Congratulations to Nick and Nat Smith on the birth of Daisy Elise who weighed in at 8lb8oz at 9.40pm on 22 September, and is a third grand-daughter for Alan and Pat Smith.
Success!
Congratulations to Dave and Pete Lawson having won the GP Masters held in Windermere this weekend in a strong fleet of over 30 boats.
John Telford and Andy Smith teamed up again after several years break and secured an excellent second place. Well done Team Bass!
Oops!
Mik Chappell spotted this the other day. Fortunately the forecast has moderated somewhat!
RS Open
This weekend the lake was taken over by RS 200s, 400s and Vareos, all sailing as separate fleets. As they are all asymmetric boats, the courses were windward/leeward.
With eight races scheduled, all the races were to be short and sharp. Unfortunately the wind was not been as strong as forecast, but there was certainly enough to get them round the course.
The wind did freshen from time to time, but the shifts occasionally took away the true windward leeward as well.
With four races in, there appeared to be some clear winners emerging, but who could tell what Sunday would bring?!
Well a wet Saturday night lingered throughout the morning. There were some good gusts that resulted a couple of capsizes, and racing generally remained very close.
With another two races completed, the sailors stopped for lunch.
The rain stopped for the afternoon racing, and veered more to the NW, but there were occasional bands of wind that helped (or hindered) boats by a significant amount at times, but after eight closely fought races the winners were confirmed. Toggle led the fleet home in the final race having been on the wagon after an enthusiastic start to the weekend. He had led the previous race for a while but slipped back when Scumper got his act together again! Tog’s consistent placings enabled him to secure a strong second behind Scumper.
Vice commodore Stephen Kirkpatrick thanked the competitors and presented the prizes.
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| RS400 – Wayne Fletcher/Deb Fletcher | RS200 – Chris Pickles/Laura Westell | RS Vareo – Mark Somerville |
Membership Roll Increased by Membership Sec!
Congratulations to Mark and Kirstie Somerville who has just given birth to Cameron Luke at 9.45am on 29 September. Cameron weighed in at 7lb 10oz, is a brother for Matthew, and is temporarily in the special care unit.
Fleet Challenge C
The wild winds as forecast didn’t come to fruition, nor did the 10mph breeze! OD Mark Ninnim found the swinging winds challenging (as were his ‘helpers’ in the committee boat!), but he got all three races in in fluctuating winds.
Tim Knowles got off to a flying start with his new sails, but he slipped back and Mike Fairlamb went on to win both the 1st and 2nd races, in which Tim and Vall Bell each shared a 2nd and a 3rd. Ah ha, well that was the case until it was pointed out that the series should be calculated on a personal handicap basis!
John and Janis Halliday managed to break away from Mike Fairlamb in the 2nd race only to lose ground by sailing to the wrong mark! However, it all came together in the 3rd race which they won from Neil by more than 175 secs.
Mike and Kayla used a spare day to practice in a GP before next weeks inland championships
Sunday started cool and continued that way! The northerly breeze eased at the end of the first race, so the fleet came ashore in the hope it would pick up for the final two races of the series.
John and Janis Halliday, having secured another win, are in a strong position, but Neil Garrison could potentially steal their thunder.
The wind settled in more from the NE for the afternoon racing. Mike and Val swapped crews for the final races, but it did not stop them having some match racing situations, and had the OD been requested to witness it is unlikely he would have helped Mike’s cause!
There were more runs in the afternoon, which worked against John and Janis who secured and 3rd and 4th to win the series. Neil Garrison with a 6th and 1st closed the gap on John, but finished 2nd overall.
Alan Jones had Peter as a front seat driver in the Kestrel and had some good racing finishing 3rd overall. Val Bell finished 4th.
As mentioned earlier, the GP Inlands are being held at the club next weekend.
Tinker Trophy
Sunday
Shunty realised there was a bad omen for the day when The Bates wouldn’t start due to a lack of diesel! So it was duly towed to the start line by a Dory which he tied to The Bates. Unfortunately his knot didn’t hold and it drifted off! Having set a course for a NW breeze, just after the sequence began the wind swung to the W so Shunty opted to change the course. He eventually restarted the sequence and the wind, of course, swung back to the NW! C’est la vie!
Although the wind freshened as the morning went on, there were still various lulls. William and Raf took the lead, but the off wind legs were not kind in terms of strength and they were unable to sufficiently break away from the other fleets. As Tim and Ian caught up in their F15 their main halyard broke and they dropped out of the race. Paul Bowmer led the rest of the fleets the wrong way around the course, which helped William increase his lead but not enough to win on handicap. Mike Fairlamb’s win was sufficient to secure the Tinker Trophy.
Perhaps the wind direction would settle for the afternoon, aided by a sea breeze – or was that wishful thinking?! Fortunately the wind did strengthen and held. At last Shunty’s course was more suited to the asymmetrics and William squeezed in a win, only just, by 4 secs a lap!
In the Tinker rally, Malcolm Ellwood was the new overall winner, from long standing winner David Warren, with Stewart and Barbara Warden 3rd. For a pleasant change they had good winds, without being too strong, all weekend. Prizes were presented by vice commodore Stephen Kirkpatrick
Saturday
Another glorious afternoon’s sailing, though the wind was not as strong as predicted.
While a fleet of 16 Tinkers are holding their annual rally again, club racing comprised mixed fleet handicap series for the Tinker Trophy. Though William and Lesley were able to break away, from the rest of the fleet, the lulls in the wind prevented them beating the GPs when handicaps were calculated. While Tim and Mike each won a race, William had to settle for two 3rds. Mike and Eric are overnight leaders.
Night Jar B
As the darker evenings draw in, the second Night Jar series draws to a close, and the overall result was determined on the final race. Jim Christie sailed well again to win the race but Jo Watkins beat Neil and Judith Currie by a couple of positions to take the trophy.
Sam’s Successes
Bass must have had the lion’s share of the winds over the weekend. Sam Hall travelled to Redesmere for a North West Junior Traveller event and finished 3rd overall in very LIGHT winds.
Indian Summer
Sunday
The wind is from the SE again – will OD Ian make use of the southern end of the lake in his courses?
The answer was yes! A beat to 13 took approx 35 mins, but with the wind freshening as forecast, the reaching back down to 2 only took just under 20 mins!! Gybing in the stronger winds took out various boats including Toggle at 14, and just after his spinnaker block fell apart (for which he was probably grateful as he could no longer fly it!). Steve and Ruth in their Merlin had a couple of spectacular capsizes, one due to Steve slipping in the boat (another burgee donated to Neptune!). Martyn and Steve capsized their F15 and were merrily bailing out on their way ashore. Other casualties were, Ethan, Nigel (his burgee was battered, but survived unlike his tiller which proved not to be strong enough to stop him falling out of the boat!), Jim and Alistair.
The offwind legs enabled William and Tom in an RS400 to catch Neil Garrison in a Dart (though he did have three on board). William’s lead was sufficient to win the race on handicap.
Mike Moore failed to cover on the last beat and paid the penalty as Tim pipped him at the finish line to win the Scarness Cup with three straight wins, and that determined that they would take their boats off the water before lunch!
Dave and Lynne also won the GP Graham Cup with their third win from Mike and Eric.
The wind did not relent over lunch, so racing for the afternoon was cancelled. However, Steve and Neil did opt to go out for a bit of a blast in the Dart, and Steve was surprised at the speed!
With no racing, Toggle took the Wythop Series with his two wins
No Mirrors sailed so Alan Waugh, as overnight leader won the Reflection Trophy.
Saturday
The school holidays may be over, but Summer may have returned (temporarily)! A wonderfully warm southerly greeted sailors, and OD Ian Preston opted to make best use of the wind by sending the fleet all the way round the lake. It may have been a hard slog to the bottom in the first race, but the breeze held for the spinnaker legs back. There were a couple of lasers that capsized, but they still made it round.
In the second race, the main fleet just went to 10, again in a steady wind, although it had eased from the first race. William’s crew Alistair hadn’t crewed for 15 years, never sailed an RS400, or flown a spinnaker, and was pleased to lead the racing (they were even in front of Robbie D and Ethan when they had to retire as the main halyard gave way). However, the downwind legs were not sufficient for them to break away from the rest of the fleet, and with the wind filling in from behind (as it does!) Toggle was able to scream into the leeward mark and take lots of ground, winning him the race (as he did the first).
In the F15s Tim and Ian led Mike and Kayla in both races.
Dave and Lynn beat Mike and Eric in both GP races, while Mik and Alan each shared a win in the Mirrors.
More wind tomorrow!