North West Electricity have advised us of some scheduled maintenance work this Saturday 3rd October between 10am and 2pm. Consequently access through the gate will not be possible until some kind person does a manual override.

So if you’re not privy as to how to open the gate manually please be patient, someone will turn up eventually!

Several members of the Youth Squad took the opportunity to attend the RYA Youth North Zone Championships over the weekend, as it was being held so close to home at Ullswater Yacht Club.

Hazel Newport, David Rodgers & Poppy Gannon were sailing in the Topper fleet, Harry Binns & Izzie Hunter in the RS Feva Fleet, Josh Hunter and Sam Macey in the Regatta Fleet.

Although, the weather was amazing for the weekend’s camping, it was a sad note for the sailing. On Saturday the squad waited all day but the winds never came, so at 4.30pm it was declared no racing was going to take place. 

Sunday started to look the same but the organisers were more hopeful and sent the fleets out at 10am only to abandon racing at 11am and bring them all back in. Then the winds came and while most sailors were enjoying a relaxing lunch, note David, the racing was set to start and everyone was quickly back on the water.

The wind held while the fleets managed to sail 3 races but it was not very strong and proved to be very challenging for some.

However, a good weekend was had both on and off the water. Hazel Newport sailed really well in the Topper Zone fleet, finishing 3rd girl and 7th overall in the Topper fleet out of 29 competitors. She was really pleased as last year she came 23 out of 28!! Also, Josh Hunter managed to bring home a medal by finishing 3rd in the Regatta Fleet in his RS Tera. 

Well done all. 

Barts Bash 2015 is almost upon us, together with thousands of Sailing Clubs worldwide we are hosting a Bart’s Bash race this Sunday 20th September at 1100hrs as part of our action packed “fun” weekend.

Last year we had nearly 40 boats taking part, let’s try and top that this year, the race is open to all classes and abilities and is all about breaking world records and raising money for a worthwhile charity. All you need to do is enter via this link http://www.bartsbash.com

To ensure Bass is represented well in the final standings you can register your participation as a crew through the link above.

Entries at present number 19 so get yours in.

The programme for the Fun weekend whilst flexible due to the weather will broadly be as follows:- Camping and Caravanning Friday to Sunday, bar open Friday evening, Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony then England vs Fiji from 7pm, Saturday on water activities using club boats – relay/team racing etc. Rounders match followed by evening Bring and Eat and Bass Bingo. Sunday morning Breakfast Butties in the Clubhouse followed by Barts Bash race at 1100hrs, all sailors welcome.

Jon Denwood

An intrepid team of sailors and supporters set off in atrocious conditions on Saturday morning to take part in the 49th sailing of the West Lancs Yacht Clubs aka. Southport 24 hour race. Fortunately on arrival the torrential rain has passed by and the sun shone and wind blew. For the second year in succession we were sailing an Enterprise kindly loaned by Mark Ninnim.

The race started at 1200hrs and we were in the second flight as a result of our excellent 11th place last year. The wind was blowing a good force 4 from the SW which meant the start was on a broad reach. Mark and Emma made a good safe start and sailed consistently well in testing conditions until 1500hrs, our position at this time was 17th out of the 64 entries. They were replaced by Alex and Izzie who had an exciting time including two capsizes at the Gybe mark.

There were numerous boats capsizing and a number being towed back to base. At about 1630 Rob replaced Izzie as crew as the conditions demanded more ballast and at 1800hrs Ethan and Alex2 took over in gentler conditions. They sailed steadily maintaining our position until 2000hrs when Neil and Hazel, sailing her first Southport took over, conditions were now much lighter and our position was varying between 22nd and 16th throughout the race.

Mark and Emma did a second stint between 2200 and midnight followed by Alex and Harry who finished a creditable 5th in the midnight race. At 0130hrs Harry did a swallow dive into the lake and Izzie stepped aboard to crew, winds were blowing a force one gusting two and it was cold but dry.

At 0300hrs Ethan and Alex2 were sent out for the graveyard shift and despite Ethan’s pleas for leniency were not replaced until 0600hrs by Neil and Hazel who sailed until just after 0800hrs when a tired Alex and cold Rob went out for their final stint. Mark and Emma, who had slept at Chez Preston and were refreshed, then sailed to the finish in bright sunshine.

 After the results were finalised we were 16th overall and 4th Enterprise which was an excellent performance from a fabulous team of sailors who were fine representatives of Bassenthwaite Sailing Club.

Jon Denwood

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It’s all over. Cor! I, and the dedicated competitors, can take a mid week break in future. But Thursday NJ & Social evenings will be missed over the coming months. 

This has been a record series with 59 different helms contesting it. As the Night Jar was based solely on PH in the past, let’s give preference to the winner and leading crews in that category. Tony King took the series win although only by a single point from AJ & Sue.

 In the FH category the clear winners were Alex & Olivia with the GP of Mike & Eric second despite their not contesting the final four round. Joan & Jack came third after a season long contest with Val & Ken who were placed fourth.

 Other results of note were David Haselden who was placed 5th on PH, Peter Winfindale 8th and David Roger a brilliant 10th. On FH Hazel was 8th and Jon Anson 10th.

So what happened in the final race? There was a force1 ESE wind leading up to the start and the OD chose 5-3-1 as the course. With 20 boats it was a busy line and Alex (I think) was over at the port pin but immediately restarted without much loss of time.

The wind swung a little up the long beat but was generally true. The journey to the wing mark was a broad reach for most with Joan/Jack & AJ/Sue in the GPs being gradually hauled in, and later overtaken by Alex/Olivia’s 200 and Joe’s 300.

After 3 there was a huge hole followed by a temporary wind shift to the North. The leading crews gybed out of it but, with the wind dropping, a number of boats decided not to round 1 for the finish but to head for home. After 23 to 53 minutes, dependent of fleet position, it was all over.

Thanks go to OD’s, safety crews, meal providers and all the other helpers for making the Series such a success.

Final results FH PH