There are some essential ingredients necessary for a sailing event. On this occasion the motive power of wind was in short supply, but Essential Marble and Granite did supply the sponsorship, with prize support also from Mailspeed Marine.

The high quality fleet of 24 boats included some leading 420 Class sailors, used to competing against some of the local talent elsewhere. It was fortunate that a decision was made to sail three races on the Saturday. A clean start for the first race soon saw Stuart Bithell and Chris Robinson take charge, with Adam and Jonny McGovern in runner-up place. James Goodfellow and Chris Warburton sailed well for third, with Luke Patience and Chris Grube fourth. Local knowledge was clearly an advantage in the fickle easterly airstream though Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe got the beats right in the second race, challenged by Matt Mee and Liz Pugh, with Bithell in the fray too. Mee worked his way to lead at the finish but a protested incident with Dobson meant that Mee had a disqualification. This gave third place to Christian Birrell and Andrew Hall. After a short break, there was just time for a third race before the light faded. Bithell again managed to take the lead, while the following boats had to contend with flatspots and 45-degree windshifts. There was considerable bunching at some leeward marks and it was not necessarily the leading boats entering that came out best. David Hynes and Amy Finney managed to survive this, while Mee worked through the fleet to take third, with Birrell fourth. This time, it was Dobson who was protested out from a top rank place.

Flat calm and mist awaited everyone on the Sunday morning and the start was postponed, until a gentle westerly zephyr appeared. This time, Greg Pitt and Charles Bower found enough wind along the shore to take the lead from Hynes, with Bithell again close behind. These three battled for the lead with Hynes first taking Pitt, then Bithell taking Hynes. After that Mee came good again to pass Pitt, with Dobson fifth. Bithell was now the clear overall winner and it was the other places that were fought over. With the wind becoming ever more uncertain, the PRO, Nick Brook, and his team had to cope with a general recall and the black flag to get the final race underway. Hynes was first past the finish line, with Bithell runner-up, Dobson third and Mee fourth.

Overall Results:

1^st 13849 Stuart Bithell/Chris Robinson (HLSC) 5pts.

2^nd 13835 David Hynes/Amy Finney (Royal Windermere YC) 10pts.

3^rd 13585 Ian Dobson/Andy Tunnicliffe (Burwain SC) 14pts.

4^th 13842 Matt Mee/Liz Pugh (HLSC/SSSC) 20pts.

5^th 13855 Adam & Jonny McGovern (HLSC) 22pts.

Leading helm under 19 years: Stuart Bithell

Leading helm under 17 years Christian Birrell

Leading Female Helm & crew: Clair Brunner and Helen Robinson

Club Team Prize: Hollingworth Lake SC