Mirror Open at Royal Windermere Yacht Club

Sunday 2nd October saw 26 Mirrors take to the water on Windermere for the second half of the ‘Weekend in the Lakes’. We awoke in the morning to the wonderful sight of mist covering the lake but without wind, the racing was postponed until around 12 before the wind filled in on the south area of the lake. The plan was to go out and sail 3 back-to-back races whilst there was some breeze.

The first race started without delay and saw Edd Grey (single hander) reach the windward mark in pole, followed by Eddie Grayson (single hander) and then Milly and Nick Pugh. These three boats then pulled away from the rest of the fleet, however on the 2nd beat Grayson managed to squeeze into 1st which he managed to maintain. At the leeward mark on the run there was confusion about the location of the finish line which made for a very close finish from which Edd came 2nd and the Pugh’s took 3rd. Emma Grayson (single hander) led the fleet in at 4th.

The start of the second race showed another small group of boats capitalise on the port end line bias and sail to the front of the fleet. This time Grayson reached the windward mark first and held his position until the end, Tom Cosier and Niamh O’Neill were close up behind going up the first beat but dropped back slightly as the wind died off halfway through the race. This lack of wind was beneficial to the single handers as this allowed them to use their weight advantage in their favour and also allowed for some interesting battles between other boats, Emma Grayson crept up the fleet to claim 2nd and Milly and Nick took another 3rd with Cosier and O’Neill in 4th and Edd Grey in 5th. The lack of wind did not allow a 3rd race therefore the day was complete with 2 races sailed.

Thank you to Royal Windermere Yacht Club who were as hospitable as ever and to the race officer for setting us courses in the challenging wind conditions. Also thank you to the southern boats for making the effort to come all the way up north to make the event possible and as well attended as it was.

Overall Results:

1st Eddie Grayson
2nd Emma Grayson
3rd Milly and Nick Pugh
4th Edd Grey
5th Tom Cosier and Niamh O’Neill