The final race of the season seemed as it may have already happened when those keen sailors arrived, as the lake was mirror like with little prospect of there being sufficient wind. The trickle of wind on the opposite shore did fill in by noon, and with a little persuasion, the fleet of five boats ventured out. As noted last week, the overall result was not to change, as Tim Knowles had already won the series, but it was a pleasant end to the season.

All that remains is for the buoys to be picked up and the boats put away and forget about things for the forthcoming winter months. As if! There are plenty of close season jobs to do, and if you are getting bored don’t hesitate to contact Mike, Steve, or Pauline who will put you in the direction of someone that could do with a few hours of your help down at the club

WINTER SERIES

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2   3   4   5   6   7 Pts
 1     400  T KNOWLES     RS200        1   2   4   3   2 DNS   4   8
 2  173813  P BURNELL     LAS          4   5   5   4   3 DNS   3  14
 3     103  A NICHOLSON   VARIO        9 DNS   6   5 RTD DNS   1  19
 4   13885  M FAIRLAMB    LASER        5   8   7   9 RTD DNS   5  24
 5    1066  J CONNOR      TOPPER     DNS DNS   3   2 DNS DNS   2  25
 6  174889  S HALL        LASER        8   7   8   7   4 DNS DNS  26
 7     937  W CARRUTHERS  RS400        6   4 DNS DNS   1 DNS DNS  29
 8  913467  M WRIGHT      GP         DNS DNS   1   1 DNS DNS DNS  38
 9     338  R YARDLEY     VARIO       OD DNS   2 DNS DNS DNS DNS  41
10    1140  J CHRISTIE    VARIO        2   6 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS  44
11    1298  S HUNT        RS400        7   3 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS  46
12   13867  D NICHOLSON   TOPPER       3 DNS DNS  10 DNS DNS DNS  49
13   91029  R BLACKBURN   RS400      RTD DNS DNS DNS  OD DNS DNS  51
14  213467  A GUEST       GP         DNS   1 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS  55
15    9991  MARK??        TOPPER     DNS DNS DNS   6 DNS DNS DNS  60
16  130338  RiCRITCHLEY   TOPPER     DNS DNS DNS   8 DNS DNS DNS  62
17     913  JoHARDIE      RS200      RTD DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS  66

                     Points for RTD = 12   9   9  11   7   0   6
                     Points for DSQ = 12   9   9  11   7   0   6
                     Points for DNS = 18

 4 races to count

Sunday started off very pleasant, with a southerly stream of wind running down the far shore. But the various sailors that turned up started to talk it up with mention of the gales that are forecast to come in overnight. Sure enough, the wind did start to swing more to the west allowing Sale Fell to cast a shadow over what was to be a key part of the course. With no driver for the Bates, OD Roy Blackburn was easily persuaded to set the start from the race office, but it meant using 9 as a mark to windward of the start line – not good news, especially with that wind shadow. Of course the shadow persisted as the fleet worked their way across to 4. There were some good gusts to work with but there were lulls too. The beat back to 0 proved to be challenging and the downfall of all the single handers as the shifting gusts resulted in several capsizes. The RS200 and RS400 had that extra bit of weight on board that gave them a better chance of staying upright, and they did (but only just). When the handicaps were calculated William and Lesley were six seconds/lap ahead of Tim Knowles to win their final race of the season together

What will the afternoon hold? Well actually not a lot. The breeze continued to fill in, and the warmth of the clubhouse seemed too good to leave behind so everyone packed up for an early finish rather than venture back on to the water.

The results have been corrected for race 2, in which a guest helm actually won, rather than Martin Wright as previously listed. The effect of this is that Tim is now in pole position, and no-one can catch him.

The clocks have changed, bonfire night’s over, the night’s are colder (as is the lake!), November’s here, it’s Sunday only racing, and the final series of the season has started – the Winter Trophy.

Compared to the last few weeks, there was a good breeze – enough for Roy and Kayla to crash and burn, but then so did Alan Nicholson in his Vario, and John and Joan Hardie in their RS200.

Rich has been out snapping again and uploaded a few pics of the day (well about 600!). Click here to see his handywork.

The results for the series are calculated on a personal handicap basis so those that haven’t sailed for a while tend to have a beneficial handicap at first, but the system will catch up with them!

WINTER SERIES

PN    Boat  Helm          Class        1   2 Pts
 1     400  T KNOWLES     RS200        1   2   3
 2    1140  J CHRISTIE    VARIO        2   6   8
 3  173813  P BURNELL     LAS          4   5   9
 4    1298  S HUNT        RS400        7   3  10
 5     937  W CARRUTHERS  RS400        6   4  10
 6   13885  M FAIRLAMB    LASER RADI   5   8  13
 7  913467  M WRIGHT      GP         DNS   1  14
 8  174889  S HALL        LASER RADI   8   7  15
 9     338  R YARDLEY     VARIO       OD DNS  17
10   13867  D NICHOLSON   GP           3 DNS  17
11     103  A NICHOLSON   VARIO        9 DNS  23
12     913  JoHARDIE      RS200      RTD DNS  27
12   91029  R BLACKBURN   RS400      RTD DNS  27

                     Points for RTD = 13   9
                     Points for DSQ = 13   9
                     Points for DNS = 14

 2 races to count