Autumn Nip at Ullswater Yacht Club
by Jonathan Nicoll 23 Oct 2017 08:21 BST
22 October 2017
With Storm Brian leading to the cancellation of several events around the country many sailors were put off by the forecast so it was a small and select band rigging up on the lawn at Ullswater Yacht Club for the traditional end of season Autumn Nip on 22nd October.
Two Musto Skiffs proved very frisky while still on their trolleys in the gusty 4-6 WSW wind and their helms eventually decided that discretion was the better part of valour and didn't risk putting them in the water.
At the start both the Flying Fifteen of John Thornley and the RS200 helmed by Ethan Dawson took a seamanlike approach to the line rather than a racing one but at the first windward mark Ethan was in close touch with the Fifteen and looked to be saving his time on handicap. Unfortunately while John, crewed by Nicola Abbatt, chose to hoist his kite in the relative shelter of the windward shore Ethan bravely took a course out into the big wind in the middle of the lake and was forced to gybe in a particularly vicious gust. He and crew James Abbatt didn't quite pull it off and spent a while swimming. After that the race was largely over with John and Nicola winning from Ethan and James.
The second race was started after a short break in a slightly more manageable breeze but again the RS200 after challenging at the first mark spent a little time upside down and the finishing order was the same.
Traditional prizes of a bottle of whisky were awarded to first and second with James, at 14 years old, getting a crystal glass instead of whisky.
The Autumn Nip is usually the last event of the regular season at Ullswater but due to the mysteries of scheduling there is one more event next weekend for the Wakefield Trophy before the popular 5 week 'November' Open Series starts on Sunday 29th October. We welcome visitors from other clubs to this series which is sailed as a single handicap fleet with two races each Sunday starting at 11am.