Adrian’s first sail of the season on Saturday, after the handicaps were calculated, resulted in a win with 14 secs to spare, but would it continue? The changeable winds over the course of racing resembled polos somewhat (due to the holes in the middle?!), but the warm airs made many people (apart from Ruth who seemed to reckon she was suffering from frostbite in her toes!) feel overdressed as they became very hot and bothered. It could be why tensions were high in the GP14 fleet, with various post race discussions concerning the rulebook, and Dave Nicholson’s new boat suffered its first two collisions – the first is always the worst.
Sunday morning looked as if there was going to be a good southerly to take us through the day, but all of a sudden, half an hour before the scheduled start, the wind eased and started to veer to the south-west. Racing got underway, with the wind easing and continuing to veer. By the windward mark some boats that had headed for the western shore were able to fly their spinnaker into the mark! Pockets of wind came and went, but it didn’t stop Steve Hunt in his RS400 breaking away from the fleet, but Dave Lawson in his GP was not far behind When OD.Nigel Lewis decided to shorten course, Steve had had enough and just headed for home (not even because Ruth’s feet were cold).
After lunch the wind had filled in and settled in the South West, which meant there was going to be a long hard beat down the lake for the first pennant race of the season. It was Steve Hunt, Neil Currie and William Carruthers in their RS400s that were first to the windward mark, and apart from Neil taking a detour under Sale Fell they would have held those positions all the way down the lake. At the southernmost wing mark confusion reigned with Steve rounding it to starboard, William to port (well it was what Lesley had written down, and the logical way to go round it!), and then Neil, having recovered from his detour, confirmed that the course required a starboard rounding. As usual, Steve disappeared on the downwind leg home, but William and Neil had a good battle to the finish. Believe it or not, there were other boats in the fleet, and Mike Moore at one stage realised that he hadn’t been taking best advantage of the shifty winds when Adrian (in his Fifteen this time) appeared alongside. Final results were calculated on a personal handicap basis, with first position going to Dave and Lynn Lawson.
CALVERT TRUST PENNANT
PN Boat Helm Class 1 Pts
1 13176 D LAWSON GP 1 1
2 3473 M MOORE FF 2 2
3 937 W CARRUTHERS RS400 3 3
4 69960 M CHAPPEL FF 4 4
5 1140 J CHRISTIE VORTEX 5 5
6 1210 S HUNT RS400 6 6
7 1148 N CURRIE RS400 7 7
8 13327 M FAIRLAMB GP 8 8
9 2324 R BLACKBURN LARK 9 9
10 1146 P BURNELL RS400 10 10
11 167828 I MACPHERSON LAS 11 11
12 130338 RiCRITCHLEY LAS 12 12
Points for RTD = 12
Points for DSQ = 12
Points for DNS = 13
1 races to count