As Andy Smith is neither a lady, nor a crew, I assume dad Alan won the race with Andy crewing – well done – use Club update for full results. So much for making assumptions – it was Emma that won – Well done!
[Where’s the Summer Gone]Here Comes Summer?
A gentle breeze came and went, came back again and disappeared totally over the course of the afternoon. The rain clouds that came in failed to deliver any wind, and fortunately not too much rain either!
Although there was a light breeze for the first beat, it almost totally disappeared for the two downwind legs, and boats were hunting out whatever zephyrs they could. It seemed as if the afternoon sea breeze (without any sun?) was coming in from the west, and this helped boats finish more quickly, and build up hopes for a more settled second race. However, the breeze came back from the north east, swung to the east just before the start, at which point the OD gave up and postponed racing until Sunday.
The only tales to tell are about Sally – first of all she managed to put her clothes on the newly varnished woodwork in the changing rooms, and then was at risk of having William disqualified for laughing too much, and generating extra air propelling them through a windless course!
Others felt that winter had come early and were relieved to have a warm shower after their sail. You’d think they’d keep warm by bailing out all that rain water! The following webcam shows the new shower cubicles that form part of the recent upgrade of the ladies changing area – just click on it for an update!
Overnight rain had cleared and there was a cloudy start to Sunday’s racing. The forecast for 9mph SE wind seemed as if it may hold true, until the fleet started to prepare and the wind swung to the SW! However, the direction was relatively steady, and the breeze held, if not increased as the morning went on.
The race that was postponed on Saturday was squeezed into afternoon racing, allowing the sailors to make the most of the excellent sailing weather. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any challenges.
At one leeward mark, Dave Wright capsized and righted just before the RS400s came roaring in. He did right it, only to find his mainsheet had lassoed the mark – the query was what at what stage he would free it and what would happen to the racing boats trying to round the mark?!!! Fortunately for most people’s sake the boat capsized again.
Andy and Emma were having a good day until one spinnaker drop went slightly wrong, and they lost some ground. It was only at the end of the day that Andy noticed, and admitted, that he’d been sailing without any bungs in – no wonder the boat was somewhat heavy by the end of the day.
With Neil continuing to play Mr Grumpy with Judith, it’s no wonder she’s said he can have a new boat – so long as it’s single handed!
The last race of the day was so shifty that the RS400s struggled to beat the other fleets to the windward mark, and then the course took the fleet under the shade of Sale Fell, making it difficult to break away. Neil went low to stay in the breeze, but Scumper and Zephyr took, and kept the lead to take the winning horn and the series.
The following four boats in the series all tied with 11 points, demonstrating just how close the racing has been – very little room for mistakes. Andy’s 1st in the morning secured 2nd place, Robbie D and Ethan’s 3rd secured 3rd, and Neil finished ahead of Bean and Naomi to get 4th.
The GPs only sailed three races, so Julian Cruickshank and son’s consistent sailing, with two 1sts, won him the series.
Tim Smith had three bullets to win the Mirror trophy, only dropping one race to brother Rob, who did not sail the final race due to a temporarily incurable leak!
With weather like this it’s easy to forget the rather grey and cold day that was endured on Saturday. Perhaps it’ll stay with us for a few hours more at least?!
Mirror Northern Championships
The high winds of the first race led to several casualties, including various team Bass boats (or was it all?!). In fact the strength of it caused Rob Smith to have a change of mind and he opted to crew for twin brother Tim instead of sailing single handed. The OD (and the twins brother) reckoned if they had a spinnaker system that worked they would have done wonders – such is life! Rob’s change of mind meant that Beanacrew, specially prepared for the weekend was left on the shore for (another) brother Andy to rescue (amidst various creaks and groans – was that Andy or the boat though?!) with the help of Scumper.
The wind did ease slightly for the other races, and there were no further casualties. Hector Cisneros with son Ben got in the groove and secured three firsts to have a comfortable overnight lead.
The OD was concerned at one stage that he couldn’t find the black flag on the committee boat, but as it turned out, all apart from one boat were well behaved and stayed clear of the line. In 5 hours the OD successfully had all four races completed, and boats ashore.
The sailors are all having an early meal followed by a sumo wrestling competition – no peace for the wicked!
The winds for Sunday were forecast to be relatively light – and how right it was. It proved to be a totally different kettle of fish.
The promised wind was very light to non existent. The OD eventually tried to start racing which resulted in a series of postponements, general recalls, round the ends and a black flag – well worth finding! All these starts used up what little wind there was so that when the fleet finally got under way the wind died totally at which point the OD abandoned the race -� or was it because Rob and Tim were last? You can’t have a Smith in last place! The abandonment brought cheers from the fleet that could be heard from the shore.
If it was possible, the wind died further with the lake becoming a mill pond. The OD gave up and abandoned the racing leaving the results as they stood from overnight. This scuppered Mik and Toddy’s cunning plan of getting everyone to pack up, whilst they waited for the sea breeze to come and get two good results.
At the prize giving, winning helm Hector Cisneros thanked the club for its hospitality, and the OD for some challenging courses, as well as abandoning the one race of the day that finally got under way. Also, he told the youths not to be dis-heartened by their performances on Saturday as it had been one of the most challenging days sailing that he’d had in years.
Sunny Sunday
What a difference a day makes. The sun shone all day, the wind blew enough most of the time, and there were shifts that made all the difference (if you were on the right side of them!).
First of all an apology to Toggle – there may have been a one sided tale told about his efforts in the Lord Birkett, and the bit about the training was a joke – there aren’t actually any places available until next year, but Tog doesn’t really need to attend. Apparently, he was caught out in the massive squall that brought the fleet back from the islands, fell, or was washed out of the back, and broke his tiller necessitating his tow back by the gin palace.
In the GPs Hugh and Rhonwen had two wins, but they had to work hard for it as Mike Fairlamb with Sam Hall kept taking the lead, though in the 2nd race Mike retired after rounding a mark incorrectly. Ginge and Bridget were making hay while the sun shone, and then cooled off with a capsize. Ken Bell clearly wasn’t making hay, came for a sail and finished second with Val.
Tim Smith beat off competition from twin brother Rob, and secured another couple of wins.
In the handicap fleet, there were ups and downs. William, with second crew of the weekend Sally, was several minutes late for the start, but had some good luck with the winds to pull back on Roy and Kirstie to such an extent that he had to avoid Roy when he capsized just in front of him on a gybe mark. Apparently, a 50 degree wind shift on the start line prevented Shunty and Neil from being able to cross the line. Confusion over the course (which may well have changed after it was first displayed) meant Shunty lost out several hundred metres by heading to 9 instead of 0. Although Neil and Judith won on the water, the wind suited the RS200s best of all, and honours went to Andy and Emma.
Roy was left behind for the start of the second race (apparently retying his battens), leaving William, Neil and Shunty to have some good racing. Although William mastered the beats (or was it make the most of some incredible shifts?) to take the lead a couple of times, he lost out off wind to Neil and Shunty. The wind faded somewhat towards the end of the race allowing the RS200s to catch up. Robbie D and Ethan would have easily won had they not got their gennaker stuck, so it was to be Andy and Emma that again won on handicap.
The Mirror Northerns are to be held at the club next weekend
Die Hard
…Old habits that is! Roy was glad to be back at the helm again with Kirsty crewing. It’s a shame he wasn’t au fait with the start times of the pursuit race as he, and several other RS400s, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they should be starting, which made William and Jonathan very nervous as to whether they had in fact started too early! Over the course of the 70 min pursuit, it was the final 5 mins where several places changed – must have been some good handicapping!
As for the second race, Roy was again someway behind the rest of the fleet at the start and he topped it off with a capsize on the gybe mark, and finally tried to run Kirsty over when coming ashore (she’d managed to keep her hair dry until then!)
Of course the main sailing of the weekend is the Martin 16 National Championships, being sailed at Bass for the first time. Commodore Steve Hunt, as OD for the weekend, managed to get in the first 4 races of the 8 race championship. Clearly there is some close competition between the leading boats. The morning races were held in very windy conditions, and one hardy sole raised their spinnaker, but quickly dropped it again. Fortunately the design of the boat is such that the risk of capsize is minimal (I think!)Sunday morning started with what seemed like a nice southerly, but it never quite had the oomphh(?) that the sailors would have appreciated. The Martins continued to have some very close racing, and with just one discard tensions were high leading to a protest!
The delay caused by the Martin 16’s protest proved to be quite fortuitous as there was not a lot of wind, so after the prize giving the boats took to the water for the Jimmy Lancaster Memorial pennant as the breeze seemed to have filled in from the SW. By the time the race started the wind had faded, and a course set for marks 12 and 13 proved too much for William (though Cristina thought she’d missed the opportunity of a trip around the lake!) and he headed straight for shore. Most of the others persevered, but it was to be another 25 mins before the breeze came back, but this time from the South. With a bit of forward thinking, Shunty had included 10 in the course, and that was to be where he shortened the course after 45 mins.
When the fleet handicaps were calculated, it was Hugh and Rhonwen that proved to be the overall winners.
Die Hard
…Old habits that is! Roy was glad to be back at the helm again with Kirsty crewing. It’s a shame he wasn’t au fait with the start times of the pursuit race as he, and several other RS400s, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they should be starting, which made William and Jonathan very nervous as to whether they had in fact started too early! Over the course of the 70 min pursuit, it was the final 5 mins where several positions changed – must have been some good handicapping!
As for the second race, Roy was again someway behind the rest of the fleet at the start and he topped it off with a capsize on the gybe mark, and finally tried to run Kirsty over when coming ashore (she’d managed to keep her hair dry until then!)
Of course the main sailing of the weekend is the Martin 16 National Championships, being sailed at Bass for the first time. Commodore Steve Hunt, as OD for the weekend, managed to get in the first 4 races of the 8 race championship. Clearly there is some close competition between the leading boats. The morning races were held in very windy conditions, and one hardy sole raised their spinnaker, but quickly dropped it again. Fortunately the design of the boat is such that the risk of capsize is minimal (I think!)
What a Disaster!
….or so it would seem as there seemed to be so many people whinging after the morning race. First there was the OD arriving early to see a lake with very little wind and wanting to abandon at 11am, but he was assured by William that the wind would have filled in by 11.30, and it did! As Hugh must have had a late night, and was not at the club at the due time, Rhonwen offered to be OD for the morning allowing Stu and Debbie Spence to free themselves of the worries of course setting and go racing. When Hugh did turn up, he was�seconded into driving the Bates.� Roy Blackburn, not having had his crew snatched from under him for a second time, was out in plenty of time for his first race in a month only to be late for the start! Shunty had secured the lead and managed to go around the leeward mark the wrong way only to be told part way up the beat. However, he had a very peculiar way of unwinding to correct his mistake, and no-one’s really sure if he managed it, but Steve was too dizzy to remember! Mike Moore was keeping up with the leading RS400s well until the final run when the wind managed to evade him and took away his chances of winning. Amanda Bainbridge was a bit confussled with the extra sausage in the course and was somewhat relieved when she finally heard her finish gun. To counter this, it was good for Dave Wright and son Connor to finish their first ever race. The OD was somewhat surprised at the the amounting of whooping and air punching that was going on – what will happen when they win their first race?! Lewis Tyson, always open for a challenge opted to sail with William in an RS400 rather than in his Topper, and enjoyed it so much he wanted more in the afternoon.
The afternoon breeze was slightly fresher than the morning, and even resulted in the odd capsize. In fact Sam missed his toe straps before the start and was first to go in, whether this was the cause of Dave and Connor capsizing as well we’re not sure, but they were very close together at the time. As for the start, there must have been too many people in the committee boat, as everyone was convinced they had the perfect start only to be brought back with a general recall! After another general recall, stand in OD cleared the boat, focussed on the job in hand, and got everyone away – third time lucky! Although Shunty got clear away this time, with no mishaps, and won the race, other boats had mixed fortunes, and the results were spread across the various fleets.
Lewis was enjoying the RS400 again, but found the gusting reaches challenging and realised that tugging sheets soon rip through bare hands – hopefully William won’t be held up for child abuse! At one stage Robbie D thought Scumper had put in an enthusiastic tack and almost filled up, so he was encouraging him to go a bit further over – then he realised it was William and Lewis, but he was still willing them to capsize!
Congratulations to Sam Hall in achieving 1st U14 and 3rd overall at a Junior NW Travellers open meeting held at Ullswater YC on 9th June. Joe Watkins was 3rd U14.
As for Saturday, the wait was worth it…
After an intermittent breeze at the start of the afternoon, it eventually filled in from the north to get sailing underway. William, with Kirsty Somerville, was a little premature(?!) and returned through the line trying miserably to avoid the oncoming fleet! No major collisions, but he did a couple of turns for good measure. Perhaps it was payback for pinching Roy’s crew who had to stand in and man the Bates.
William did get on the tail of Neil and Judith by the windward mark, but Neil was to disappear off wind never to be caught, leaving William to tussle with Paul Burnell.
Although a dark cloud appeared (it probably brought the wind!) the sun shone all afternoon and led to some glorious sailing conditions.
In the second race, Mark Somerville brought out a super light crew – Ethan! Although they could catch Neil, they pulled ahead of William who struggled to break free from Mike and Mark in the F15. Although William eventually made headway, it wasn’t enough to beat Mike on handicap. Neil leads the new series
In the GPs Hugh and Rhonwen stayed ahead of Dave and Sarah Nicholson to take an early lead in the Autumn Cup
The results for Thursday’s Night Jar have been calculated and displayed below. As ever, the results seem to cause controversy. All we can do is blame the computer, the OD and anyone other than the helms (well, so it seems!)
Belated update
The Thursday night series continues to be very well attended and many junior members are gaining good positions.�� Last week some very young members were taking the leading positions.� Ethan Dawson aged 8 sailing with dad Robin and Robert Cruickshank aged 6 sailing with dad Julian both tied for first place once the handicap was calculated.� This series is going to be closely fought for a few weeks to come.
The weekend saw a variety of races with strong sailing in all fleets.�� In the GP 14 fleet three couples were in the winning places in all the races over the weekend.� On Saturday�s spring cup Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith were first, Hugh Godfrey and Rhonwen Bryce second and Val and Ken Bell third.� Hugh Godfrey and Rhonwen Bryce are leading the series overall.� On Sunday Hugh Godfrey and Rhonwen Bryce �were first, Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith were second and Val and Ken Bell third, overall Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith are leading the Mustard pot series.� In the handicap fleet on Saturday Rory Yardley first, Mike Moore second and Neil and Judith Currie third.�� On Sunday the handicap fleet were sailing for the Dodd trophy first was Mike Moore , Neil and Judith Currie second and Mark Somerville third.�� Sunday afternoon was a race around the lake for the RNLI pennant.� With sunny skies and a consistent wind many sailors enjoyed the views from around the lake.� Mike Moore was first to cross the line with� Jack and Joan Hardie� second and Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith third.� The handicaps are still to be calculated for the final positions, and word has it they may have been subject to protest!
Sunny Saturday
A warm southerly breeze greeted sailors this afternoon for the second race in the Celebrity Glass Pursuit series. The races are sailed on a fleet handicap basis whereby the slowest fleet sets off first and then the faster fleets start at timed intervals based on Portsmouth yardstick. The start times were adjusted to allow for a 70 min race for the mirror fleet. So when the first warning signal was made, Mike Moore and William Carruthers started to think about getting their boats ready for the water as they had 24 and 28 mins respectively until their starts! When William and Jonathan got onto the water they decided to check the gennaker was rigged correctly – just as well because the downhaul was wrapped around it causing it to fly in the shape of a wine glass. They opted to try and resolve it on the water, which they did, but by which time they some distance from the start line with only 4 mins until their start so they hardened up, headed for the line and made it with 15 secs to spare! With the first mark being at Scarness it was to be quite a long beat in strengthening winds.
As time passed, William in his RS400 and Neil Garrison in his Dart closed the gap with the leaders and passed several boats on the exciting reaches, but Hugh and Rhonwen managed to keep the lead from Mike and Eric. Neil Garrison secured a third, and Mike held off William on the final couple of legs.
With having an initial beat into Scarness and then a smaller general lap in the bay, the windward mark proved interesting and challenging as the fleet had to loop around it – there were a couple of capsizes and several near misses!
The 2nd race started off in lighter airs with a beat to Scarness again, but as the fleet sailed deeper into the main bay the wind eased and swung and it seemed a great struggle to even complete the lap. But the OD must have smelt something in the air because just after lead boat Neil and Judith Currie crossed through YZ on the start of the 2nd beat the wind started to fill in from the SW, and Neil promptly put up his gennaker and started to build a substantial lead from William. The wind continued to fill in, and William, having held a higher course, eventually flew his gennaker. In the short time it seemed to take to get to 7, Neil’s lead had been eroded and William was on his tail. However, the positions did not change after that and when the results were calculated it was to be Rory Yardley in a Vareo that won ahead of Mike Moore.
In the GPs, Val and Ken Bell were ahead of the fleet in the bay until the cruel shifts as the wind swung to the SW enabled Hugh and Mike to break through.
GP Open
Following the excess wind and rain leading up to the weekend, all the sailors had to contend with was sunshine and showers. The winds were light, and racing on Sunday was delayed waiting for the wind to fill in. Attempts to sail the final race were abandoned. Neil Platt from Bolton & West Kirby, with our own Sally Roberts, had equal points with Martin Brennan from Hollingworth, but won the series on the last race tie break.
Short Series
Drizzle and no wind led to OD Alan Smith abandoning racing on Sunday bringing the weekend series to an early conclusion.
Mark Somerville won another handicap series, Scott Beattie and John Somerville had their first sail in many months (or is it this season?) and won both races from Mike Moore. Mike Fairlamb kept the senior moments at bay to win the series from Hugh Godfrey.
Following some synchronised sailing when Mik and Toddy capsized simultaneously, and then both went turtle, Toddy went on to win the race, and his first series – Well done!!