There has been a wet and windy week following Bass Week, and the lake has risen somewhat. A Triathlon competition was again held from the club grounds and proved very popular on Saturday, and Sunday started wet, but by the time the sailing got under way sailors were in for a dry sailing with some good winds.
Harry Binns was racing his Topper in the morning race and even before reaching the start he had capsized, something he was to do numerous more times during the race (and after it too!).
With Roy’s sail slipping down he opted out of racing before he even started, leaving Banter Phil to sail the course on his own for a win. Though Mike and Kayla led the MJM race from the start, her knot tying skills, or lack of them, resulted in their spinnaker coming down on the second leg, and not to be rehoisted until the halyard had been rethreaded between races. With Val OD, and Ken Bell not required on rescue, he opted to sail the Solo, an experience which he found somewhat challenging, but he had a good race with Kath and Glenys in their GP. Though Peter Ballard had a good race in his SuperNova and beat Mike Fairlamb/Eric Smith in a GP by a couple of minutes, it was not enough to beat them on handicap, and they went on to beat him by almost a minute.
In the afternoon, the winds strengthened a little, and there were some good planing conditions at times. There were a few more capsizes including Peter Ballard, Alan Waugh. Mike/Eric took command of the first beat, and it was to be almost another two legs before Mike/Kayla broke though to the lead. Despite their slow start, Mike/Kayla went on to win on handicap from Tom Gosden in his Laser, with Mike/Eric 3rd. We had a new helm in a F15, Chris and Julie Rolle, who was racing well and giving Mike a run for his money at times, but slipped back to 5th on handicap, behind Ethan Dawson who sailed competently in the conditions. Ken again found the Solo testing, and in his eagerness to shoot the finish line he stalled the boat as he tacked and only just managed to beat Kath/Glenys to the finish line.
In the Asymmetric fleet, Toggle came out to give Phil some competition, though Toggle did break away and secure a strong lead of 7 mins by the finish.