Bassweek Regatta at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club - Day 5
by Mik Chappell 4 Aug 2011 08:55 BST
30 July - 7 August 2011
The Wednesday of Bassweek is the most important day after the two weekend series. This is because a two race mini-series is scheduled. This for the NatWest Cup sponsored by Insurance4Dinghies. But, yet again, the weather had the upper hand: early morning mist was followed by warm sunshine reflecting on a flat calm lake.
It looked as though the whole day's racing would be abandoned. The committee boat ventured out after lunch to search for some and eventually a sea breeze set in the Race Officer set a line. The course consisted of two northerly beats the second being particularly lengthy. There were one hundred and twenty three starters in the ten fleets with eight consecutive starts.
Again the winds were so light that a little heel was preferred to keep sails filled particularly as the race wore on. The race officer could see this and made a wise call to shorten at the Club mark after only two laps. But the final leg with the wind broadly to beam was still a long struggle for the later fleets and there were significant changes in position in the Slow Handicap, Topper and Mirror fleets.
Prizegivings at Bass are noted for their generous trophies and awards are usually fairly lengthy but this one, with prizes awarded to the top third in each fleet plus extra ones for the silver fleet and covering four sets of results, this one took a full hour to complete.
Full results for Wednesday can be found at www.bassenthwaite-sc.org.uk . A summary of the lead positions in each class is shown below.
Natwest Cup sponsored by Insurance4Dinghies:
Fast Handicap
1. Stuart & Zoe Bailey, Alto (Medway/ Wilsonian YC)
2. Ian Smith, RS300 (Craven SC)
Flying Fifteen
1. John Hardisty/Roger Errington (Derwent Reservoir SC)
2. Ian Platt/ Sally Roberts (West Kirby SC)
RS200
1. Tim Hand/C Scott (Sutton in Ashfield SC)
2. Alex Leonard/Olivia Storey (Bass SC)
Laser
1. Tom Keegan (Leigh & Lowton SC)
2. John Hainsworth (Swarkestone SC)
Laser Radial
1. Jack Knight (Ely SC)
2. Jonathon Hoy (Nantwich & Borders SC)
Medium Handicap
1. Ben Pickering, Blaze (Chase SC)
2. Mark Somerville, Vario (Bass SC)
Enterprise
1. AlanBaker/Gill Kincaid (Tynemouth SC)
2. Karen Moris/Lisa Woods (Etherton SC)
GP14
1. David & Lynn Lawson (Bass SC)
2. Mike Fairlamb/Eric Smith (Bass SC)
Slow handicap
1. Chris Wright, Streaker (Ripon SC)
2. David Ivins/Lesley Johnson (Bolton SC) Graduate
Mirror
1. Edward Grayson (Beaver SC)
2. Emma & Rachel Grayson (Beaver SC)
Topper
1. Ethan Dawson (Bass SC)
2. Michael Platt (Bolton SC)