Forty boats took to the water on the first day of the GP14 NW Area Championships at Bassenthwaite on 17 July. The strength of the fleet was reflected in the fact that almost half the boats were in the gold fleet, sixteen were in the silver fleet and only six were in the bronze fleet. Despite a calm morning, the winds picked up over the afternoon, and many places were won and lost on various beats set by OD, Neil Currie. It seemed like the GP fleet were either too keen, or had poor stopwatches, but the OD made sure they practised their starts until they got them right.

The slow learners were sent back to shore after being black flagged. It wasn't just the starts which gave an adrenalin rush - the first gybe mark of the day saw about half the fleet descend on it all at the same time. Three boats seemed to escape the rest of the pack and were way out in front for most of the first race, but the competition was such that none of them was in the top three for the second race.

Home club sailors John Telford and Andy Smith (Bass) were overnight leaders by two points, but knew that they could not rest with three races the next day.

A barbeque was the prelude to a long night at the bar for many sailors who did their best to drink the bar dry (again)!

Sunday's racing was very much a case of more of the same - good strength winds, some sunshine, good racing, but some cruel windshifts which cost and won places going up the beats. The championship went down to the last race with any of five boats in with a chance. For once it did not matter which side of the beat you went up - as long as you didn't go up the middle as many sailors who thought they were playing safe found out. Dave Young and Liz Pugh from South Staffs sailed consistently well in the three races with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd to take the championship. Graham Flynn and Frank Nickless, (Bartley SC) having won the second race on Saturday, took the winning horn in the final race to give them second place ahead of Ian Platt and Chris Jolly (Bolton) who had equal points. Richard Instone and James Goodfellow (Chase) came 4th overall ahead of Saturday's overnight leader John Telford.

The silver fleet was won by Richard and Philip Hodgkins (Bass) who had some excellent results to finish 11th overall. The bronze fleet was as keenly contested as the gold fleet, but was eventually won by Andrew Brookand Steve Heywood of Hollingworth by two points.

A tiring, but enjoyable, weekend for all sailors and helpers alike.

Overall Championship
1st Dave Young & Liz Pugh South Staffs
2nd Graham Flynn & Frank Nickless Bartley
3rd Ian Platt & Chris Jolly Bolton
4th Richard Instone and James Goodfellow Chase
5th John Telford and Andy Smith Bass

Silver Fleet
1st Richard Hodgkins & Philip Hodgkins Bass
2nd Toby Taylor & Alan Jones South Staffs
3rd Andrew Greenhalgh & Colin Midgely Bass/Annandale

Bronze Fleet
1st Andrew Brook & Steve Heywood Hollingworth
2nd Rana Din & Neil Turner Hollingworth
3rd Stuart & Debbie Spence Bass

Lady Helm
Julie Waddington Bolton