planing. Alan Nicholson christened his new Solo with his first capsize of the season.

NB Separate report for Youth racing on Youth Squad pages

After a hot sunny week, Saturday was disappointingly hazy and muggy. A taster session was held during the morning for newcomers to the sport. This was followed by some Youth Squad training and a race (or should that be a drift). With the lake mirror like, it seemed unlikely that any club racing would get underway in the afternoon. The wind did fill in a little and boats were preparing for the pursuit race, but the wind faded again, and the OD cancelled racing.

Perhaps tomorrow!…

The wind had eased by the time sailors arrived to race, but was picking up again as the boats were prepared. Was this a day for Bridget to launch her laser? Probably not. Apparently, Bridget thought she was going to have to pick up her boat from Wales until Ginge told her Torpenhow was just on the way top Carlisle!

The first bit of fun was watching Steve get hold of his main halyard (well trying). Just as well he had Sam Hall crewing – seemingly several feet taller, but no joy. So how about Sam and a tiller extension? That was still a struggle, but no joy. Sam, tiller extension and a jump? Yes, success. Unfortunately, Sam fell and dropped the halyard has he collapsed in pain. So it was back to Steve and Neil Garrison (two of the smallest men in the club (well apart from Mike Fairlamb, Ginge, ….). They must have been lucky because after a couple more near grabs they got the halyard. The time for all this – 5 mins! Will they manage to stay upright for as long?

Well there were four contenders for the fleet challenge – one from each fleet (almost – FF, RS400, Laser, and GP) so does that guarantee them all a prize? The wind did ease slightly, and the boats stayed upright for longer than expected – Big E being the only casualty (several times!). The OD shortened the course for Big E, but he was determined he had to sail the same number of laps as the rest of the fleet, so he did a lap of honour, with various capsizes, for no real reason! When the finishing times were adjusted on a personal handicap basis, Mike Moore’s handicap proved to be so beneficial that Big E had to beat him on the water to even have a chance of beating him on handicap!

Could there be more takers for the next race? Yes, there was. Not sure why, since the wind seemed to be almost as strong, if not stronger – Steve and Sam were capsized before the start! That wasn’t their lot – a further capsize on a reach followed by a final won with the gennaker before they finally retired. That gave Sam the opportunity to leave early and get in the queue at casualty for his ankle! Toggle had to be part of the action and duly capsized too (several times!), had to be helped by the rescue team, and then retired. Unusually, Dave and Lynn Lawson capsized too. Chris Denwood, a former member having decided to take sailing back up and rejoin the club, ventured out in his laser only to find how many parts of his body don’t seem to work as well as they did 20 years ago! Such is life. He did stay upright until coming ashore, but reckoned a capsize then was the easiest way to slow down!

The gluttons for punishment went out for the third and final race of the series, not that they need have bothered as Mike Moore’s beneficial handicap, although adjusted after each race, had worked to his advantage and he had won the series with two straight wins. Mike Fairlamb and Mike Cowan both capsized (at a guess Big E did too, but I’m not sure)

Ian Smith was possibly robbed of the series win, but there’s always next time 🙂 He came second overall

The Laser, Mirror and Handicap open is being held next weekend – 1st race 1300hrs. Also, this week sees the start of the Night Jar series held on Thursday evenings, all topped off with supper in the clubhouse afterwards

Is the weather really against us this season? We asked the same question last Saturday!

Another windy forecast didn’t stop those hardy sailors coming down to the club (although if the webcam had been working they may have not even bothered coming down!), but the easterly wind blowing straight across the lake from Bassenthwaite was enough to make most sit down and have a cuppa.

There were two takers though, Toggle on a suicide mission in his Vareo together with T and Stephen K in their Vago. There were no takers for a bet that they’d survive longer than 10 mins without a capsize. Just as well because it would have been money down the drain – 30secs for Toggle, and 6 mins for Andy T.

T was saying how he was expecting his new boom (for the laser that Toggle broke recently) next week, and no doubt a new mast to follow. Little did he know that he was going to need a new mast for the Vago after a hairy spinnaker reach and capsize!

Would there be any takers for the following races – highly unlikely! All bets off..

Tomorrow’s another day, but the forecast is for only slightly less wind!