North West Junior Travellers Trophy Round 3 at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club
by Paul Allen 23 Jun 2021 06:36 BST
19-20 June 2021
North West Junior Travellers at Bass © William Carruthers
75 North West Junior Travellers (and their entourage!) landed on the shores of Bassenthwaite Lake for the third round of the popular 2021 series.
A favourable southerly forecast delivered a fresh force 3, giving OD Phil Smith and his team the option of using all 4 miles of the lake. Following a briefing that detailed launching in flights, the importance of remembering to tally on (and off!) and the clubs Covid policies, the sailors headed out into a now freshening breeze. Thankfully there were no capsizes (in the race!).
By the time the fleets reached the start line the breeze had begun to ease somewhat, which suited some of the youngsters out for their first open event. After two races, the fleet headed ashore for a break. Although the OD was keen to hold another race, the wind eased, and then swung through 180 degrees, a decision was made to abandon any attempt to hold another race on Saturday.
Overnight leader was George Creasy & David Bromilow in a 420 from WKSC, with Zak & Zoe Sanderson-Davies in a Feva from Windermere 2nd, and Oliver Mills in a Laser from Pennine 3rd. There was a very respectably performance by some of the slower boats with Tom Moss & Harry Wood in a Feva from Elton lying 4th, and Ben Welfare in an Optimist from Leigh & Lowton in 5th place.
With light airs forecast for Sunday, a 1030 start proved to be optimistic! A katabatic breeze came in from the south, and when the OD went out to set a course, every beat somehow seemed to be to mark 8! In the end, the same course as Saturday was used, although there were regular significant swings in direction.
The wind eased before race 4, but soon after the race was started, it faded more as competing winds seemed to come from various directions, so the race was abandoned (to a big cheer from competitors) until after a lunch break with the expectation that a sea breeze would settle things down. This was an unfortunate decision for the faster boats, including the RS500 of Felix Stewart and Kacper Dobson from Windermere school, who had benefitted from the tighter spinnaker legs and put some distance on the rest of the fleet. Ditto for Matthew Somerville and Katia Smith, who quickly noticed the port shift and tacked onto the favoured tack and built a significant lead on the rest of the Tera sailors.
Following a short break, race 4 started in a shifty NE breeze. The wind continued to swing throughout the race, so there were some good gains to be had if on the right side of the shifts. The faster boats enjoyed the building breeze with Oliver Mills in a Laser finishing 1st, the RS200 of James Johnson and Esme Barraclough 2nd and Zak & Zoe Sanderson-Davies finishing a very consistent 3rd. By the time the race finished it was too late to start the 5th and final race.
Consistent sailing on Sunday gave Zak and Zoe the edge to beat George and David on countback, counting just 5 points each. Oliver Mills was 3rd, just one point behind.
Top Bass sailors were Matty Somerville in a Tera Pro in 17th place, Jack Exley in a Laser Radial 25th, and Katia Smith, also in a Tera Pro, in 29th place.