The One Bassenthwaite Lake Sailing Week - Overall
by Paul Allen 14 Aug 06:24 BST
3-11 August 2019
Sponsored by The Lakes Distillery, The One Bassenthwaite Lake Sailing Week's final weekend, racing for the Cutty Sark Challenge, brought a change in conditions. The sun said goodbye and the breeze picked up a notch.
From the west, large gusts powered over the club house and onto the race course. Given the conditions, a reduced fleet headed out onto the water however some new entries joined the tired and weary after 7 days hard sailing and partying. The conditions made for spectacular spectating from the large panoramic windows of the clubhouse, with the bar and galley helping keep the dry gang refreshed whilst they were woo-ing each capsize.
The team on the Bates (the OD boat) put together three varied courses to challenge the sailors and offer some great three sail reaches. After the first race there was an extended break while numerous people helped relocate Red Seal crew's tents which were in the flood zone.
In the Mirror fleet, Elizabeth and David Shilling counted two bullets to claim overall victory. Keeping it in the family, Oscar Shilling sailing a Laser 4.7, discarded a first in the slow handicap to also sail to victory. In the GP14 fleet David Lawson and Ken Bell finished first ahead of Luke Shaw and Phil Hodgkins who missed the first race due to a crew change.
In the medium handicap Ed Thomas continued his dominance, sailing his Phantom to a final win. As one would imagine the Laser fleet revelled in the gusty conditions with the largest fleet. Eleanor Craig finished off a spectacular weeks racing counting three bullets. Eleanor has dominated the Laser fleet in all 18 races over 9 days, a great role model for young helms.
Winning the RS200 fleet, Phil and Naomi Smith also discarded a first place and finished ahead of Dave and Charlie Exley in second. In the competitive fast handicap, Mark Somerville and Joe Roberts finished off a successful week by counting two bullets in their RS400, beating Chris Pickles and Mark Lunn in second. The legendary final party didn't disappoint.
A Wild West themed disco had the club house bouncing, unfortunately the social secretaries bucking bronco was scared off by the rain!
Sunday delivered lots of rain a rising water level which resulted in the race committee calling it a day. Special awards for individual performances over the whole week were made to the Matthew Somerville, Charlie Exley, Mike Moore and Kayla Sheard, Mark Somerville and Joe Roberts. Nigel O'Donnell kindly gave a word of thanks to the club for another fantastic regatta that surpassed the standards of so many other events that he had been to this season.
And that's that. Another great Bass Week is over. Almost 200 boats made it onto the race course. Sailors and their families enjoyed fantastic socials including live music, discos, quiz's and cocktail nights. If you haven't done a Bass Week then you should. With 12 fleet starts and the opportunity to race on one the largest bodies of water in the Lake District it's a bucket list event. Bass Week 2020, put 1st - 9th August in your diary now! For full results, daily videos and BBC and ITV features visit www.bassweek.org.uk.