Not sure what happened to the wind today. There was a strong breeze everywhere other than in the Bassenthwaite microclimate! The northerly wind that had been blowing throughout the morning eased and then had to fight other gusts from the east, as well as some gusts from a westerly sea breeze!

The northerly beat looked like it was going to be a fetch at the start, but the big winds shifts resulted in a beat at the end of the leg. William and Ruth were first to the windward mark ahead of John and Janis Halliday, but took advantage of some temporary gusts to plane away along the next two legs of the course. From then on it was a case of being in the right place at the right time as the wind came and went with the different wind directions. Although the race was shortened after 42mins, it was to be another 25mins before the rest of the fleets finished due to the easing wind.

Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith had a bit of a tussle with Tim Knowles only to lose out by having to retire when they realised that they had rounded a mark the wrong way (and tried to get William to do the same!).

The continual changing winds, and calm patches led to the OD cancelling the 2nd race.

From a hazy, overcast morning with no wind, a light breeze quickly filled in from the north east. There were occasional holes, but the fleet generally kept moving even if at a slow pace.

Telf opted to sail his Mirror single handed, and went for a port on port start only to be challenged by a Merlin Rocket, F15 and RS400 – that didn’t stop him going on to win the race from Mike Fairlamb, if only by a few secs. However, Mike’s 2nd was enough to put him in pole position with another two races to go.

After lunch the wind did not look at all promising, but it did fill in again from the north and racing got under way, albeit without much of a beat (Apart from the final leg!). The bunching of the fleet, combined with the use of personal handicaps caused the results to be a bit topsy turvy.

As the forecast rain came in, and the wind eased there were substantially reduced takers for a final race, which seemed as if was to be the best race of the day, as the wind had filled in from the west, and caused a couple of capsizes before the start. However, it was not to last. By the end of the first beat the wind had eased considerably, the next reach turned into a drifter and a beat! To cap it all the rain was persistent, and the drift continued to the end of the race. Alan Waugh came out on top, with William and Elaine 2nd, which was enough to give them pole position for the series.

The highlight of the afternoon was Toddy trying to take his buoyancy aid off before his over trousers!

Saturday

This weekend’s sailing comprises a six race series. The sun is out; there is a slight breeze; will it all last?

In fact it did last all afternoon. The sea breeze caused the direction of the beat to swing more to the west, and there were some good gusts to enable the occasional plane.

Mike Moore could have been practising his ballet, as he had to do some pirouettes after a collision with Mike Fairlamb on the startline of the 2nd race. The GPs generally seemed to be doing a mop up job by following the fleets after having late starts – it was Val and Ken Bell that were late for the 2nd race, and Mike Fairlamb late for the 3rd race (well he had gone ashore for a brew!).

All in all an excellent afternoon’s racing – three races tomorrow, though we can’t be assured of such good weather

Sun’s shining! No wind though 🙁

However, the wind did fill in and settle down from the south eventually, so the OD opted to postpone and have an early lunch. Shortly after the 1pm start, the sea breeze kicked in and the wind direction changed to a south westerly without any particular holes surprisingly! It did mean that there was no longer a beat in the race, so it was shortened after 30 mins. William and Elaine did lead the way, with Steve and Ruth in a Merlin Rocket closely on their tail, but the lead was not sufficient to make an impression on the overall results. Rory Yardley in a Vareo won from Steve Hunt.

The second race started in a good breeze but eased from time to time. William again led but was unable to break free from the pack. Robin Dawson worked his way through the fleet to finish 2nd and 2nd on handicap behind Andy Smith sailing a Mirror single handed.

With a 2nd and 3rd Robin’s consistent results were sufficient for him to win the Paul Carruthers’ Memorial Trophy yet again. Mike Moore and Sally finished 2nd overall.

Sunday

Sunday racing was exciting – the winds were not quite as strong as forecast but everyone enjoyed several thrills, and there were various spills to keep the rescue crews busy.

Jon Denwood teamed up with Ian Preston in a F15 to give Mike Moore a run for his money, and they won the morning race. Similarly Dave Lawson sailed with Ken Bell, while wife Lynn sailed with Mike Fairlamb, who gave her a dunking. Dave won the race from Tim Knowles.

Mr and Mrs Bean again took command of the handicap fleet to win ahead of Toggle in his Vareo, and Neil Garrison in his Dart

The afternoon race was the RNLI pennant, sailed around the lake. Although the wind seemed to ease over lunch it reappeared with a vengeance resulting in many capsizes as the fleet ran/reached down the lake only to have to fight through heavy waves all the way back up! Although Scumper and Rob Cook broke away, the conditions favoured the F15s, and it was Jon Denwood that again triumphed over 100sec ahead of Scumper, then Mike Fairlamb with Dave Lawson crewing (Mike managed to capsize Dave too!)

With racing over, sailors came back to numerous ladies in their Sunday best, complete with hats, having prepared afternoon tea! Strange thing is they didn’t have any tea, and they didn’t manage to eat it all without the sailors’ help!

Well that’s what seemed to happen in the first race yesterday! Or was it bribery and corruption?

Mike Moore built up such a big lead he didn’t realise that he was heading for the wrong mark until he realised the rest of the fleet (well Tim and Ian) were heading to 3 (not 2!). Despite not catching up the lost ground, the results still showed Mike as winner!

In the handicap fleet, Scumper had a late start but was miraculously awarded first place when the number of laps were miscounted. Bean wasn’t going to let that remain uncorrected for long!

Sunday is glorious again and the wind has strengthened as the morning progressed. Should be an excellent sail.

Mr and Mrs Bean again took command of the asymmetric fleet, ahead of Toggle, while Mike and Kayla led the general handicap fleet, despite initially rounding the wrong windward mark, from Dave and Lynn in a borrowed GP.

Herb, always happy to insult, was on the receiving end when he donned his shorts to reveal those knobbly knees of his!

Captain Calamity Campbell joined the start crew for the afternoon race, and all hell let loose. Not sure why, or whose fault it was, but we’ll blame OD Toddy – the asymmetrics should have had a simple, two mark, windward/leeward course. When it had four marks in it, most of the fleet converted it to the two mark version apart from Joan and Jack Hardie and it ended up that only Joan was awarded a finish position. Shame to waste a wonderful afternoon’s racing like that.

Mike and Kayla again won, but this time from Andy and Katia in a Mirror.

Bank holiday next weekend – dig out your Disney costumes! Even if it’s just Mary Poppins umbrella as it’s bound to be needed on a Bank holiday 🙁

A duller start, with the winds eased too, was a pleasant change for some achy sailors after Saturday! With just a selection of boats on the water they all sailed in the handicap Dodd Trophy series. Although William and Elaine led the way, the offwind legs were not always as windy as the beats, so the gap between them and Tim widened and narrowed as the race went on. It was on the reach before the final beat that William realised his rudder was no longer being held in place by the transom pintle – not good when the boat is on a reach with the gennaker flying! A capsize was avoided, but their race was over leaving Tim to go on and win his third race of the weekend.

The afternoon race was a pennant race for the Albert Bates Memorial Trophy, and as usual it was a round the laker. William had borrowed Keith’s F15 for the afternoon, but little did he know what he was letting Elaine in for. With a westerly wind, Sale Fell had maximum effect in terms of downdraughts and wind seemingly coming from numerous directions at once. Even on a run, there would be a shift that meant the spinnaker had to be gybed, and then fairly rapidly gybed back again! A missing mark 15 caused some confusion so the rescue boat became a temporary mark. William and Jim were in the right place at the right time and broke away with John Halliday following fairly closely behind. Some of the shifts caught Jim out and he had several capsizes and even did a vertical 360 at one stage when his boat fully turtled. At 50 mins, it was a relatively slow time to the leeward mark and the changeable winds continued on the beat(?) back up the lake. Although William broke away every now and again, Tim kept coming back, and he was first to clear Scarness and stayed ahead of William to the finish. On handicap he took his fourth and final win of the weekend.

Saturday Racing

Good racing conditions that led to some exciting racing, and various capsizes by Jim, Jo and Mik.

Dave Lawson and Robbie D, with Ethan, were both in Mirrors, pushing Mik Chappell’s position down the fleet a little, but he still leads the AB Series.

In the Celebrity Glass Pursuit, racing was relatively close with four different fleets on the same final leg. Tim Chittenden, with Ian Macpherson won and strengthened his lead from William and Elaine.

The second race was part of the long series Dodd Trophy, but starting was more like a pursuit with Tim and then William following on some minutes after the others! They say patience is a virtue, but not one that the OD was displaying today! 🙂