After a week of mixed weather, near ideal conditions greeted the start of the GP 14 North West Area Championships on Saturday.  A brisk north-easterly breeze brought cloud cover which rose and cleared over the northern fells to give clear blue skies above the lake.

A fleet of twenty-seven boats, including nine from the home club, made a clean start for the first race, set to a port-hand trapezoidal course in North lake.   The first beat, to a windward mark set half way up the lake; set the fleet the choice of whether to stay close to the east shore, or go out into the middle of the lake to pick a better wind across to the mark.

Matt Mee and Andrew Brook in  13842  came round the mark just ahead of a bunched group of  Martin Brennan and Alistair Knott in Moby,   Mike Senior and Chris Tattersall in Racey’s Rocket,  David and Lynn Lawson in Layla and Justin Jones and Liz Pugh in Too Fingers.    A slight drop in the wind  kept the leading group  together for a while, before the first sausage lap brought Racey’s Rocket and Too Fingers to the head of the fleet, joined by Paul Owen and Sue Konczyk in 13803 and Bill Kenyon and Geoff Edwards in Unzipped.

As the wind came back to a steady Force 3 north-easterly, there were strong challenges and much place-changing in the middle of the fleet, but the first four boats held off all competition to retain their places at the finish, as the leading group drew well away from the main section of the fleet.

The second of the back to back races used an Olympic triangle and sausage course over a similar area of the lake, as the wind freshened slightly from the north.  A steady, stiff breeze took the fleet to the first mark in close formation, with Racey’s Rocket round first and into a clear lead from John Telford and Andy Smith in Chas Smash, Too Fingers, Unzipped and Layla.  

The leading boats maintained their order until the third triangle lap, when with four boats coming in to the spinnaker mark abreast, Racey’s Rocket was luffed into third place as 13842 and Too Fingers came through into the lead.  After  close marking over the final leg to find the best line to the finish, 13842 tacked neatly into first place, with Too Fingers second and Racey’s Rocket third.

The result left the championship finely balanced for Sunday’s two races, with Racey’s Rocket and Too Fingers sharing first place with four points each as competitors enjoyed a convivial evening in the Club house, with an excellent supper provided by the Stewards and musical entertainment by talented Club members.

Sunday brought a cloudless sky, but no wind, forcing a frustrating postponement.  A breeze finally came in from the north, and a third and final race was sailed in North lake to an Olympic triangle and sausage course.

On the first leg to the windward mark near the east shore boats spread out across the whole lake, until finding the tack back into the centre that proved the best route, with 13842 narrowly beating Racey’s Rocket to the mark. Too Fingers, Chris and Gill Beddow in All Because, Bob and Mo Theobald in Bobby’s Girl and Greg Pitt and Andy Tunnicliffe in Deric made up the rest of a varied leading group.

The breeze settled to a steady north-easterly to give competitive racing throughout the fleet, but the two leading boats held on  to their advantage and drew ahead as Too Fingers came up to take third place ahead of Deric.

No discards were allowed, and the final order mirrored Saturday’s result, with Racey’s Rocket from Bolton winning the Championship.  Deric was first RWYC boat in 7^th place.

Overall Championship

1st Silver Fleet

1st Bronze Fleet