Saturday started with an open day, promoted by the RYA, to introduce people to sailing with taster sessions for which there was a a lot of interest and some good sailing conditions being bright and sunny with light winds.
Saturday’s racing comprised the final two races in the Scarness Cup and Autumn Cup series. The winds were generally light, but the fleets kept moving. After some coaxing by the committee boat at the start of the second race, AJ seemed to have pulled out a good lead on Dave Lawson, however, it turned out that Dave was giving AJ some private tuition. Of course, Dave moved into top gear on the final two legs of the race, took the lead again, and a second win.
Interestingly, none of the series winners were out racing – they must have all been very confident of their positions!
Well done to Neil Garrison who had a successful Saturday winning the Kielder Laser open.
Sunday’s wind backed to the SW and strengthened as the day went on. Mike/Kayla took an early lead which they held to the finish, winning the morning race. While Jeff’s crew was on rescue duty, the boat most in need of rescue attention was Jeff, having capsized numerous times. Perhaps the gybes in the course were not to Jeff’s liking?
Over the lunch break the wind backed more to the south, and there we ere a multitude of sailors asking whether the 2nd race would be around the lake. Much to their relief, that hadn’t been planned. Whilst setting the course the wind continued to swing around Sale Fell, so there was a cautious assumption that a SW wind would prevail, not that it seemed to too definite as some boats struggled to round the windward mark in a major shadow of the fell. Ian/Lezli-Ann took advantage of some of the lulls to pass Mike/Kayla, but AJ, with Dave crewing, won on handicap with Hugh 2nd. Mike was 4th which, when combined with his 1st from the morning, was sufficient to win the Paul Carruthers Memorial Trophy.