Sam Hall has today won the Mount Haes Trophy at this year’s NSSA Regatta being held in Plymouth
[Where’s the Summer Gone]Here Comes Summer?
A gentle breeze came and went, came back again and disappeared totally over the course of the afternoon. The rain clouds that came in failed to deliver any wind, and fortunately not too much rain either!
Although there was a light breeze for the first beat, it almost totally disappeared for the two downwind legs, and boats were hunting out whatever zephyrs they could. It seemed as if the afternoon sea breeze (without any sun?) was coming in from the west, and this helped boats finish more quickly, and build up hopes for a more settled second race. However, the breeze came back from the north east, swung to the east just before the start, at which point the OD gave up and postponed racing until Sunday.
The only tales to tell are about Sally – first of all she managed to put her clothes on the newly varnished woodwork in the changing rooms, and then was at risk of having William disqualified for laughing too much, and generating extra air propelling them through a windless course!
Others felt that winter had come early and were relieved to have a warm shower after their sail. You’d think they’d keep warm by bailing out all that rain water! The following webcam shows the new shower cubicles that form part of the recent upgrade of the ladies changing area – just click on it for an update!
Overnight rain had cleared and there was a cloudy start to Sunday’s racing. The forecast for 9mph SE wind seemed as if it may hold true, until the fleet started to prepare and the wind swung to the SW! However, the direction was relatively steady, and the breeze held, if not increased as the morning went on.
The race that was postponed on Saturday was squeezed into afternoon racing, allowing the sailors to make the most of the excellent sailing weather. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any challenges.
At one leeward mark, Dave Wright capsized and righted just before the RS400s came roaring in. He did right it, only to find his mainsheet had lassoed the mark – the query was what at what stage he would free it and what would happen to the racing boats trying to round the mark?!!! Fortunately for most people’s sake the boat capsized again.
Andy and Emma were having a good day until one spinnaker drop went slightly wrong, and they lost some ground. It was only at the end of the day that Andy noticed, and admitted, that he’d been sailing without any bungs in – no wonder the boat was somewhat heavy by the end of the day.
With Neil continuing to play Mr Grumpy with Judith, it’s no wonder she’s said he can have a new boat – so long as it’s single handed!
The last race of the day was so shifty that the RS400s struggled to beat the other fleets to the windward mark, and then the course took the fleet under the shade of Sale Fell, making it difficult to break away. Neil went low to stay in the breeze, but Scumper and Zephyr took, and kept the lead to take the winning horn and the series.
The following four boats in the series all tied with 11 points, demonstrating just how close the racing has been – very little room for mistakes. Andy’s 1st in the morning secured 2nd place, Robbie D and Ethan’s 3rd secured 3rd, and Neil finished ahead of Bean and Naomi to get 4th.
The GPs only sailed three races, so Julian Cruickshank and son’s consistent sailing, with two 1sts, won him the series.
Tim Smith had three bullets to win the Mirror trophy, only dropping one race to brother Rob, who did not sail the final race due to a temporarily incurable leak!
With weather like this it’s easy to forget the rather grey and cold day that was endured on Saturday. Perhaps it’ll stay with us for a few hours more at least?!
Mirror Northern Championships
The high winds of the first race led to several casualties, including various team Bass boats (or was it all?!). In fact the strength of it caused Rob Smith to have a change of mind and he opted to crew for twin brother Tim instead of sailing single handed. The OD (and the twins brother) reckoned if they had a spinnaker system that worked they would have done wonders – such is life! Rob’s change of mind meant that Beanacrew, specially prepared for the weekend was left on the shore for (another) brother Andy to rescue (amidst various creaks and groans – was that Andy or the boat though?!) with the help of Scumper.
The wind did ease slightly for the other races, and there were no further casualties. Hector Cisneros with son Ben got in the groove and secured three firsts to have a comfortable overnight lead.
The OD was concerned at one stage that he couldn’t find the black flag on the committee boat, but as it turned out, all apart from one boat were well behaved and stayed clear of the line. In 5 hours the OD successfully had all four races completed, and boats ashore.
The sailors are all having an early meal followed by a sumo wrestling competition – no peace for the wicked!
The winds for Sunday were forecast to be relatively light – and how right it was. It proved to be a totally different kettle of fish.
The promised wind was very light to non existent. The OD eventually tried to start racing which resulted in a series of postponements, general recalls, round the ends and a black flag – well worth finding! All these starts used up what little wind there was so that when the fleet finally got under way the wind died totally at which point the OD abandoned the race -� or was it because Rob and Tim were last? You can’t have a Smith in last place! The abandonment brought cheers from the fleet that could be heard from the shore.
If it was possible, the wind died further with the lake becoming a mill pond. The OD gave up and abandoned the racing leaving the results as they stood from overnight. This scuppered Mik and Toddy’s cunning plan of getting everyone to pack up, whilst they waited for the sea breeze to come and get two good results.
At the prize giving, winning helm Hector Cisneros thanked the club for its hospitality, and the OD for some challenging courses, as well as abandoning the one race of the day that finally got under way. Also, he told the youths not to be dis-heartened by their performances on Saturday as it had been one of the most challenging days sailing that he’d had in years.
While the Cat’s Away
Well, with the Mirror (er, Bass) Forum down I will have to moan on the website. It’s not good enough. There I am taking a well earned break from Bass at the Brit GP when, suddenly, all these Mirrors go out. There’s Twin (soccer’s stopped), Des (with B&Q sponsorship), Stato (thought he’d retired), and even Toddy (complete with video of his Ripon exploits). And now I’m getting s—— in two series. Still, at least we had a Finnish (and Ferrari) win in the GP!
Mik.
Sunny Sunday
What a difference a day makes. The sun shone all day, the wind blew enough most of the time, and there were shifts that made all the difference (if you were on the right side of them!).
First of all an apology to Toggle – there may have been a one sided tale told about his efforts in the Lord Birkett, and the bit about the training was a joke – there aren’t actually any places available until next year, but Tog doesn’t really need to attend. Apparently, he was caught out in the massive squall that brought the fleet back from the islands, fell, or was washed out of the back, and broke his tiller necessitating his tow back by the gin palace.
In the GPs Hugh and Rhonwen had two wins, but they had to work hard for it as Mike Fairlamb with Sam Hall kept taking the lead, though in the 2nd race Mike retired after rounding a mark incorrectly. Ginge and Bridget were making hay while the sun shone, and then cooled off with a capsize. Ken Bell clearly wasn’t making hay, came for a sail and finished second with Val.
Tim Smith beat off competition from twin brother Rob, and secured another couple of wins.
In the handicap fleet, there were ups and downs. William, with second crew of the weekend Sally, was several minutes late for the start, but had some good luck with the winds to pull back on Roy and Kirstie to such an extent that he had to avoid Roy when he capsized just in front of him on a gybe mark. Apparently, a 50 degree wind shift on the start line prevented Shunty and Neil from being able to cross the line. Confusion over the course (which may well have changed after it was first displayed) meant Shunty lost out several hundred metres by heading to 9 instead of 0. Although Neil and Judith won on the water, the wind suited the RS200s best of all, and honours went to Andy and Emma.
Roy was left behind for the start of the second race (apparently retying his battens), leaving William, Neil and Shunty to have some good racing. Although William mastered the beats (or was it make the most of some incredible shifts?) to take the lead a couple of times, he lost out off wind to Neil and Shunty. The wind faded somewhat towards the end of the race allowing the RS200s to catch up. Robbie D and Ethan would have easily won had they not got their gennaker stuck, so it was to be Andy and Emma that again won on handicap.
The Mirror Northerns are to be held at the club next weekend
Single Handed
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Well Toggle’s found another way of demonstrating how to use a boat single handed – trust him to be different, most of us stay in the boat! At today’s Lord Birkett 2007 Toggle needed a tow in. |
With the Lord Birkett Trophy being sailed at Ullswater, numbers were slightly down at the club today. The rain held off, but the wind made up for it! The blustery gusts caught out a few including William (with a rather nervous Cristina), Lewis, Mike F, Rory & Toddy.
The first race was a pursuit, and as last week, the finish was fairly close. Shunty, sailing with Cecile, took pole position with Hugh and Rhonwen second. Mike Moore and Mark finished a disgruntled third having been ‘delayed’ by some of TT Fairlamb’s (Mike Moore’s nickname for him) antics!
Having had a few gulps of lake water, Cristina was even more cautious about trying the second race! However, she did go out, start and retired at the end of the windward leg (all in 15 mins according to the webcam). There was some good racing, but less eventful with wins going to Shunty, Hugh, and Tim Smith
As for the gossip, apparently height matters. When Shunty was coming ashore he had stepped out the boat expecting the water to be up to his knees, but it was more like waist deep. A comment that it would have been knee deep on anyone else, started the banter about him being the shortest (adult) helm – but Mike F piped up obviously vying for the trophy. I can’t remember the third person to get involved in this discussion, but fortunately the proposed line-up to verify the shorty didn’t happen.
Mirror Training
Here’s some links for videos from last week’s training at Ripon. Starting Starting 2� Starting 3 Windward mark
How Much Fun for �1.70?
Heard the story about the bus journey from Whitehaven to Cockermouth that took 3� hours? No, it wasn’t due to an in efficient bus service, a mechanical breakdown, heavy traffic, or weather conditions. A certain (lone) passenger fell asleep, and missed her stop, and woke up somewhere near Wigton. When she realised her predicament, she admitted to rolling in the aisles laughing (her words!) and having to tell herself to stop [laughing], but these fits of laughter kept coming back as her journey continued to the terminus at Carlisle and back to where she was first heading. As demanded by her friend, she eventually sent a text to say she was safely back home. Of course, by the time she arrived at work on Monday the whole office knew about the trip – so why shouldn’t you? Thanks to our very own Cecile for sharing this with us (and the rest of the club!)
Die Hard
…Old habits that is! Roy was glad to be back at the helm again with Kirsty crewing. It’s a shame he wasn’t au fait with the start times of the pursuit race as he, and several other RS400s, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they should be starting, which made William and Jonathan very nervous as to whether they had in fact started too early! Over the course of the 70 min pursuit, it was the final 5 mins where several places changed – must have been some good handicapping!
As for the second race, Roy was again someway behind the rest of the fleet at the start and he topped it off with a capsize on the gybe mark, and finally tried to run Kirsty over when coming ashore (she’d managed to keep her hair dry until then!)
Of course the main sailing of the weekend is the Martin 16 National Championships, being sailed at Bass for the first time. Commodore Steve Hunt, as OD for the weekend, managed to get in the first 4 races of the 8 race championship. Clearly there is some close competition between the leading boats. The morning races were held in very windy conditions, and one hardy sole raised their spinnaker, but quickly dropped it again. Fortunately the design of the boat is such that the risk of capsize is minimal (I think!)Sunday morning started with what seemed like a nice southerly, but it never quite had the oomphh(?) that the sailors would have appreciated. The Martins continued to have some very close racing, and with just one discard tensions were high leading to a protest!
The delay caused by the Martin 16’s protest proved to be quite fortuitous as there was not a lot of wind, so after the prize giving the boats took to the water for the Jimmy Lancaster Memorial pennant as the breeze seemed to have filled in from the SW. By the time the race started the wind had faded, and a course set for marks 12 and 13 proved too much for William (though Cristina thought she’d missed the opportunity of a trip around the lake!) and he headed straight for shore. Most of the others persevered, but it was to be another 25 mins before the breeze came back, but this time from the South. With a bit of forward thinking, Shunty had included 10 in the course, and that was to be where he shortened the course after 45 mins.
When the fleet handicaps were calculated, it was Hugh and Rhonwen that proved to be the overall winners.
Die Hard
…Old habits that is! Roy was glad to be back at the helm again with Kirsty crewing. It’s a shame he wasn’t au fait with the start times of the pursuit race as he, and several other RS400s, seemed to be oblivious to the fact that they should be starting, which made William and Jonathan very nervous as to whether they had in fact started too early! Over the course of the 70 min pursuit, it was the final 5 mins where several positions changed – must have been some good handicapping!
As for the second race, Roy was again someway behind the rest of the fleet at the start and he topped it off with a capsize on the gybe mark, and finally tried to run Kirsty over when coming ashore (she’d managed to keep her hair dry until then!)
Of course the main sailing of the weekend is the Martin 16 National Championships, being sailed at Bass for the first time. Commodore Steve Hunt, as OD for the weekend, managed to get in the first 4 races of the 8 race championship. Clearly there is some close competition between the leading boats. The morning races were held in very windy conditions, and one hardy sole raised their spinnaker, but quickly dropped it again. Fortunately the design of the boat is such that the risk of capsize is minimal (I think!)