Thursday’s forecast was so dire that most prospective Night Jar competitors decided that it wasn’t worth travelling to the Club. So we ended up with two boats; the Streaker of Mike Fairlamb and the Merlin of John Reekie/Joe Watkins.
The generally Force 3 wind was SE so a race office start from 0 was agreed, the course to be 8-A-0. But the wind swung S at the last moment so this became a shorter 9-A-0. Mike led for the first 8 minute lap but John/Joe closed up resulting in to a close race before the Merlin pulled ahead.
A lap later Sale Fell came into play with Mike coming to a stop just before 9 and then being pushed downwind on what was previously a run to A. OD Paul Clark decided to shorten for the end of lap 4 as a band of mist and rain was heading in from the Keswick end of the Lake.
Then it was into the clubhouse for a meal prepared by Lynn and Dave Lawson and results calculated manually by the mathematician OD. These showed that Mike had won both on Fleet and on Personal Handicap. He has extended his lead in the PH category and has overtaken Neil & Judith Currie to lead on FH.