September is drawing to a close, and the temperature dipping, but the sun shone for an afternoon of medium winds to power the fleets around the course. With a couple of incidents before the start Nigel didn’t actually make it over the start line… First of all Paul got his Laser’s mainsheet caught around the bow of Nigel’s GP, causing Paul to capsize, and then be towed backwards! Then, just before the start Nigel capsized, righted the boat and capsized again getting the mast stuck in the mud, so it was all over before he started. Despite this, Nigel’s overall results were sufficient to beat Val/Ken, who won both races,� by a couple of points to win the Autumn Cup.�

In the F15s Mike/Kayla took an early lead from Ian/Tim who sailed well on the run to take the lead for a while, but Mike broke back through on the following beat, and held it through to the finish. The finishing order was the same in the second race. Mike/Kayla’s results gave them a clean sweep to win the Dawson Trophy, with Ian/Lezli-Ann 2nd.

After some soul searching, Joe was pleased to have opted for his Radial sail in the blustery conditions. He led the handicap fleet, winning on handicap from Tog and Paul Gannon, with the same results in the second race. This maintained Joe’s clear lead in the Skiddaw Trophy, with Paul 2nd.

With no racing in the slow handicap fleet, Mik kept his lead to win the MT Bates Trophy.

Final results

Please note that Sunday’s racing will start at 11.30 am as usual, rather than� 14.30 hrs as incorrectly stated in the handbook

Sunday’s showery start put Mike F off preparing his boat for a short while until it stopped! At the start he held on to his lay line, AJ/Sue were hoping a gap would amazingly appear, it didn’t, so they squeezed between the starboard start pin and the Bates, got caught on the anchor warp and had to re-round, giving the rest of the fleet a 75 sec head start!

Jeff, with novice crew Hannah, were caught out by a gust after unravelling a wine glass twist in their gennaker. After taking a while to extract their mast from the mud, they made an early trip back to shore. John/Tim had gear problems and had to retire too.

Mike/Kayla led the fleet and built up a 4 min lead on Val/Ken which was cut back to just 15 secs when the handicap was applied. As the race was part of the two race Fleet Challenge, it meant all was to race for in the afternoon race.�

The second race started without incident, but AJ/Sue soon realised that they had rigged the genoa incorrectly wrapping the halyard around the spinnaker halyard, so they cut their losses, and retired. Mike built up a bigger lead this time, securing another 1st place to win the Fleet Challenge, with Val 2nd.

Final results

While the rest of the country enjoyed more sunshine, the lake was cloud covered all afternoon, though there was no sign of showers that were evident just a matter of miles away. There was a promising southerly force 2 breeze when the start line was set, but the risk of a swing to the south west came to fruition much sooner than expected when it affected boats on the first beat! The Sale Fell effect continued throughout the race causing holes in the wind alongside large shifts.

It seems that some of the later starters were able to benefit from the major shifts/changeable conditions. Neil Garrison in an Enterprise, started on the starboard end, took advantage of the lift from the SW and went on to take the lead, finishing a matter of seconds ahead of Joe on the finish line. In the GPs, Nigel/Glenys had to restart after being OCS giving Paul/Vicky a head start. That order is not one that many would expect to change but Nigel managed to reverse it! Mik took the honours in the Mirrors ahead of Paul/Evelyn, and leads the series.

With the wind ‘more’ settled in the SW, the results of the second race were more as expected with Paul winning the GPs (though Nigel leads the series), and Joe the Handicap fleet, strengthening his lead in the series.

Latest results

Sunday’s weather didn’t offer the wall to wall sunshine that other parts of the country enjoyed, but there was a southerly breeze which picked up to force 2-3 just before racing started to offer some champagne sailing conditions!

It is clear that very few sailors had read the handbook to determine the format of the morning’s pursuit race, and of the two that did, Mik opted out of racing with the wind picking up, so the first start time had no takers. The next start for most of those racing would be 11 mins later, but with three Laser Radials lining up there was a Laser that thought it was their start too! Calling back the Laser confused the GP that should have started with the Radials… Last year’s winners of the race Mike/Kayla knew the format, started at the correct time, and went on to win! Their win wasn’t straightforward though, having had a contretemps with Neil regarding water at a mark, and they ended up doing a 720. Perhaps miracles do happen? What a morning…

Celebrity Glass final results

The afternoon race was the Banana Stakes pennant sailed around the lake which is, of course, where Hugh ‘Round the Lake’ Godfrey sent the fleet of four boats. The beat took Mike/Kayla 40 mins, and a further 30 mins to get back to the finish. His closest competition was Neil Garrison who failed to finish correctly due to rounding the finish mark the wrong way. There was similar confusion with the others but it was Paul Gannon that was next to finish correctly, finishing 2nd on handicap to Mike/Kayla.

Banana Stakes final results

The race counts towards Sandra’s Salver for female crews. Kayla being the only crew, and female, strengthened her lead in the series

Sandra’s Salver latest results

Congratulations go to Andy and Phil on winning the Scottish Nationals at Loch Lomond this weekend, and secured the 2018 GP14 super series as well.