What a glorious day for a sail. The wind didn’t always rise to the occasion but when it did some boats were able to plane for a short while. Mike Moore suggested there were elements of skill and elements of luck – of course, his position only benefited through skill!

It was Lewis Tyson that took the honours on a personal handicap basis in the first race, from Jim Christie making a return to the lake but in a laser this time! In the afternoon, William and Elaine broke away (eventually – perhaps that was just the luck element kicking in for a change?!) and won from Mike Turner and Sue Watson.

With some consistent results by Mike Turner and Jim Christie, perhaps they are the ones to watch in this final series of the year

With the northerly airs, most people wrapped up and donned hats to keep warm (though William and Robbie D were still bearing a bit of leg despite the snow on Skiddaw!), though Elaine and Kayla were complaining of cold posteriors at the end of racing!

With two weekends of the championship season to go, the final weekend series is being held this weekend. With a forecast of rain and gales for Sunday, it may be just a short series!

There was a good breeze all afternoon, enough to cause the odd capsize – Mike Fairlamb with Margaret Trotter had an unfortunate capsize on the beat that lost them the lead to Val and Ken Bell in a closely fought race. However, Dave and Sarah Nicholson came through to win the first race.

Mike and Kayla had two close races against Tim Chittenden in the F15s, but it was Mike that took the honours.

Scumper and Big E took the lead in the handicap fleet in both races, and won them on handicap from Bean and brother Rob (or was it Tim?!)

In the Mirror fleet Nick Orton was so far ahead he had to do a lap of honour! Mik had his knickers in a twist after doing turns for hitting Nick on the head with his boom earlier in the race. Toddy’s 2nd in the first race and win in the 2nd gave him the series (the Mirrors have already decided they’re not sailing on Sunday)

Sunday came together with the forecast wind. Mike Fairlamb was itching to race and strengthen his position in the series – he’d brought in Dave Lawson to crew! However, the OD checked out the conditions on the water and decided to cancel racing for the day

The latest championship results are listed below. The championship winners may have been determined, but can next weekend make a difference to your place in the championship?

The rain cleared overnight on Friday with a forecast of 10-12mph afternoon breeze from the SW for Saturday

The FF team racing having been cancelled we had the lake to ourselves. There were many puffs of wind which made all the difference in terms of getting lifts, but they never seemed to be sustained long enough to gain a good advantage. The wind freshened towards the end of the first race, but lacked lustre for the second 🙁

Shunty and Ruth got away in both races to secure two firsts on fleet handicap basis. Lynn Lawson tried her hand at helming, with Dave crewing, and sailed consistently to take a first and second on a personal handicap basis

Sunday was forecast to bring some sun, but less wind.

Sunday started with a light southerly which looked promising for some good sailing – how deceptive looks can be! With a very starboard biased beat there was little tacking to be done on the main beat of the course, and the light winds gave little opportunity for the asymmetric boats to gain (or should that be not lose) any ground on the rest of the fleet. This led to Shunty losing, well spitting out, his dummy. Mike and Kayla were taking advantage of the situation and sailed well to finish first on the water and take first overall on personal, and fleet, handicap basis.

Backed by, perhaps, a sea breeze, the wind swung to the SW during the lunch break, and seemed to strengthen with various gusts passing through. Although the fleets finished in the expected order this time, the lulls and gusts on the offwind legs allowed the pack to tighten. Lynn Lawson again sailed excellently to win the race on fleet handicap from Shunty, and a 2nd on personal handicap basis gave her the October personal handicap trophy.

Mike Moore had to win the last race on fleet handicap to take the October Series, but Shunty’s 2nd was sufficient to fend Mike off and take the trophy. With 2nd place in both series Mike felt like it was a case of always being the bridesmaid, never the bride. Say no more! Well it was his wedding anniversary – what did he expect? Special treatment?!

Congratulations go to Phil Smith and Naomi Darling following the announcement of their engagement