Final round 10 and we have a winner Congratulations to Darin Ballington who attended 8 of the ten races a great example to us all , only one skipper Kevin Everson attended all ten races, Only two occasions we dropped below double figures for the series , we have the members so let us try and support the upcoming summer series. and have some fun into the bargain.

The Summer series’ starts on the 7th April 2024 , come and join the fun and some very hot racing .

Crispy morning lot of ice scrapped from windscreens, Long johns hunted down, and bigger coats than normal , so here we have it , first real snap of Winter ,, decent breeze though , wish it were like this last week I hear someone say !!!!, Bit of a mix for race officer today , it cant be helped and we all mixed in, great spirit. 10 skippers showed up , a lot stayed in bed , and what a mornings racing they all missed.

Martyn A 877 was on fire, and took the first four without reply, Jen was also on it, and took no prisoners, It was a good beat , 2 in fact with two runs and a final beat to the finish, the racing was close, all through the fleet there were some battles, the windward mark was just about “spec savers range” and caught one or two out, and you definitely needed to be on the right gybe down the run to the gate . Colin Helliwell 301 has got Mike Williams 76 in his sights, but not quite this time, Mikes consistency paid dividends, Pete Cogill 110 took the only other win that was not taken by the top two and was only one point adrift of Colin 301 , Good to see Stuart Jessup 92 getting regular and nice to see Jon Lee 00 our newest member getting his hand in, Ed 31 had a bit of a winch problem that sorted itself out thank goodness, Mick C finally found a bit of pace to win the last two but was clearly not at the races, and all credit to Martyn on the day with 10 points from ten races, and taking out his discards his worst place was a 2nd .

Well done Martyn , but a great deal of thanks to all who chipped in to sort the morning out , that was sailed in a great spirit

A few Skipper’s showed up on Saturday afternoon and for sure, saw the best of the breeze over the weekend. Sunday morning was quite Misty and not a breath of wind, but by 0730 the smell of bacon was wafting down the bank, and Micky boys bacon baps were moving along quite nicely, some with Mushrooms I may add. Dave, the OOD was ably assisted and Tim was out in the dingy getting a couple of courses laid to cover the basics should the wind play ball, Jen and a great team had registration and the fleet board, as well as the other tasks that make the event run smoothly all under control.

A short postponement for 15 minutes but , it was looking like the South bank as skippers heading that way with the boats, sure enough a whisper of wind came in and the seeding races were run, Darin B 98 and Tim H 44, were the winner’s in just about the best of the breeze which continued to back into the north east, both these guys had previously won this coveted trophy.

I think that with the wind situation it was decided to move to the East bank, little need to rush as the lake was like a mirow, so now we were onto race two, with B fleet on the water, and a not too long course, which was followed by A fleet,, Nigel Brown132 sailing a V 6 , another previous winner, took the win followed by Steve Venables, 09 with his Brit Pop and Darin b 98, in third, race three and from what I remember it must have been lunch time !!!! and no stopping for lunch made loadsa sense. Roger Crates 30 won the race with I am pretty sure the only wooden boat on the day and very slippery it was too , he was followed home by John Tushingham 51 and Tracy Ballington, showed hubby Darin the way home by getting the third spot, hubby was just behind her !!!! . Well this really was slow going, the whispers would come and go and in race 4 we saw skipper go hunting, Darin B looked as if he was heading to the railway crossing to search for what looked a decent breeze, while the other in the middle, just wallowed, when all came down to the gate after what seemed ages, you did not pick a side, you just went for which was nearest, it was to make little difference, and after what seemed an age David Holyoak 06 took the win with J T 51 picking up second , third spot went to Ben Harker 22.

The 5th and to be the last race of the day seemed to probably have the best of the breeze, and whilst there were battles up and down the fleet, in a gentle kind of way, all eyes were wanting to see who would lift the trophy , that has been fought for every year , for what I believe is ten years, JT 51 got off to a great start with his Vision in the A fleet ,chased by Mick C 46 with his Venti , Darin B 98 was not to far behind, But these three held their positions ” Just ” to the finish line.

A final race was to be had, just as the sun came out , the B fleet managed to get to the weather and wing marks and you could see almost , in minutes the breeze disappeared completely and the OOD Dave had no choice to blow the whistle and bring proceeding’s to an end,

All in all a very enjoyable day despite the lack of wind , Many congratulations to John Tushingham , Darin Ballington and Nigel Brown, for taking the podium places , all I may add previous winners , and a very well done to all skippers who sailed this event with a great attitude. Fantastic

Finally, a huge word of thanks to the whole race team and especially to the Hand family for organising such a great event , lets hope we see you all next year .

A few pictures below from Allan E and more to come from Caz very soon