After a damp, stormy start to the day, the sun broke through and made for an inviting afternoon on the water. However, with various people away at The Lord Birkett event on Ullswater, and an earlier forecast for a wet weekend, and some stronger than expected gusts passing through. there wasn’t a lot of takers on Saturday.

Of those that did venture out, there were various capsizes, and three retirements, even before racing got underway. Of the two F15s to start, Chris Rolle, with a novice crew, realised the strength of the wind was going to be too much and retired at the end of the first beat leaving Tim/Ian to complete the course on their own. OD Val wasn’t giving them an easy ride, sending them around two laps of the course.

The handicap fleet comprised three single handlers, two Lasers and a Vareo, which had some close racing. At the gybe mark all three opted to ware round. Peter was first, but capsized. Tony was next but took it rather cautiously letting Hugh get through to the lead. However, Hugh retired on the next beat. Peter righted his boat with a mud stained mainsail, and retired shortly after, leaving Tony to complete the course for a win. However, a couple of capsizes on the reach into the gybe mark put paid to his intention to sail the final 300m and he retired as well.

So with eight boats taking to the water, there was only one finisher… No takers for the second race meant an early finish on a gloriously sunny afternoon.

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Sunday started sunny with a southerly which seemed slightly stronger than forecast. The beat was set from 1 to 7 (Scarness in old money), and with laps taking over 25 mins for the leaders, some commented how far it was. That didn’t stop them going round for a second lap though! There were just two boats in the slow handicap fleet but Joyce in a Splash soon retired leaving Jim in his Hartley racing alone. Once his course was shortened the OD raced to a wing mark on the course to shorten other fleets, but was beaten by the lead F15, so back to the startling to shorten their course before racing back to the wing Mark to shorten other fleets. Ok, it may have been a slightly moving finish line, and Val did point out she was catching Mike/Eric, but they were pleased to finish.

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The afternoon race was the Jubilee Sailing Trust Pennant. OD Hugh had determined the course before heading ashore for lunch, during which time the wind freshened and white horses appeared, however by the time the race was due to start the wind was swinging towards the SW and Sale Fell was casting a shadow over the northern end of the lake. Upon seeing the course the OD was bombarded with numerous not so witty comments (NB must try harder) about the length of the course and number of marks being used. Racing got underway and the wind filled in a little as it swung back to the south for some good racing conditions. After 40 mins Angus/James were first to the windward mark in their F15 with Tim/Ian close on their tail, and Joan/Jack in a GP not too far behind. On the return legs, Tim broke through to the lead, but didn’t shake off Angus. Val/Ken caught up with Joan on the return trip and, with a matter of seconds between them at the finish, the GPs took 1st and 2nd with the F15s 3rd and 4th.

By the time Mik had finished in his Mirror after 2+ hours, the rain moved in, the wind had swung, faded!

Poppy strengthened her lead in the Sandra’s Salver Trophy with another 1st.

Jubilee Sailing Trust Pennant
Sandra’s Salver Pennant

Despite a �wet and windy forecast, as well as a drizzly morning, Sunday turned out to be a great sailing day. A short postponement was all that was needed for the drizzle to disappear, the strength of the gusts to subside, and a few gaps in the clouds to appear.

Ever positive, OD Preston was raring to get proceedings underway only to find HE had left the OD bag ashore so the rescue crew were tasked with fetching it. It’s funny how they never seem to go flat out when you want them to!

The close reaches, and blustery gusts, were challenging for many (had Kayla’s arms stretched by the end of the race?), and too much for some, but it meant there was great planing conditions. Peter W started his day in a way that was to continue – capsizing, and getting into irons. Alastair may well have kept him good company in the capsizing stakes had he sailed his Vareo, but he took the cautious option and crewed for AJ while Sue preserved her energy for the afternoon pennant race.

With Poppy keen to maintain her lead in the Sandra’s Salver series, OD Preston just sent the fleet down as far as 11 (Surely he could be home by the time the race finished?). With a SW wind, the sailing conditions were as flukey as they come past 7, with sailing flapping and calm conditions occurring within seconds! Mike/Kayla led the fleet home winning with a six min lead on handicap. While retrieving his boat to shore he cooled off with a full immersion after slipping off the foredeck. Kayla was too shocked to ask if it was cold in there!

Fortunately Jim/Poppy’s efforts were worth it as even taking a 3rd place behind Kayla and Sue, Poppy remains in the lead for Sandra’s Salver (Long may it continue!)

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RNLI Pennant
Sandra’s Salver – latest

After a drizzly start, the weather cleared and the day got brighter as the afternoon went on.

Graham, the rostered OD, passed the baton on to William so that he could sail the whole weekend championship series. However, with a couple of mishaps along the way in each race it wasn’t to be his best day’s racing. A good second place was lost when there was a spinnaker malfunction when taking it down at mark 2. The next race he had a poor start which he was unable to recover from.

Simon/Jon were a little too eager at the start of the first race and opted to return even before a signal was sounded. They were also part of what seemed as if it was to be a three way protest when a bank of F15s looked set for a collision course with other fleets. Although Steve and AJ didn’t finalise their protest, Val has submitted one which will be heard on Sunday.

Mike, who was going to assist William (did he forget?), took advantage of the better weather to get back at the tiller of his Laser. However, due to some necessary adjustment of his clew tie down, he started several minutes after son Josh whose start was six mins after Mike’s scheduled start! Peter W went astray when he missed out a mark of the course and retired.

Although it was not too windy, there were a few capsizes to keep the rescue crews awake.

The overnight leaders are Neil/Nick in the F15s, Steve/Ruth in the fast handicap, and Jim in the slow handicap, each with two 1sts, The position in the GPs is much closer with John and Mike/Eric each with four points.

Sunday was windy (you know it’s windy when you can see the tops of the waves looking downwind!), but there was still a good contingent that took to the water. Ian’s race didn’t start off well when his start was delayed trying to sort his furling gear. He made up the 90 secs delay only to forget that he needed to take down his spinnaker at the end of the first run…. Ethan was out with Izzie in the RS200 again, practising capsizing techniques, as was Hugh in his Vareo.
Val/Ken were caught out at the gybe mark, and Ken seemed to be resting on the centreboard while Val swam around a bit… The F15s didn’t capsize, but a couple were flattened in some of the gusts. Jim/Poppy didn’t have any competition in the slow handicap fleet so raced with the bigger boys and, as they didn’t capsize, managed to beat Hugh over the finish line.  The stand in OD’s plan to have two races before lunch was snookered when finishers just headed straight for the shore after finishing (they usually ask what’s planned!).

After lunch the wind seemed to have abated a little, but there were more capsizes, and a feast of protests, interestingly between the same F15s. Decisions as to whether to fly spinnakers proved to be key, especially if they didn’t fill quickly after hoisting, as places were quickly gained or lost depending on whether it was done well. The heavy conditions started to take its toll on the fleet, and only six boats started the final race of the series, of which the two GPs opted to retire at the end of the first beat. Neil/Rory misjudged the start sequence and didn’t notice the rest of the fleet had started for well over 30 secs! Mike/Kayla had taken an early lead, with Simon on his tail. Another lap on, and AJ retired leaving just three F15s to fight it out. The finish proved to be very close with only about a boat length between each boat. Simon finished 1st, with Neil 2nd but Neil touched the mark and rerounded, losing a place to Mike in the process.

After racing a couple of the protests were heard, resulting in Simon being disqualified from race 4. As time was getting on, and various people were going out for dinner, the third protest remains in abeyance to be heard at a later date. (Hopefully no-one noticed one of the protesters, and one of the protest committee, dining at the same venue on Sunday evening!)

Numerous sailors were wilting before the end of the day, and are certain to sleep well tonight.

The overall winners for the weekend were Jim in the Slow handicap, Mike/Eric in the GPs, Steve/Ruth in the Fast handicap, and Neil/Nick/Rory in the F15s (subject to protest).

Final results