It was very blustery when 9 boats took to the water today for the latest races in the Youth Squad Saturday Series.� 6 toppers, a taz, a laser radial and a byte started the first race.� There were numerous capsizes before and during the race and credit goes to all the sailors who got back in their boats and carried on to the finish.� Well done to you all! Lewis Tyson in his topper and Joe Watkins in his byte led the fleet from start to finish with Joe finishing first, but Lewis winning on handicap by 50 seconds.� They did three laps while Robin Crawley did 2 laps in his topper.� Ben, Ethan and Christina Tully all in toppers and Luke Howorth in his taz managed one lap in the very testing conditions.

The wind eased a little for the second race.� Again, Joe won on the water but Lewis beat him on handicap – this time by only 28 seconds.� Robin finished ahead of Christina by less than a minute.� There was a very close finish between Ben and Ethan.� Ben had been in the lead, but Ethan (who was sailing with a reefed sail) was catching up at the end of the race.� Ben managed to get one last gust of wind which saw him cross the line first.

Especially not casual sailors!

Would the forecast come anywhere near true today?

Well as yesterday, the wind filled in and there were more thrills and spills. Bridget clearly dressed for the occasion in her gnome outfit! (Why does she think I’ve altered the photo?)

Old habits die hard in that OD Ian Campbell was keen to get the racing off on time, and so the fact that a lot of the fleet hadn’t quite made it to the start was not going to be an issue (for him!)

Just as well the sailors understood the course as it turned out that Ian couldn’t follow what was going on because a short beat to A took the fleet through the start line an extra time!

William treated Kayla to her first capsize of the season when he was washed out of the back of the boat. The next lap she was treated to a further capsize when there was a nose dive following a gybe.

There were several others that capsized, especially when gybing. But Scumper and Robbie D went in backwards when the mainsheet fixing broke. This let Shunty get through but, Scumper took the lead by the end of the race. It was Bean and Naomi that sailed best on handicap to win.

Lunchtime was a welcome reprieve after an hours hard sailing.

The final race of the series was equally windy, but very gusty, and the OD again went for a start to suit himself instead of the sailors leaving Shunty and a couple of others giving the fleet a bit of a head start. Again Bean won the race on handicap, but it was Scumper that won the Isel Cup from (a very achy) William and Kayla.

Andy T and Toggle teamed up in the Vago and promptly practiced there capsize skills, as did several others including Shunty. Notably, and very audibly, Ginge and Jose went swimming after a gybe and they needed help to get their mast out of the mud. This scuppered their chances of winning the Commodore’s Prize which went to Val and Ken Bell.

The Mirror Orsova Cup was won by Mik Chappell with two firsts

That is the message from Cecile and Marie who have popped back across to see some friends this weekend. As ever, they were spotted in a local hostelry, busy celebrating in their usual way – with a pint in their hands!

The forecast was for 21mph winds, gusting 37mph – would it come true?

As the winds had been light during the morning training session it was much to everyone’s surprise that the wind did pick up substantially, though not to forecast levels, and there were many spills and thrills – Could it have been the commodore with the highest capsize tally? Just as well he didn’t invest in a new burgee as it wouldn’t have lasted the race!

Racing was delayed while a stand-in OD was arranged – the rescue crews! The line was set for them, together with the course, and all they had to do was start it. Shame they didn’t realise that it was championship racing as they only started one fleet. Not to worry, most of the sailors knew what to do.

The wind picked up as the afternoon passed, and with it coming from the South West, Sale Fell did its very best to cause havoc with holes, and down draughts, for the sailors to contend with. The gybe mark was the down fall for many.

Scumper and Robbie D led the way in the handicap fleet with William and Kayla securing second place. Jose and Ginge won the GPs, while Mik won the Mirrors, although Alan Waugh did take the lead at one stage to give Mik a run for his money.

After a gap of three weeks for some sailors, the going proved tough work, though apparently there were some masochists out there too – Bridget kicked her leg (the proof was in the tread of her boot!), while Ruth had a similar graze on her leg (probably caused during one of Shunty’s various capsizes!)

Kayla was warned that if she saw something sticking out of William’s shorts it was only his tiller extension, which seemed to tuck under there all too often!

The met office recorded wind for Saturday peaked at 10mph – clearly Bass continues to ‘benefit’ from its own microclimate. The forecast for Sunday is more wind – will another day’s sailing be lost?