Saturday’s forecast was wet and blustery, and perhaps the reason for the limited number of takers for the two race Celebrity Glass Pursuit. As it turned out, there were some short, heavy, showers, but the wind was lighter than expected.

The 50 min races had Tog in his Solo starting first with the GP chasing just 30 secs later. In the first race Vice Commodore Jon was sailing with Commodore Naomi as a practice for the forthcoming 24 hour race, for which it is rumoured they could be starting on behalf of the club. They quickly caught Tog on the beats, but offwind, places regularly changed� if the wind picked up. On rounding the final mark before the finish, Jon had a strong lead but a gust of wind had him looking at the centreboard wondering whether it would take his weight, if he could get on to it! Fortunately they recovered, but it was to be a close finish as seen above.

For the second race, AJ/Sue took control of the GP. AJ blamed his failure to catch Tog on spinnaker problems… Tog’s 1st and 2nd won him the trophy.

Final results

Sunday was less showery, but had various short, torrential, downpours. The westerly F2-3, had some good gusts for the reaches, but proved to be very shifty throughout the day. There were a few capsizes, but Steve/Ruth in a Merlin led the handicap fleet to win the morning race with Peter 2nd in his Laser, and Mike/Joanie in their RS200 3rd. Dave/Lynn won in the GPs ahead of AJ/Sue.

Latest results

The afternoon pennant race just took the small fleet of eight boats to Scarness so they avoided the worst of the Sale Fell down draughts. Nigel/Glenys capsized at the first gybe mark, but retired after getting help to get their mast out of the mud. Steve/Ruth took another win from Dave/Lynn, with Toggle in his Solo 3rd.

Banana Stakes final results

The race counted towards Sandra’s Salver for female crews, which Sue is still leading

Sandra’s Salver latest results

After the sweltering temperatures earlier in the week, nature decided it was time to water the gardens with persistent rain/drizzle, and Bass was no exception. With a lack of wind, the lake looked grey, idyllic, but not particularly suitable racing conditions for the weekend’s fleet challenge series.

As the scheduled start time approached, several crews prepared their boats despite little sign of any wind. The OD took to the water and was pleasantly surprised that there was more wind than the rippling waters suggested, and certainly enough for a race. In case the wind faded again a tight, triangular course was set, then the wind backed to the west, so the course was reversed, and racing got underway. The wind later veered to the NW, losing the beat so the race was shortened, the course reversed again and next race sequence began, only for the almost inevitable backer to the W to kick in again. A brief postponement while the course was reversed again and the final race of the day was underway.

The results for the day were consistent with Paul/Vicky in a GP taking two 1sts, Steve in a Solo two 2nds, and Mike in a Streaker two 3rds!

If Saturday was the wet day, Sunday proved to be the windless one, as there was hardly a ripple on the lake around the start time for the morning race.  Prospective competitors sat and waited before deciding it was time for an early lunch.  Soon after some ripples appeared and the Bates went out with a threat that, if wind was found, there would be seven minutes to the start � postponement down and commence sequence.  This got crews moving!

But it wasn�t long before the OD was heading back ashore and raising flag N.  By this point it had become rather warm so most returned to the grass or the tables to soak up the heat.  

Banter, having forgotten to take down the flags, swam out to the Bates to lower them! So the overnight results stand, with the trophy going to Paul/Vicky Bowmer.

At least it meant more time for those who were down to move boats not entered for Bass Week into the back field.

Final results