That Age Old Question

How many lakes in the Lake District? Find out if the BBC Two QI panel know with this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/noise/?programme=qi (select Ep10 – Alan Davies)

Birthday Boy

27 November, 2007

Yes Toggle has reached one of those key milestones in life. Three score year and ten I hear you ask – No. The first half century – surprisingly no! It had to be the big 40 – many congratulations. At that age can he stand the pace of Nick Smith’s wild stag party? Only time will tell.

Well by Tog’s account at least – yes he rose to the challenge and survived all the stag parties to the end. Not sure whether that means he was last one standing!

November Series

18 November, 2007

Yes, it’s November. Sunday only racing on a personal handicap basis. For the first weekend, Steve Hunt and Ruth Critchley mastered the light winds, and despite having their handicap amended for the 2nd race (well doctored!), they secured two wins from Wendy Lewis in her RS200.

The November series continued last Sunday. As a result of being on a personal handicap basis it tends to be a bit of a lottery as to what the results will be! The day started with light winds which seemed as if they were freshening. The odd gust passed through, but not very often. The morning race was led by William and Lesley, but the handicap system resulted in it being won by Barry Lancaster with Martin Wright crewing.

The wind was lighter for the second race, and most of the fleet were finished after one lap, but the RS400 and RS200 had to completed two laps. With the wind filling in slightly, their average lap time improved and the race was won by Joan and Jack Hardie.

It may have been cold in and on the water, but William continued to sail in a shortie. Some traditions die hard

Weekend Series

28 October, 2007

The final championship series of the year is being sailed this weekend. At a thank you dinner for Council members there was an opportunity for some dirty tactics between the key helms in the Mirror fleet to try and make sure their opponents were unfit for sailing. Only time will tell whether the tactics were implemented or worked!

Bridget managed to embarrass a waitress with a spoonerism of sticky toffee (pudding)!

Pete Goes Brazilian?!

25 October, 2007

I’m aware that some of you have been following the race on the website and have even contributed.

I thought it worth putting down how I feel and sharing it while it’s fresh. So thanks for your interest and support. Toni forwarded them via e mail .

We sailed an Ocean; no we raced an Ocean – big difference. 4,800 miles in 31 days. We came 2nd in race 1 and 4th in race 2. Are we happy with that? No we had great ambitions in La Rochelle to win the leg. However, a disastrous trip through the Canaries found the biggest hole in the Atlantic Ocean and we emerged 10th, with a record low run for 24 hrs of 9 miles. So to climb back to 4th felt good, particularly as we beat Hull & Humber (Dumb & Dumber to us !) We emerged relatively intact with only our mid range spinnaker damaged (damaged when we crash gybed and broke the preventer – a section 5 m X 2m went missing!). I hasten to add that this was the other watch – it was 2.30 am and I was asleep at the time. Other yachts had a RNLI evacuation at Lands End by the Falmouth lifeboat – it was too rough for the sea King, one dislocated shoulder, one leg caught up in a spinnaker sheet with rope burns that turned bad and series of stitches and bruises. As well as 6 blown out kites in the fleet , two spinnaker poles have been broken in broaches or gybes and a jockey pole bent.

So have I enjoyed it? Far too small a word for the totality of the experience. It has been a test, physically, mentally & socially. No one who has not encountered the foredeck of a large yacht during a racing sail change can understand the sheer physical brutality of it. In the dark, with the boat pitching, trying so hard to keep one hand for the boat and one for the job, it makes me feel every day of my age! Mentally racing the boat is relentless. 24 hrs a day trimming sails, changing sails and 3hr watches in the night & 4 hrs in the day test ones endurance and patience. Sometimes we were sailing best course downwind for days and life becomes repetitive.

I have to say the scenery gets a bit samey ( I spy with my little eye something beginning with S) However, the biggest test has been socially. God knows I’m not a difficult man to get along with ( I can hear the chorus , thank you !) Remember the boat was called Liverpool and was crewed by a significant number of scousers. It felt a lot like big brother at times and Toni will attest to the fact that I demanded daily emails from her and the boys to bring something into my claustrophobic world. But don’t get the impression it was bad – I feel I’ve been tested and passed, The highs have been extraordinary. Being at the top of an 85 ft mast while we’re sailing, uncrossing halyards and checking for chafe: helming downwind with a following sea – surfing at nearly 20 knots: being the no 1 upwind helmsman, being on for the first spell of the watch to set the standards of course, average and top speed: dolphins torpedoing down to the boat in phosphorescent trails: being hit by flying fish : the feeling of a supportive watch – all these and more are memorable. But for me it’s back to cruising. Roller reefing sails, lazy jacks and autopilots will be even more appreciated. When we parked for 48 hrs in the Canaries the skipper asked me �”Well Pete – from your experience what would you do to make this boat go faster” I answered without hesitation ” I’d switch the f*****g engine on ! “There are not enough restaurants in an ocean to make me do it again, however, as Robin Knox Johnson said in his address before the start ” for the rest of your life what will separate you from the average man is that you have sailed an Ocean” I’ll stick with that-it’s an achievement and I’m proud I’ve done it. You just may hear me talk about it every now and then and as I said at the beginning – thanks for your support – it’s meant a lot.

Pete

FF Team Racing

21 October, 2007

Opens Racing No Comments

For various reasons there has been a disappointing turnout for this year’s team racing. With three boats from Derwent that expected to race as a team, they were split up and teamed randomly with one of the other competitors.

On Saturday, Robin Dawson sailed with Ian Preston and led the way for a while, but Tony Lee got into his stride and won both races. The winds were light to medium from the SSW so the OD tried to set courses avoiding the inevitable shadow in the lee of Sale Fell.

The Flying 15s had one extra player on Sunday – Neil Platt. The winds were again from the South West and swinging around Sale Fell but slightly fresher than Saturday.

The racing was again close, but in the end it was the B team comprising Tony Lee and Robin Dawson that sailed consistently to win the Viking Trophy (if only we knew where it is!). Not surprisingly Derwent featured in the prizes – one of the benefits of having a Derwent boat in each team!! Tony Lee gave a vote of thanks to the club for hosting the event.

The A Team, that came 2nd!

FF TEAM RACING OCT 2007

PN    Boat  Helm          Crew           Club               1   2   3   4 Pts
 1    3885  TONY LEE                     B-DRSC             1   1   4   3   5
 2    3293  ROBIN DAWSON  IAN PRESTON    B-BASS             3   2   3   1   6
 3    3640  PAUL WRIGHT   SALLY ROBERTS  A-DRSC             2   4   2   6   8
 4    3770  NEIL PLATT                   BOLTON           DNS DNS   1   2  11
 5    3815  ATHOL KING                   C-DRSC             6   3   6   4  13
 6    3636  ROBIN JEFFER                 A-DRSC             4   5   5   5  14
 7    2504  KEITH THOMAS  IAN SMITH      C-BASS             5   6   7   7  18

                                        Points for RTD =  7   7   8   8
                                        Points for DSQ =  7   7   8   8
                                        Points for DNS =  8

 3 races to count

The October series, sailed on a personal handicap basis, started on Saturday with a fleet of 10 boats. No real excitement to report, but the ever changing handicaps make it difficult to predict the results (other than someone will have a whinge)!

On Sunday. Neil Garrison managed to secure a strong lead in the first race, and so sailed 4 laps to the rest of the fleets 3. Martin Wright won on handicap.

Nigel Lewis was keen to get the second race underway, but somehow managed to be 3 minutes late, and narrowly missed ramming the Bates on mid transom. His racing ended shortly afterwards following a capsize drill (or so he may have us believe). Joan Hardie sailed a good race and stayed in the lead, but the personal handicapping system dropped her back a place behind Val Bell.

Joe Watkins had a good weekends sailing and is presently 2nd overall behind John Halliday who seemed somewhat confused most of the weekend due to the variable approach to the starting sequence which had been implemented to accommodate the F15s.

Sign of Things to Come?

17 October, 2007

Just received these photos of a long term project by Trustee Graham Kirkpatrick that was finally completed earlier this year. Obviously still drawn by the Flying 15s which he sailed for many years, he can be seen crossing the part of the fleet at the FF Nationals at Largs! Could there be a push to launch it at Bass?!

Windless Weekend

14 October, 2007

Plenty of sun, glorious views of the lake, somewhat obscured bye a wandering spider (on the webcam), but no wind was what greeted sailors on Saturday.

Ah well, you can’t have everything!

Surprisingly the a light breeze did fill in across the lake very quickly, and racing got underway only slightly late (though Scumper was later than most!). The wind eased towards the end of the first race to slow proceedings down, so some boats went ashore for a comfort break. However, the OD took no prisoners and started the sequence as soon as all the boats had finished, leaving Shunty and William several minutes late for the start. Fortunately the breeze did hold for the rest of the race.

The first race, which should have been a pursuit, was canned due to it not complying with the series rules

Sunday’s misty start lingered all day, and although there was some ripples on the water for a while, there was never enough to get racing started. There was more movement by the spider clambering over the webcam!

Cancelling the racing meant that series positions in the final long series of the season would stand as previously, with only one weekend series left count towards the championship.

Don’t Forget to Read the Instructions!

7 October, 2007