Wall to wall sunshine, and a stronger than expected NW wind, made for good sailing conditions on Saturday. As last week, the wind was regularly swinging to keep helms on their toes. Frustratingly, just as the start sequence got underway, the wind dropped, but fortunately, returned before the start.
There were 11 boats over two fleets. Dave/Lynn won both races in the GPs, with Val/Ken 2nd. In the Handicap fleet, Steve/Ruth in a Merlin led the fleet from Hugh in a Vareo, and Tog/Joanie in a RS200 in both races, but, on handicap, Hugh won both races by about 30 secs, with Steve 2nd in the first race, and Tony in a Solo 2nd in the next race despite having to return for being OCS at the start.
Sunday was blessed with more sunshine but the wind forecast was not good. Although the turbines at Bothel were not moving at all, the lake had ripples to the north and south of the bay with a large calm patch in between! Several sailors were getting itchy feet hanging around, so despite AJ’s wish to have an early lunch, racing did get underway belatedly when the NW breeze filled in a bit. With the risk of a sea breeze filling in, and the wind backing more to the SW, a course was set with two potential beats (3-2, and 4-B). The wind filled in as the race went on, and there were some big shifts to contend with. AJ the first lap AJ was had a good 2nd, but it all went to pot thereafter and he slipped back to 4th. Dave/Lynn too the honours, with Joan/Jack 2nd.
In the handicap fleet, Phil/Oliver took 1st place in a RS200 from Mike in his Streaker.
The afternoon race was the Albert Bates Retirement Trophy pennant race. Fearing the wind may do its worst beyond Scarness, the fleet were just sent as far as 10 and then back up. As it turned out, they had a good spinnaker leg down, and a fetch back up, with little in the way of painful down draughts to contend with. The GPs were the strongest fleet taking the first three places, led by Dave/Lyn then Val/Ken in the best winds of the weekend.