The absence of any real breeze when the sailors turned up to race only lasted until every one of the 12 had kitted their boats with an “A” rig and started to put them on the water.
The wind from somewhere over the houses had stiffened enough to require a “B” rig which everyone adopted before racing started. In addition, as the lake was full to overflowing racing took place on the northern side of the lake.
The stiffness of the breeze led to some challenging conditions which made sailing difficult for the first 5 of the 10 races but everyone took the bashes and bumps in good spirits and as usual the wind over the houses was a bit hit and miss.
The wind stiffened further for the last 5 races with gusts making starts difficult and controlling boats generally a challenge particularly on a beat.
John Brierley was able to cope with the conditions best of all with 8 wins from 10 starts with Mike De St Paer’s consistency giving him second place with 5 seconds and 2 thirds and John Carlin taking third, with 2 firsts and a brace of seconds.
Thanks go to Dave Williams and Malcolm Harvey shared RO duties looking after 5 races each.
