Well actually yes! Congratulations to Sam Hall for achieving 1st U14 and 4th overall at last weekend’s Bolton North West Junior Travellers event
Speechless
Unfortunately those of you that enjoy voicing their opinions on the forum are stumped for the time being! The servers that we use have not been accessible for some days, and there are no clues as to when (or if) the issues will be resolved.
She’s Left Me!
Congratulations to Lesley following her marriage to Andrew yesterday. Hopefully we’ll see her back at the front end of William’s boat some time during Bass Week
What a Disaster!
….or so it would seem as there seemed to be so many people whinging after the morning race. First there was the OD arriving early to see a lake with very little wind and wanting to abandon at 11am, but he was assured by William that the wind would have filled in by 11.30, and it did! As Hugh must have had a late night, and was not at the club at the due time, Rhonwen offered to be OD for the morning allowing Stu and Debbie Spence to free themselves of the worries of course setting and go racing. When Hugh did turn up, he was�seconded into driving the Bates.� Roy Blackburn, not having had his crew snatched from under him for a second time, was out in plenty of time for his first race in a month only to be late for the start! Shunty had secured the lead and managed to go around the leeward mark the wrong way only to be told part way up the beat. However, he had a very peculiar way of unwinding to correct his mistake, and no-one’s really sure if he managed it, but Steve was too dizzy to remember! Mike Moore was keeping up with the leading RS400s well until the final run when the wind managed to evade him and took away his chances of winning. Amanda Bainbridge was a bit confussled with the extra sausage in the course and was somewhat relieved when she finally heard her finish gun. To counter this, it was good for Dave Wright and son Connor to finish their first ever race. The OD was somewhat surprised at the the amounting of whooping and air punching that was going on – what will happen when they win their first race?! Lewis Tyson, always open for a challenge opted to sail with William in an RS400 rather than in his Topper, and enjoyed it so much he wanted more in the afternoon.
The afternoon breeze was slightly fresher than the morning, and even resulted in the odd capsize. In fact Sam missed his toe straps before the start and was first to go in, whether this was the cause of Dave and Connor capsizing as well we’re not sure, but they were very close together at the time. As for the start, there must have been too many people in the committee boat, as everyone was convinced they had the perfect start only to be brought back with a general recall! After another general recall, stand in OD cleared the boat, focussed on the job in hand, and got everyone away – third time lucky! Although Shunty got clear away this time, with no mishaps, and won the race, other boats had mixed fortunes, and the results were spread across the various fleets.
Lewis was enjoying the RS400 again, but found the gusting reaches challenging and realised that tugging sheets soon rip through bare hands – hopefully William won’t be held up for child abuse! At one stage Robbie D thought Scumper had put in an enthusiastic tack and almost filled up, so he was encouraging him to go a bit further over – then he realised it was William and Lewis, but he was still willing them to capsize!
Congratulations to Sam Hall in achieving 1st U14 and 3rd overall at a Junior NW Travellers open meeting held at Ullswater YC on 9th June. Joe Watkins was 3rd U14.
As for Saturday, the wait was worth it…
After an intermittent breeze at the start of the afternoon, it eventually filled in from the north to get sailing underway. William, with Kirsty Somerville, was a little premature(?!) and returned through the line trying miserably to avoid the oncoming fleet! No major collisions, but he did a couple of turns for good measure. Perhaps it was payback for pinching Roy’s crew who had to stand in and man the Bates.
William did get on the tail of Neil and Judith by the windward mark, but Neil was to disappear off wind never to be caught, leaving William to tussle with Paul Burnell.
Although a dark cloud appeared (it probably brought the wind!) the sun shone all afternoon and led to some glorious sailing conditions.
In the second race, Mark Somerville brought out a super light crew – Ethan! Although they could catch Neil, they pulled ahead of William who struggled to break free from Mike and Mark in the F15. Although William eventually made headway, it wasn’t enough to beat Mike on handicap. Neil leads the new series
In the GPs Hugh and Rhonwen stayed ahead of Dave and Sarah Nicholson to take an early lead in the Autumn Cup
The results for Thursday’s Night Jar have been calculated and displayed below. As ever, the results seem to cause controversy. All we can do is blame the computer, the OD and anyone other than the helms (well, so it seems!)
Belated update
The Thursday night series continues to be very well attended and many junior members are gaining good positions.�� Last week some very young members were taking the leading positions.� Ethan Dawson aged 8 sailing with dad Robin and Robert Cruickshank aged 6 sailing with dad Julian both tied for first place once the handicap was calculated.� This series is going to be closely fought for a few weeks to come.
The weekend saw a variety of races with strong sailing in all fleets.�� In the GP 14 fleet three couples were in the winning places in all the races over the weekend.� On Saturday�s spring cup Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith were first, Hugh Godfrey and Rhonwen Bryce second and Val and Ken Bell third.� Hugh Godfrey and Rhonwen Bryce are leading the series overall.� On Sunday Hugh Godfrey and Rhonwen Bryce �were first, Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith were second and Val and Ken Bell third, overall Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith are leading the Mustard pot series.� In the handicap fleet on Saturday Rory Yardley first, Mike Moore second and Neil and Judith Currie third.�� On Sunday the handicap fleet were sailing for the Dodd trophy first was Mike Moore , Neil and Judith Currie second and Mark Somerville third.�� Sunday afternoon was a race around the lake for the RNLI pennant.� With sunny skies and a consistent wind many sailors enjoyed the views from around the lake.� Mike Moore was first to cross the line with� Jack and Joan Hardie� second and Mike Fairlamb and Eric Smith third.� The handicaps are still to be calculated for the final positions, and word has it they may have been subject to protest!
Sunny Saturday
A warm southerly breeze greeted sailors this afternoon for the second race in the Celebrity Glass Pursuit series. The races are sailed on a fleet handicap basis whereby the slowest fleet sets off first and then the faster fleets start at timed intervals based on Portsmouth yardstick. The start times were adjusted to allow for a 70 min race for the mirror fleet. So when the first warning signal was made, Mike Moore and William Carruthers started to think about getting their boats ready for the water as they had 24 and 28 mins respectively until their starts! When William and Jonathan got onto the water they decided to check the gennaker was rigged correctly – just as well because the downhaul was wrapped around it causing it to fly in the shape of a wine glass. They opted to try and resolve it on the water, which they did, but by which time they some distance from the start line with only 4 mins until their start so they hardened up, headed for the line and made it with 15 secs to spare! With the first mark being at Scarness it was to be quite a long beat in strengthening winds.
As time passed, William in his RS400 and Neil Garrison in his Dart closed the gap with the leaders and passed several boats on the exciting reaches, but Hugh and Rhonwen managed to keep the lead from Mike and Eric. Neil Garrison secured a third, and Mike held off William on the final couple of legs.
With having an initial beat into Scarness and then a smaller general lap in the bay, the windward mark proved interesting and challenging as the fleet had to loop around it – there were a couple of capsizes and several near misses!
The 2nd race started off in lighter airs with a beat to Scarness again, but as the fleet sailed deeper into the main bay the wind eased and swung and it seemed a great struggle to even complete the lap. But the OD must have smelt something in the air because just after lead boat Neil and Judith Currie crossed through YZ on the start of the 2nd beat the wind started to fill in from the SW, and Neil promptly put up his gennaker and started to build a substantial lead from William. The wind continued to fill in, and William, having held a higher course, eventually flew his gennaker. In the short time it seemed to take to get to 7, Neil’s lead had been eroded and William was on his tail. However, the positions did not change after that and when the results were calculated it was to be Rory Yardley in a Vareo that won ahead of Mike Moore.
In the GPs, Val and Ken Bell were ahead of the fleet in the bay until the cruel shifts as the wind swung to the SW enabled Hugh and Mike to break through.
GP Open
Following the excess wind and rain leading up to the weekend, all the sailors had to contend with was sunshine and showers. The winds were light, and racing on Sunday was delayed waiting for the wind to fill in. Attempts to sail the final race were abandoned. Neil Platt from Bolton & West Kirby, with our own Sally Roberts, had equal points with Martin Brennan from Hollingworth, but won the series on the last race tie break.
Short Series
Drizzle and no wind led to OD Alan Smith abandoning racing on Sunday bringing the weekend series to an early conclusion.
Mark Somerville won another handicap series, Scott Beattie and John Somerville had their first sail in many months (or is it this season?) and won both races from Mike Moore. Mike Fairlamb kept the senior moments at bay to win the series from Hugh Godfrey.
Following some synchronised sailing when Mik and Toddy capsized simultaneously, and then both went turtle, Toddy went on to win the race, and his first series – Well done!!
Thank You!
Mr Commodore
Writing to thank you, Elaine, the council and the rest of the club for agreeing to our wedding reception being held at the club.
We had an absolutely fantastic day, one to remember for sure! We hope that everyone who came had a great time. The weather was kind to us which meant the club provided a beautiful setting which many of our friends and family thought good enough to consider moving up here!
Many thanks also to all the club members for their lovely gifts and for sharing our day.
Hope that the event proved financially profitable; judging by the photos of the evening that we’ve seen it is a wonder if there was anything left behind the bar at the end of the night.
On the subject of the bar, thanks too to Sonja and Richard, and everyone else who helped out in keeping guests’ thirsts at bay.
Many thanks once again,
Andy & Em xx
Sunday
The initial forecast of wind and rain seemed to be correct, and as the boats prepared for the race the wind seemed to pick up. However, once the racing was under way the stronger gusts had eased and the sailors had to contend with shifts being dependant on where the gusts were coming from. 30 mins into the race and the wind faded almost completely as a northerly breeze tried to fight with the easterly that had prevailed until then. At lunchtime the wind seemed to have settled down, but there’s plenty of time for things to change before the next race…. Would Neil and Judith venture out? They did untie the cover but after a bit of pondering of the gusts passing through, retied it and gave up for the day.
Well the race did ease by the time the 2nd race started, however, just after the lead boats rounded the windward mark the first squall came in, and that sent Shunty for a swim allowing William past, but with the wind gusting William had to drop the gennaker for the gybe mark. Scumper having had to return to shore to re-rig the gennaker again was fortunate that the race sequence had been postponed, made best use of Toggle’s weight and held the gennaker to the gybe mark to take the lead which he maintained for the full race.
The gusts did come and go, but when they were there everyone had to be on their guard as� massive shifts were encountered on the beat, and all they could do off wind was bear away and enjoy!
The wind seemed to increase even more before the final race of the day (only to ease at the top of the beat!). When the fleet was out of the shade of the shore the wind was certainly there in force and there were some spectacular reaches that everyone survived.
In the GPs Dave Lawson was sailing with Ken Bell and won both races from Mike Fairlamb and Sally Roberts. Scumper and Toggle led the handicap fleet but there were strong challenges from Robbie D with Matty Fairlamb in an RS200. The standard of racing has been very high and positions seem to be dependant on being in the right place to get the wind, as well as making less mistakes than the other competitors.
With strong on-shore winds, returning to shore after the race was spectacular at times as the boats had little steerage due to raised centreboards and rudders. Sam Hall was quoted as demonstrated ‘an interesting way’ of stopping his boat. Jo Hardie ended up in the reeds (sshhh – don’t tell the National Park) after a capsize. John Halliday had to make several attempts to get ashore safely as he tried to cope with some unplanned gybes, but Shunty was there (waist deep) to lend a helping hand
One last race for the Graduates tomorrow, but two more for the club boats – will the forecast prove right again? If so there’ll be some tired people tomorrow evening!
The Morning After the DAY Before
Following yesterday’s wedding celebrations, many of the guests were surprisingly bright after having danced the night away into the early hours. Photos will follow (when someone sends them to me!)
Some of the tales of woe
Scandal – Andy T was black balled in (not from) the club (make of that what you will)
Joanie was unusually under the weather (did the champagne have anything to do with it?) two days on the trot
Claralaraloo had a beer shampoo following some frolicking with T
Charlotte’s bike was misappropriated at some unearthly hour but Elaine waited until the cold light of day to get her point across
T had an extreme wedgie, but was it caught on CCTV?!!
As for the sailing, it has been expected that Saturday would be the best day of the weekend, but the forecast keeps changing! The wind, as ever, had some challenging, unpredictable, shifts which caught many out but made up for it with some good gusts on the reaches from time to time. There were a few capsizes, and some near ones as well.