Stormy conditions on Saturday afternoon proved to be too much for champions Steve Goacher and Phil Evans to contemplate, so they sat back and watched the rest of the fleet battle around the course. With the wind coming down the lake, the waves had plenty of chance to build up and wash down several spinnaker chutes! Those that did opt to fly kites gained no real advantage. Howard Green, and FF Association Vice President Ian Preston, made best use of their skills and ‘weight advantage’ to win the first race. With no sign of the winds abating, the second race was postponed until Sunday morning.
By the time the racing started on Sunday morning, the blue skies had been blown away! Yes, there was still a good breeze, however, not too much to frighten off those not so spring chickens Goacher and Evans. They did spend some time at the start of the race running around like headless chickens after hitting a mark – that was not going to be enough prevent them winning the race with Scott Beattie and John Somerville second. Despite all the toing and froing, there was a lot of consistent results throughout the day, and in the last race, fed up of playing second fiddle Scott retired and left the fleet to it. Confusion over the shorten course signal was taken in good spirit, perhaps because the race did not have a significant effect on the overall result.
Becoming a bit of a habit for Keith Jamieson, but he and Toggle Cowan secured yet another prize for their classic boat.
FLYING FIFTEEN OPEN
PN Boat Helm Crew Club 1 2 3 4 Pts
1 3721 S GOACHER P EVANS WINDERMERE DNS 1 1 1 3
2 3673 S BEATTIE J SOMERVILLE BASS 2 2 2 RTD 6
3 3734 H GREEN I PRESTON LEIGH & LOWTON 1 4 4 3 8
4 3801 J HARDISTY R ERRINGTON DRSC 3 5 5 2 10
5 3787 D BROCKBANK R RIGG WINDERMERE 4 3 3 4 10
6 3473 M MOORE L BRADDOCK BASS 5 6 7 6 17
7 3521 P BURNELL D WOODHEAD BASS RTD 7 6 5 18
8 3784 J HULL S HULL TEES & HARTLEP 6 8 8 7 21
9 1117 K JAMIESON M COWAN BASS DNS 9 9 8 26
10 1901 J CROSBIE I CROSBIE BASS RTD 10 10 DNS 29
Points for RTD = 9 11 11 10
Points for DSQ = 9 11 11 10
Points for DNS = 11
3 races to count