A sunny Saturday greeted over 40 boats across the two fleets in the GP14 Northern championship and Solo open meeting. Unusually the wind was from the NE, and, with a better strength than forecast, the OD aimed to get four races in ahead of Sunday’s light forecast.
The GP fleet were first to start, but too early, so there was a general recall. The immediate introduction of the black flag for all subsequent starts worked well to temper their eagerness.
As often typical at Bassenthwaite, the wind swung, and varied in strength throughout the afternoon, and the cause of some mixed fortunes.
After two races, the wind veered to the E/SE, faded, then filled back in again from the NE. The race was started, but the windswung again removing the beat, and, with the second beat was not looking promising, the race was abandoned. The OD waited for more than half an hour, but the wind did not settle, so racing was postponed until Sunday morning.
Sunday had lots more sun but the wind shied away until noon when there was some unexpected flurries from the forecast direction. By 1230 there was sufficient for the OD to venture onto the water to determine if racing should resume, which it did just under three hours after the scheduled start time.
Generally, the wind held throughout the afternoon, but it proved to be very shifty again, and there was some head scratching by the OD trying to determine where the beat was likely to settle for what was to be the fourth and final race of the weekend.
As with Saturday, the wind shifts resulted in a game of snakes and ladders for some, though Thomas Gillard and Shandy from Sheffield Viking succeeded in getting to the top of the ladder in all four races and had a clean sweep of the GP silverware, to become the winners of the Northern championship.
The Solo open was not as clear cut, with the result being determined on the final race between three helms. Innes Armstrong from Burwain took the honours, with John Reekie from Bassenthwaite 2nd.
Final results