Well, this is one round that nearly didn�t take place! At Start -15mins there was little wind and, what there was varied from E to SW. The beat was to be B-0 but it turned out to be B-A. Well B wasn�t actually in the eventual course which was A-4-1 and a finish line around B. Sounds confusing but it worked ok!
All except the 5 Toppers did 2 laps with John Crosbie�s 400 pulling out a lead on the water from Joan & Jack Hardie�s 200 on the first despite doing turns for touching 1. The fun stared at 4 on lap 2 with a 90 degree shift which brought a raft of boats together. Jim Christie�s Supernova seemed to fare best but a further shift at 1 changed the order again and Joan crossed the line second with Nick Bell�s Seafly and Kath Davis/Janie Britcher�s GP in close contention. David Roger led the Toppers home on this occasion.
It was a relatively short race with a delayed start waiting for wind and a shortened course in case it died again. This gave more time to enjoy Debbie Binns� excellent meal and for results to be calculated.
Kath took the PH win which moves her into the lead of that Series while Ian Hall in his Solo took the FH race win.
You may well be asking yourself what is this all about, well read on. The Club Council is aware that Club Members are regularly invaded by visiting fleets who want to host events at our beautiful Sailing Club. This brings a lot of benefits but also requires a great commitment from members and can restrict our own racing. A decision was made to hold a weekend for members when Camping and Caravanning would be available and was a bit of a deviation from our usual Racing Programme with the emphasis on “FUN”.
Those who were present for the Queens Diamond Jubilee Weekend in 2012 will remember the Topper Events we had which involved a Le Mans style running start, followed by a team race with helms changing over at the end of the jetty. As well as being great fun for competitors, it provided fantastic entertainment for those on shore, needless to say it was chaotic. As part of the fun weekend, on Saturday we intend to have a rerun of this event in the Club Toppers, together with more conventional Team Racing. This will be followed by a rounders match between teams captained by the Commodore and Vice Commodore, Tug of War, Games Night and a BBQ.
On Sunday we will be holding a more conventional race for all members in whatever boat you choose. This race will be run on Fleet Handicap in memory of Pete Ballard who sadly passed away earlier this year. Pete as well as being our Safety Officer was extremely active in all aspect of the running of the Club, always willing to help out whether it be felling trees and other ground works, training, teaching members children to climb trees safely and a whole host of other things. Pete also played a leading part in the Topper event, capsizing other teams boats, removing and even breaking rudders as well as editing the video which was taken of the chaos and is available on the website. A small contribution will be requested from all competitors which will be donated to the Samaritans, a charity Pete was actively involved with.
The programme for the weekend will be flexible, dependent upon weather conditions, but I would encourage all members to come along and take part. The emphasis is on getting together as members and enjoying ourselves. I would particularly like to see our Thursday Night Sailors who make the Night Jar so successful coming along, we have had 45 different boats racing so far which is fantastic.
Sun and wind, albeit shifty, tempted 22 boats on to the water for another two races in a championship long series.
The day started with two sets of opposing views from two ‘vocal locals’ as to how and why the anchor warp ended up wrapped around the prop of the Bates last weekend. Was it Tog’s dereliction of duty as he stopped pulling in the warp to lift the front weight, or was it Herb ‘reversing at 100mph’?
While setting the start line there seemed to be two opposing winds – one from the south west, and another from the north. The OD did make allowance for this in the course, but ultimately the SW breeze provided the lion’s share of the wind. The leg that allowed for beating into a northerly wind becoming a fetch that frustrated the Sailing Sec (and others, no doubt!).
In the first race in the F15s Simon/Jon led with a temporary challenge from Graham/Elaine. In the 2nd race, Neil/Judith took an early lead from Simon, but later retired, so Graham secured another 2nd to Simon.
The GPs were eager pushing the start line resulting in a recall signal for which Paul and Mike/Eric returned. The big question is – did they both need to?! Paul worked his way to the front and won, followed by Dave/Sarah. Paul led the 2nd race too, but sailed the wrong course, leading AJ/Sue astray, and losing a lot of ground to Mike (who went on to win) while they corrected their errors.
Tog and Hugh had some close racing in their Vareos, with Tog grasping the lead at the start of the final leg, and finish 1st on handicap. Tog won the 2nd race too, with Ian in his Solo 2nd, and Banter, despite an appalling start after getting into irons, finishing 3rd.
The Mirrors/Toppers were led by Vice-Commodore Scumper crewed by son Cameron. Pam took 2nd, and Hazel. Mik having retired with gear failure in the first race, had some close racing with Scumper/Cameron, and nervously led the way across the finish line. Sarah sailed her first race in a Topper but doesn’t want anyone to know. Word is that she won’t talk [to me] again!
The sunny weather continued on Sunday with a forecast of next to no wind, but there was sufficient to get racing underway. By the time the leaders reached the windward mark the wind was fading and they were all but drifting. Fortunately the few zephyrs that passed through filled the course again, and the breeze held for the rest of the race.
Ian was on form again in his Solo beating Tog by more than a minute on handicap, with Jim in his Supernova 3rd. Mike/Eric led the GPs home with Joan/Jack 2nd, while Pam built a strong lead in the Mirrors/Toppers with Jenny 2nd in her Topper.
The wind over lunchtime was light and not conducive to racing around the lake for the pennant race, so the course kept the fleet in the main bay. The wind freshened slightly, and Robbie D made the most of clear airs in a RS400 to lead the fleet and win on handicap by less than 15 secs ahead of Paul, Mike and Joan in GPs.
Val had belatedly realised that she had double booked OD duty and preparing the meal. So she sent her crew to do the easy work on the Bates while she perspired in the Galley!
It was, again, a fine and warm evening and 22 competitors took to the water. The wind was force 3 at the start and mainly WNW so the beat was A-0 with the off wind legs 0-9-3-A.
John Reekie�s Skiff pulled away rapidly after the start followed by Phil Davenport�s 100 but the latter had a monumental broach under kite heading for 3 and was headed for a while by Joan & Jack Hardies 200. Next up were Mike Fairlamb / Eric Smith in their GP and Trevor Morton�s Dart 16.
With the Skiff on its fourth lap and the Toppers on their second, the wind was easing rapidly and flag S was raised at 35 minutes. Andy Sugden�s Streaker, Pam Bath�s Mirror and Jonathan Anson�s Laser, which were all well up the fleet, benefited the most. The Toppers led by Harry Binns and the remaining GP�s on their third lap had to continue round for a further 20 minutes or so to reach the line.
All were ready for yet another superb Thursday evening meal. One helm remarked that he only competed for the food on offer!
While the Solway Firth coastline was basking in the sun, the weather at the club was cloudy but warm.
Three of the youth squad had gone to an open at Ullswater. Jenny Dunn performed best finishing a creditable 22nd in a fleet of 29 boats which included National Youth Squad sailors.
The weekend racing comprises a series of five races scheduled to be run on a personal handicap pursuit basis, but a computer hiccup, and too many people giving JD earache, the format reverted to mass start with adjusted finish times. With such a light wind being forecast it was a little surprising that there was actually enough wind to race. OD Ethan took some ribbing from the stalwarts in the committee boat, but successfully got both races completed.
The wind did ease at times, and there was no sea breeze despite the sunny coastline, so it was very much a case of being in the right place at the right time. In the first race Mike/Kayla were in the wrong place when the wind eased and the course was shortened as they had to sail an extra lap in lighter airs. Ian won in his Solo, with AJ/Sue in a GP 2nd despite a pitiful start (or was he too much of a gentleman?), and Joan/Jack 3rd.
Pam was in the right place on the startline in the 2nd race getting the best start of all the fleet, and she went on to win the race on handicap. The patchy wind on the first beat led to some different lead boats with Anthony/Jeff taking the lead in their RS200 though they finished 6th on handicap. Ian secured 2nd, and is overnight leader, with Joan/Jack taking another 3rd.
In the absence of paid rescue crews at least we had one willing volunteer….
Sailors for day 2 of the Fleet Challenge B were met with a bit more wind than the forecast of 1mph. Stand in Race Officer Mike Cowan set a figure of eight course with a beat from A to 2. The majority of the fleet were keen to start at the starboard end which resulted in a general recall as most were over the line. They all got away at the second attempt and Robin Dawson with daughter Amber in a RS 200 led the fleet home followed by the flying fifteens of Mike/Kayla and Graham/Elaine. After personal handicaps were taken into account Alan/Sue in their GP14 won the race followed by Paul and Vicki Bowmer also in a GP14.
The OD decided a lunch break was in order and most thought the possibility of two more races was unlikely. However the wind remained and even strengthened for the final race. Robin decided to take the RS 400 out with son Ethan to celebrate Fathers Day and won both races on the water. Alan/Sue won the second race of the day on handicap followed by Ian Hall in his Solo. This left the series wide open with Alan/Sue, Ian and the Hardies all in with a chance of victory.
Joan and Jack Hardie sailed an excellent final race and won on handicap but the 5th place of Alan and Sue was enough to clinch the series by one point from Ian with Joan and Jack a further point back.
Mik Chappell is on his holidays in Scotland and the nominated OD, John Crosbie, is somewhere in mid Atlantic so Andy Sugden stepped in as OD and did an excellent job. He was assisted by Mike Hunter and Neil Garrison on rescue as the regular crew are on the back of a recovery vehicle somewhere in Italy.
The 26 competitors were met with a gentle westerly breeze and a beat from A to O was followed with a broad reach to 3 and a close reach back to A to complete the triangle. John Reekie in his Skiff lead the fleet and was the only competitor to do 4 laps, Joan and Jack Hardie remained ahead of the rest and won both the fleet and personal handicap races. Richard Broughton in his Solo came second on personal handicap followed by Mike and Eric in their GP14. John Reekie come third on fleet handicap with Mike and Eric second. Alan and Sue still lead the personal handicap series but only by one point, they also produced a fabulous meal for the sailors after the race.
29 boats across three fleets took to the water for three races in a one day open. The weather proved to be a very mixed bag ranging from bright and sunny to dull and drizzle/rain. Windwise, everytime the OD set a line, the wind swung drastically. After about half an hour of delays, the line was set, the wind again swung, but the OD opted to get racing underway despite the challenge of a running start in light airs. The wind continued to swing and many boats had to beat on each leg of the triangular course!
After the first race there was a lunch break and the �wind came in with fits and starts.�It seemed that an�earlier SE breeze was settling in, and race 2 got underway. It wasn’t long before the wind swung again with Sale Fell partially shadowing the course, and turning the beat into a fetch.
After yet another wind swing to the west, the last race race wasn’t looking promising when the wind faded for the Laser start, but it did freshen, settle in direction and resulted in the best sailing conditions of the event.
Although Henry and Jamie Rastrick from Ripon had a poor first race, they pulled it together and improved over the following races finishing with�a net 3 pts, the same as David and Edward Coady from Derwent Reservoir. The tie was split in the Rastrick’s favour on the last race.
Henry and Jamie Rastrick from Ripon
Similarly, Tony Bamforth from Annandale improved his positions in each of the races finishing with an unbeatable net 3 pts. Tim Luke from Killington and our own Ethan Dawson battled it out for 2nd place, each finishing with a net 4 pts, the tie being split in Ethan’s favour on the last race.
Tony Bamforth from Annandale
The Topper fleet was a good selection of Bass junior helms in which Harry Binns led the way (while the others seemed to do a lot of chatting as the sailed round) in the first two races to win overall. Jamie Kerr came 2nd overall with 3 pts, while David Rodger’s 2nd split a tie with Hazel Newport in his favour to finish 3rd and 4th respectively.
Sunday’s forecast was for more of the same, and the major windshift after the start of the morning race was certainly reminiscent of Saturday. The Asymmetric’s windward/leeward course almost became reach/reach as the wind curved round Sale Fell, while the handicap fleet had to make do with a couple of very one sided beats. Lulls in the wind lost vital seconds for Mike/Kayla who finished 2nd on handicap to Dave/Lynn. AJ panicked while he was doing well, forcing Val/Ken to keep clear by tacking off on a fetch! He then took the rounded the next mark the wrong way, losing much ground. In the Asymmetrics, Joan/Jack described the winds as being similar to going round the lake, but still beat Toggle on handicap.
The SW wind direction held throughout lunchtime and strengthened to give some great racing conditions, if somewhat shifty, and there were numerous capsizes. Fortunately there was no sign of the forecast rain showers, just glorious sunshine! AJ was struggling to find forward gear on the start line, but eventually got underway, then opting to retire early. Mike/Kayla had written down the course incorrectly, rounding 0 the wrong way, realised their mistake, and unwound only to be told by Toggle that the mark was to starboard, so they unwound again, and yet again when they watched Tog round 0 to port! Chris/Julie took full advantage of the pandemonium, but Mike would eventually take the lead again.
Toggle nosedived at one stage, and promptly capsized (what was he thinking of?!) Ethan found it a struggle to release the mainsheet to depower because as he leaned in, the boat tipped, eventually resulting in a quick capsize. In the Toppers, Izzie survived several capsizes before retiring, but Hazel sailed well and completed the course, having led all the way.
Most competitors agreed that this was the best NJ round to date. There was sunshine, a constant f4 wind and a superb course which made the most of it. The beat was 4-0 followed by four kite legs 0-9-1-3-4.
There was even an inadvertent sting in the tail as the port end start line pin was exactly upwind of 4 and a number of boats ended up head to wind when making for it. The favoured option was to harden up around 4 and tack back through the line at the last moment.
There were 22 starters including 9 Toppers. The 200 of Joan & Jack Hardie broke away at the start followed by the GP of Dave Lawson / Ken Bell and Jim Christie in his Supernova. Next up were the FF of Chris & Julie Rolle and the Radial of Ethan Dawson.
As the race moved into its third lap Dave & Ken pulled out all the stops with some spectacular three sail planing and, coming into the final mark, it looked as though they might snatch the lead place on the water. However, they were a couple of lengths adrift at the line.
The leading Toppers sailing two laps were having an equally close contest, Julie Dunn crossing the line just 6 seconds ahead of Harry Binns with Hazel Newport and Izzie Hunter next up.
Fleet Handicap results reflected the on-the-water positions with the exception that Dave & Ken took first place from Joan & Jack.
On PH there were three Radials and two Toppers in the first five positions. Julie Tomkinson was classified first ahead of Jennie Dunn, Neil Garrison, Ethan Dawson and Harry Binns. Who says it was an evening for crewed three sail boats?!
The final day of May and the sun has returned. The forecast of light winds was ominous, and swinging airs as the race officer was challenging. As the fleet sailed out, they were driven by a fair sea breeze from the West which held, if somewhat shifty, throughout the afternoon.
In the Celebrity Glass Pursuit, Mik started first and led the way for almost half the race before being passed by Mike/Eric in their GP. Despite an excellent start by Banter in his RS100, a broken halyard forced him to capsize to undertake a makeshift repair (or was it so he could cool off swimming in the lake?). Tog was on form again, but unable to break through finishing just over a minute behind Mike. The conditions didn’t suit the strong fleet of F15s, and they all finished in a bunch led by Neil/Rory.
The 2nd race was part of a long championship series. Mike/Kayla were keen to improve on the poor beating in the 1st race, and merrily forced Neil over the line at the start, but had to return themselves. However, Neil made up the ground winning ahead of Graham/Elaine, with Mike 3rd.
AJ/Sue were on top form taking an early lead in the GPs and holding their nerve through to the end.
Banter’s repair was secure enough to see him through the next race, earning him a win from Tog in his Vareo
Mik secured another win in the Mirrors/Toppers to take a strong lead in the Red Sails Trophy. Hazel sailed well in her Topper with a good lead on Mik until the final beat, pushing her into 2nd place. David sailed most of the beats standing on his Topper, different if not competitive!
Sunday started bright but overcast. The light breeze appeared to be swinging around Sale Fell, but the race officer was assured by Mike That there was a southerly breeze at Shap heading our way! True enough the wind did settle from the south and racing got underway. Ian/Lezli-Ann repeated their light weather dominance, pulled out an early lead (while Mike/Kayla wallowed in a hole) and went on to win comfortably.
AJ had started the morning next to a flip chart, talking through his success of the previous afternoon, but he too wallowed long enough for the rest of the GPs, led by Dave/Lynn, to disappear into the distance!
The holes and wallowing were a result of the wind swinging through more than 90 degrees to the west – great breeze, but it meant there were no beats!
Mik and Hazel stuck close together throughout their race, and Mik won on handicap. Banter and Tog battled it out again, with Tog winning by just over 30 secs
The westerly breeze held for the afternoon, no doubt reinforced by another sea breeze, but it meant the traditional round the lake course for the Jimmy Lancaster Memorial pennant would be in the shade if Sale Fell. The OD did reduce the extent of the frustrations by just sending the fleet down to 10, but light, swirling, winds were in play even before the boats got to Scarness. The conditions suited the GPs (apart from AJ) as they took first three positions on handicap, again led by Dave/Lyn. Tog was 4th and Mike/Kayla 5th
While the Solway Firth coastline was basking in the sun, the weather at the club was cloudy but warm. 
