You wouldn’t have thought it was the middle of May, and after a lovely spell of fine sunny weather when, on a foul Thursday evening, seven GP14 dinghies raced in rain, gloom, dark clouds and a variable wind. However, nobody capsized and all went well in the sailing department. The winner of the race was Mike Cowan (Crosby, Maryport) with Ginge Hodgkins (Brigham, Cockermouth) coming in second.
The weather was better on the following Saturday with a decent breeze for the first race, but the wind became a bit shifty and quiet during the second race. Both races were part of a series for each class of boat.
The Flying Fifteen series of 10 races is for the Dawson Trophy, and Mr and Mrs Somerville (Dalston, Carlisle) won these two races, in separate boats, John winning the first and Wendy the second.
Eight GP 14s raced on both occasions, the series of five being for the Aitken Cup. The first race was won by John Telford (Whitehaven), the second by Robin Dawson (Carlisle).
In the Mirror class series of 10 for the Bates prize, two races were held, the Smith twins of Harrington, Tim and Rob, winning both.
On Sunday there were two races, under sunshine and blue skies with light winds, for the Banana Stakes prize. The races are normally sailed around the lake but, because of the lack of wind, the first one was sailed at the north end of the lake, the second one being round the lake and taking two hours or more because of the slight wind.
The results of these two races jointly are worked out according to the Portsmouth (handicap) number for the dinghy classes, because the boats all start at the same time and are deemed to be of different speeds.
Those arriving first at the finishing line in race 1 were: GP14 – David Lawson (Kendal); Flying Fifteen – John Somerville (Dalston); Laser – Mark Somerville (Dalston).
In the second race, round the lake, the first Flying Fifteen was helmed by William Carruthers (Carlisle), the first GP14 by Robin Dawson (Carlisle), and the first Laser home was sailed by Mark Somerville (Dalston).
BUT, because the calculations seem to favour the slightly slower boats, the final results, when worked out, showed GP14s in the first four places, the winner being David Lawson (Kendal), one point ahead of Robin Dawson (Carlisle).
Overall results
BANANA STAKES
PN Boat Helm Class 1 2 Pts
1 13176 D LAWSON GP 2 2 4
2 13326 R DAWSON GP 4 1 5
3 13327 MiFAIRLAMB GP 5 3 8
4 13013 N LEWIS GP 6 4 10
5 93503 J SOMERVILLE FF 1 11 12
6 161866 M SOMERVILLE LAS 7 8 15
7 3268 W CARRUTHERS FF 11 5 16
8 3560 I CAMPBELL FF 12 6 18
9 3521 P BURNELL FF 9 12 21
10 3503 D LANCASTER FF 14 9 23
11 13161 S SPENCE GP 10 15 25
12 13482 J TELFORD GP 3 DNS 26
12 13254 A GREENHALGH GP OD DNS 26
14 6642 J SHARP GP RTD 7 28
15 3231 M PARRY FF 18 10 28
16 13118 V BELL GP 8 RTD 29
17 3332 W SOMERVILLE FF 16 13 29
18 501 N CURRIE RS400 15 14 29
19 530 K CLARK FF 17 16 33
20 125514 R BRYCE LAS 13 RTD 34
21 144638 J LAST LAS 19 17 36
22 41143 LET US KNOW! MIR DNS RTD 44
Points for RTD = 21 21
Points for DSQ = 21 21
Points for DNS = 23
2 races to count