Bass Week has been listed in Yachts and Yachting’s ultimate list of sailing events as 2nd out of 50 top regattas to Do Before You Die! Well almost, apparently it was 2nd in the list that narrowly missed selection. Still worth a visit.
Gerald Powell
 Gerald Powell passed away peacefully in the early hours of Tuesday at Eastcroft care home, Harrington following a long struggle with Alzheimer�s disease.Gerald will be remembered by many as the cravat wearing Yachtsman who really enjoyed messing about in boats rather than seriously racing them.
He joined the club in the mid 60�s sailing GP 14s. Some may remember his Fisheye motif, a nod to his classical education and his penchant for black sails, which he later discovered stretched when exposed to UV light! He rigidly resisted self bailers questioning why anyone would wish to put a hole in a perfectly sound hull. Working often behind the scenes he was instrumental in negotiating the lease for the foreshore with Lord Egremont, the local education authority facility at Scarness and the formation of the Mirror class at Bass, and his son Robin was very successful in the fleet. Similarly, his life in education, and the links with sailing, enabled Bassenthwaite to be put forward as a venue for the NSSA regatta. This proved so successful for the Club and the NSSA that it has been repeated a couple of times since. As Commodore in 1976/77 he was part of the team organising the RYA Dunhill Team racing Championship which took place at Bass which HRH Prince Philip attended in his capacity as Patron of the RYA. In later years he supported the club as race officer and on the rescue boats. On his retirement he set himself the goal of achieving Ocean Yachtmaster. This he did. Gerald had a love of the outdoors and gained great satisfaction from arriving at places using only �natural power�. To this end he enjoyed walking, backpacking and rediscovered his love of cruising and together with his wife Gillian cruised many miles in the Mediterranean and the West Coast of Scotland. His family have all sailed at the Club during their formative years and his daughter Emma Smith remains a member with grand-daughter Katia, as does his wife Gillian. Daughter Elaine and her family continue their links with the club through Junior racing and Bass Week. He will be missed by many. His funeral was held at All Saints Cockermouth where Elaine recalled many fond memories of her father. It is clear from speaking to Elaine and Gillian, that Gerald’s habit of keeping diaries and logs of events could make for some entertaining reading! Watch this space?! |
They’re Off!
The Youth Squad has taken to the water for their first race much to Rhonwen’s delight! The winds were a bit on the blustery side, there were some spills but many thrills. There were six boats that left the shore, five made it to the start line, and there were four finishers. It was pleasing that four of the starters had not raced more than a couple of times. Joe Watkins suffered a long capsize when his dagger board came out, but he did rejoin the race and finished.
Lewis Tyson dominated the race having led the race from start to finish, and James Springell and William Coulthard followed through to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. The next race is in a fortnight. Perhaps the water will be a bit warmer by then!?
As for the big boys, they all were sent around the lake by Sam. They only had to suffer the blustery winds until they reached Scarness then the Sale Fell shadow took over to make the afternoon pennant a real penance!
Steve and Ruth had a big lead at the bottom end, but the wind was not in their favour as they returned. Joan and Jack Hardie kept the wind to bite into Steve’s lead. At Scarness on the return, progress was as dire as ever, and from the shore it seemed as if positions were forever changing between Neil Garrison in his Dart, Steve in an RS400, and Joan in an RS200 who seemed to keep going to take the lead on the water. Toggle in his Vareo made up a lot of ground to finish 2nd on the water in front of Neil. Steve, having retired.
The results were calculated on a personal handicap basis, and it was Toggle that won overall
The morning race was held in some strong winds too. Steve and Ruth, and Bean and Naomi tried a port end start, Steve ducked the fleet but Bean nipped into a gap that wasn’t there and got away with it. William and Elaine tacked out of the way, ended up in irons and capsized shortly after, as did Big E. William did catch Bean up, but not sufficiently to beat him on handicap, as it was Bean that won the race. Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith won the GP race from Dave and Sarah Nicholson
You Just Wouldn’t Believe It!
After a glorious morning the forecast came true! Rain greeted sailors as they arrived for the afternoon race, and the wind freshened from the South. T wasn’t going to be put off by all the malingerers(?) and went out in the Vago with Ginger Phil, and had considerable capsize practice in between some exhilarating legs.
Big E wasn’t to be outdone, and he followed suit (both sailingwise and capsizing). Rich Critch was a little nervous at going out with Kayla, but as sister Ruth was all dressed up and nowhere to go (William wasn’t rushing to go out), Bro and Sis took to the water, albeit that they only got to the end of the jetty before taking the main down and coming back ashore!
Of course, it wasn’t long before the winds eased and those that were left wondered what the fuss was about… Some may have thought it was the eye of the storm, whereas in fact it was the wind swinging to the SW and allowing Sale Fell to cast a shadow on the bay for a short while.
Tomorrow’s another day.
Easter?
It was more like Christmas! On Sunday morning, after a night’s snow fall on the surrounding hills, the lake was looking at its most spectacular
The wind freshened from the North just before the start, but it was not as blustery as Saturday. There was significant port bias on the start line, such that the handicap fleet were struggling to cross on starboard tack! Andy and Emma Smith were recorded as being over the line at the start and had to return to restart.
The results of the first race demonstrate how close the handicapping is with the RS200 and Laser splitting the first three RS400s
After lunch the fleet sauntered out to the start on the far side of the lake, only to find that the wind was considerably stronger. This resulted in several capsizes, and a number of boats retiring even before racing started!
Again, the racing proved to be close with Phil Smith and Naomi Darling winning by 30 secs on handicap, with only 15 secs separating the next three boats. However, after an adjustment of the finishing times (some boats suffered a 3min penalty!) there was only 12 secs between Bean and Scumper. You just can’t get the staff these days!
Reigning champion of the annual egg dump, Jack Lawson, came to defend his title but having had to borrow one of Herb’s ‘spare’ eggs he did not find his winning ways and was dumped in the first round. It was to be Emma Smith that took the winning honours this year.
On Monday the wintery weather continued, with a white out for a short while at the end of the first race.
Phil and Naomi won the morning race which meant the series was for the taking in the afternoon. The course kept the fleet in the wind which came in with some good gusts at times, resulting in several more capsizes – at least one in each fleet – Toggle, Nigel Lewis and Mik Chappell. Emma Smith sailed the final race in Tim Mirror while he crewed for Andy – and she kept Mik at bay. He was getting so frustrated that he hardened up on a gust to try and get past her that he went for an unwelcome swim.
It was a clean sweep for Dave and Lynn Lawson in the GPs and Tim Smith in the Mirrors. On handicap, the results split Bean and Scumper by only one second (in Scumpers favour)
Everyone’s Mad..
.. keen! Well they must be to be camping down at the club, and then even contemplating sailing while the snow and hailstones come down in between some wild squalls! Until a couple of hours before the start the weather was putting many off, but it seemed to blow itself out just in time to tempt numerous boats on to the water for the Starter’s Prize – the first race of the 2008 season.
There were capsizes, but it was an exciting start to the season. The committee boat moored head to wind at the starboard end of the line took some getting used to – not only for the competitors but also Herb and the team. They were some over eager starters – Steve Hunt to name but one! Toggle was keen as mustard at one mark claiming no water on William – shame Tog had been coming wide into the mark for the previous 30m! He reckoned God loves a trier…. Well that’s one version!
Toggle been on Ebay again. Having sold his caravan (and upgraded to a newer one), he obviously found a bargain sailing suit – we suspect Eddie the Eagle must have been selling it as a memento from his ski jumping exploits!
The second race was sailed in a shifty but steadier breeze which faded as the race went on. Although it only lasted half an hour, it would have taken a considerable time to sail an extra lap. Andy Smith (with Emma in the 1st race and Phil Hodgkins in the 2nd) won the second race and took the series from Steve and Ruth
The showers were a must for many to thaw out various parts of their body after one of the chilliest starts to many a season.
Don’t Worry
Or should you? You may have noticed lots of activity on the webcam as boats took to the water this weekend. No,� the season has not started yet, but several sailors decided that it would be useful to get some practice in. Word has it that the commodore has been practising some racing over recent weeks – looking at his results he needed it!
The Dinghy Sailing Show 2008 – Alexandra Palace, London
Chris Tooley and I were invited to attend the dinghy show by the NSSA last weekend. We drove down on Friday night and stayed two nights (expenses paid!). We took the Mount Haes trophy we won at the Youth Regatta held at Plymouth last July and spent some time on the stand talking to visitors.
We arrived at Alexandra Palace for the opening of the show on Saturday morning and saw Ben Ainslie when he cut the ribbon. (He’s a lot smaller than he looks in pictures) There were talks from loads of top sailors including Paul Goodison, GBR Olympic laser sailor. There was loads to do, looking around all of the stands, wishing you could afford all the shiny boats, collecting freebies and getting a bit over-competitive at the model boat pool.
We had a great time and would definitely recommend going.
Sam.
Star of the Big Screen
You just can’t take some people anywhere. Never heard anyone describe Bridget as a shrinking violet, so no surprise when she was at a recent Westlife concert she spotted Ginge on the big screen she leant (well dived) across and waved like fury. Don’t think there’s any truth in the rumour that she ‘flashed’ the camera, but who knows 🙂
Controversy
The Leap Year Quiz night started with the usual banter. Why hadn’t William booked meals for Bridget and Ginge, and why hadn’t he told Dee that the questions were based on Leap Years?! Is he really on the blue WKD?
Anyway, the quiz master and his glamorous assistant had prepared a wonderful hotpot (yes, that’s the one without the crust for those Lancastrians reading this!) for the two dozen contestants. In fact it was believed that the Fantastic Four were ringers, as they were such good friends of the quiz master.
Anyway, proceedings got underway, and yes there was a rowdy table – none other than Bridget’s Brood (surely her school kids would have had detention for such behaviour?!). It started with repeated requests for the questions to be read out again (No that wasn’t because William was searching for answers on his phone, there was just too much gabbing by the women), and continued to the answer stage when they repeatedly roared as they supposedly had the right answer. That attitude did eventually spread across the other teams, as they secured another point.
When it was all over, there was a countdown from 70 (the maximum score), and it seemed like an eternity before the winners were identified – the Fantastic Four with 54 points. Fix I hear you cry (as did all the other teams). The answer paper was submitted for checking, only to find that they couldn’t add up! So the countdown continued and at 48 (whose age is that you ask?!), Bridget’s Brood gave another roar. The paper was checked and they were declared winners. They were just awarded the wine (as if Bridget hadn’t had enough by then!)- Kayla had left the half eaten box of Chocs at home (joke!).
Sorry you all missed out on a good night, but you were invited!