There may have been a few showers through the week, but the lake and grounds show little sign of benefitting from them, with the lake at its lowest for many years. There was no rain on Saturday, and the sun broke through the clouds every now and again too.
The F1-2 SW wind strengthened throughout the afternoon more consistently towards F2, and although it was regularly swinging, it veered more to the W as the afternoon went on. In the first race this caused the beat to be a bit one sided, but the shifts still proved to challenging, especially for anyone on the wrong side of the shift/curving wind!
Nigel/Glenys were on the best lay line in the GP start, and gave AJ/Sue good warning that there was no room. AJ called their bluff, but didn’t manage to keep out of the way and had to do two turns (although he initially seemed to lose count all too quickly!). Nigel wasn’t able to hold his lead, which he lost to Mike/Eric. Mike won the 2nd race as well, with AJ 2nd.
In the F15s, Ian/Lezli-Ann took the initial lead in both races, but the strengthening wind conditions suited Mike/Kayla, taking two wins, while Neil, with sister Liz crewing, got two 2nds.
Steve/Ruth in their Merlin pulled out a good lead in both races, but on handicap lost out to Tony in a Solo in race 1, and Joe in a Laser in race 2.
The Mirrors/Toppers were pushing the start line in race 2, with the Simpson brothers in a Mirror, and visitor Oliver in a Topper, both being OCS and had to return. Bean/Oliver won both races.
Sunday’s wind should have been stronger than Saturday, but it wasn’t to be, and there were light patches from time to time, and little sign of the sun.
With just two F15s racing, Mike/Kayla took no chances and covered Ian/Lezli-Ann whenever they could. Although this gave them wins in races 3 and 5, winning them the series Ian did manage to break cover a couple of times in race 4, and went on to win it, and finishing 2nd overall.
There was some close racing in the GPs in race 3, with AJ nipping into 2nd place ahead of Val/Ken on the final beat, but the series was won by Mike/Eric a clean sweep of with five wins, and AJ/Sue 2nd.
The lighter conditions proved challenging for Steve/Ruth in their Merlin, but they did finish the day with a 1st and 2nd, finishing 2nd overall behind Joe in his Laser who added two 1sts to his Saturday results.
Bean/Oliver finished the day with a couple of wins, and the series trophy, helped by squeezing others off the line in the first race. Mik was 2nd overall.
Former rescue driver Chris Hunt too to the water in his RS400, and while getting to grips with it became the only boat to capsize. James was keen to rush to his rescue, if only to mock and perhaps take photos…
On Saturday Neil Garrison won a Laser open meeting at South Shields partly after taking advantage of 180 degree wind shift that occurred at a time that suited him, but stopped others in their tracks as they lost the wind altogether!
If anyone is interested in taking part in this year’s 24 race at Southport contact Neil Garrison so that he can gauge interest and help determine whether we should enter the event this year.