The end of the October coincides with the end of the championship season. The weather forecast brought things to an early conclusion due to force nine gales on Saturday. John Crosbie launched his laser, enjoyed some spectacular planes, intermingled with capsizes, but racing was abandoned for the day.
Saturday night marked the end of British Summer Time so the recommendation was to make the most of the extra hour in bed due to the clocks going back, especially as Sunday’s forecast is for MORE for the same!
However, the wind was not as strong as forecast, and sailing did take place, but the gusts were vicious enough to stress boats to the limit. In the first race, the final round of the Handicap Fleet’s Skiddaw Trophy, both the Supernova of Peter Ballard and the Jim Christie’s Laser suffered rigging damage leaving Scumper to take an easy victory in his Laser.
The afternoon race was the Bassenthwaite Burgee, the final pennant race of the season. It was supposed to be sailed around the Lake but the race officer wisely decided to restrict it to the marginally more sheltered northern area. John Crosbie belatedly decided to compete and took the victory from Mike Turner/Sue Watson. This result won Sue the Sandra’s Salver award as best lady crew in the seven pennant races held during the season by just a single point from Elaine Hunt.