Enterprise North West Area Championship at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

We were greeted with warm weather, partially cloudy but fairly sunny most of the day. The wind was from a south-westerly direction around force 2 – 4 with marginal planing from time to time. 18 competitors took part from various parts of the country mainly from the north-west, north-east and the midland of the UK.

The event coincided with Bass Week, which had Lake Garda wind conditions most of the week. Unfortunately not for this weekend.

Race 1 started with a port bias line which Mark Ninnim and Emma Smith (Bass) created the best start at port end and round the tricky and shifty windward mark in 1st. Royston Taggart and Steve Blackburn (Pilkington) rounded in 2nd with Alan Baker and Thea Armstrong (Tynemouth) in 3rd. Quite a few changes took place as the downwind legs either paid to be sailed lower or higher due to the pressure and shifts on the big puddle. Eventually Royston worked out the shifts well on the second beat and eventually took the lead from Mark with creating room at the buoy and eventually winning the race.

On the last lap heading to the finish in front of the clubhouse Alan Baker sailed superbly well to overtake Mark Ninnim pushing him down to 3rd. Not far behind were Mike Cossey and Christine Barron (Sutton) 4th and Paul Young and Alex Homar (Midland) in 5th.

Race 2 was held in similar conditions again. Mark created the best start and rounded the windward mark first although this was short lived as Royston sailed lower on the first downwind leg and never looked back to win the race. The battle was behind Mark but he managed to hold onto his 2nd place although he was put through his paces with Paul Young finishing 3rd, Alan Baker in 4th and Mike Cossey 5th.

Race 3, and this time Royston controlled the start line start on the windward end of the line and rounded the windward buoy first and finished first. The fight for second was changing places frequently. The beats were fairly straight forward with a favoured side but tacking on the short shifts could gain a few boat lengths at times. It was knowing when to tack, which is always the case. This time Alan Baker sailed into 2nd and kept his position until the end of the race. Mike Cossey sailed well to finish 3rd, Paul Young in 4th and Mark Ninnim with a 720 just before the finish pushed him back to 5th.

A fun-filled time was had at the Saturday night disco and I'm sure a few scoops of their favourite beverages were enjoyed into the small hours.

Race 4 saw nearly identical conditions for the Sunday and the last race. Royston & Steve changed places and Steve helmed for the final race. This could be instrumental in the change of places for the podium place which was up for grabs. Although Mark created the best start on the port end of the line, Steve and Royston rounded the windward mark first and finished first but their result was not included. This time we had a different winner with Alan Baker overtaking several boats through the race to finish in 1st. Paul Young finished 2nd, Mike in 3rd and Mark had slipped back to 4th. Simon and Oliver Jaram (Beaver) made it into 5th place.

A great weekend was had at Bass Week by all.

Overall Results: