Survival of the Fittest

The final Sunday of Bass Week 2008 dawned wet and still windy. By this point of the week only the keenest made it on to the water for the last race so it was left to Denis and Jo, and to Gail to fly the flag for Yeadon through to the bitter end, while the rest of us tried to pack up between the rain showers.
The final weekend stared so well with a dry and sunny evening on Friday and there was an excellent live band in the club that kept a few of us up ‘till late. However Saturday morning we were awaken with wind blowing through the trees and the rigging and rain beating down on the tents. We hoped for a postponement as very few people were keen but the Race Office decided we would race on time ! A number of boats were getting ready to sail and after a lot of consideration Neil decided to give it go, Yvonne was less keen but went for the dry suit anyway !
Conditions on the water were lively to say the least, but it made for some interesting flat out planning reaches for the sailors and good spectating for the crowds who remained on shore. Neil and Yvonne were leading the medium handicap fleet when they decided to play submarines and nose dived whilst running at speed ! When they righted the boat they found the jib had become loose because the force of the nose dive had caused a jib halyard block to pull out. With that their race, and regatta, was over leaving them to limb home to pack the boat up.
In the afternoon, in slightly less severe conditions, but still pretty windy, Denis and Jo ventured out to play and Neil teamed up with Mark Blackman, ex of Yeadon, to race Mark’s RS200 (see photo below). After two further tiring, but exhilarating sails for all it was definitely shower time for the boys while Jo showed she was fitter than the rest of us and went for a swim in the lake first !

Thanks to Bassenthwaite Sailing Club for a very interesting week - I’m sure Yeadon will be back in force again next year !

Some Club members are heading for Ullswater for their Regatta Week this week, and I’m in no doubt they will have as much of a varied week as we have had this week !

Two faces of Bass

Over the last couple of days we seen some different sides of Bassenthwaite :
On Monday we had a beautiful pink mountain as the sun set,


Whereas today we had drizzle, followed by rain, followed by more drizzle
And the puddles grew !

Wet & windless at Bass - The tide is rising !

Thursday has dawned windless, and it is now wet as well so the clubhouse is full of sailors wanting the weather to change !

The last couple of days the wind has been fairly light, which has made for some interesting racing as the different fleets merged together. Yeadon made it into the prizes with Neil and Yvonne getting a 4^th on Monday and then Neil with Katie, a 3rd on Tuesday in the medium handicap fleet. Tim, in the same fleet, has been getting to grips with his Vario and its spinnaker and beat the other Varios on Wednesday. The conditions, however, haven’t been right for the other Yeadon sailors who have not achieved the places they would have liked.

On the social side most of the grown ups ( minus Tim, who was having a nap ) made it out to the 18^th century Pheasant Inn on Tuesday evening for a drink, much to the amusement of a couple from Leeds who were having a quiet wedding anniversary drink until we filled the place up. They had heard of the ‘Yeadon Yacht Club’ ( ! ) so they might come over next year with their boys to see the Club.

The ground around the tents and Club is now getting very squidgy with all the rain and some cars have had to be towed out of the back field, high ground and umbrellas now seem quite important !

The forecast is looking better for Friday and the weekend, so let’s hope we finish on a high !

Update from Bass

A number of sailors, families and friends old and new have made their annual trip to Bassenthwaite for the annual regatta week.

Showers welcomed us on Friday as we set up camp, but the bar was welcoming, too welcoming for some, but that’s another story !

Saturday was windy which woke everybody up as they found their way round the lake (apart from mark 6 which had no wind at all), whereas Sunday was lighter but sunny and rather nice.

Sunday was also Quiz night and “we was robbed !” Despite bringing in help from the Blackpool seaside Streaker sailors, Stuart and Alan, Yeadon couldn’t repeat their form of previous years. With a specialist round of ‘Harry Potter’ we knew it was going to be difficult and so it proved ! Luckily for us the final results weren’t published.

Monday we had the traditional ‘Round the Lake’ race, which was good fun, especially when, the Laser, Medium Handicap and Enterprise fleets all combined at mark 14 ! Conflicting cries of “No Water” and “Water for Ten” were often heard.

Despite trying very hard ( Clive’s words ) Yeadon haven’t made it into the prizes yet, but there are still quite a few races to go !

Tuesday 5th Training Session Back on

Thanks to some offers of support, next Tuesday's training session is back on.

Tonights session was a little gusty at times but everyone managed to follows Neil's knitting course across the lake without too many problems, Pointing Percy the Scorpion managed to get it's crews feet and heads wet for the first time and there was a raging battle between the Pico's.

See you next week for more of the same.

The final training session this season will take place on the 12th of August and don't forget the BBQ on the 13th September.

National 12 Open at Yorkshire Dales SC – 21st July 2008

Most of the Yeadon National 12 fleet attended the National 12 Open at Yorkshire Dales SC last Sunday. Patrick didn’t manage to make it but he was in France on holiday so we let him off. We arrived to typical Grimwith greeting of white horses and sunshine. 4 Yeadon 12’s plus 5 others turned out ready and raring to go.
The first race began having already lost two of the 12’s due to gear failings! The order was shaken up on the way to the first mark as Philip David with Caroline Clarke and Howard Chadwick with Helen Nicholson headed to the wrong mark. Philip recovered from this detour only to go the wrong way past the club mark. This left Mark and Emma Simpson in first then Neil and Katie McInnes and Howard in second and third. However Philip recovered from these setbacks to come speedily up through the fleet and into second only to fall victim to the fatal last gybe which claimed him and Simon Moss and David Clarke as they were being lapped and also Neil who managed to just escape after a wobble and a fill up. Final positions for this race were Mark, Neil and then Howard.
Second race everyone launched into a nice squall which made the start interesting! However by the time the fleet rounded the first mark it had eased. Now with everyone sailing the correct course there was a close battle between Philip and Mark for first place but Mark prevailed again to get first. Meanwhile this left a local battle between the Yeadon boats with Howard, Neil and John and Alison Cheatham all together, until John worked out how to make his Numinous fly and disappeared off to chase the lead two.
Conditions blew up for the start of the third race again but this time did not ease. Mark decided to sit this one out having two wins already. Neil lead the fleet round the first mark but Philip soon got ahead. They chased each other for most of the lap and during some synchronised fast baggy reaching, Philip caught a wave wrong and was in. The race had now turned in to a survival race with hard beats and flat out reaches which the race officer kept thankfully short with Neil winning it, Howard second and Philip in third. John had to be rescued after being helped over by one of the club training boats at the leeward mark. Tim Gatti and Tace Morgan also tasted the water early on and then struggled to catch up
Thanks to Yorkshire Dales for hosting the event and Neil Spink, the OOD for the day and the rescue crews for running a good event
Final results:
1st 3472 Mark and Emma Simpson
2nd 3216 Neil and Katie McInnes - YSC
3rd 3356 Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson - YSC
4th 3217 Philip David and Caroline Clark
5th 2255 Tim Gatti and Tace Morgan - YSC
6th 3468 John and Allison Cheetham - YSC

Commodores Weekend - Great fun in spite of the rain

What a fantastic club we are!!!!

Well the weekend forecast couldn't have been worse but that didn't deter a great turn out for the 80th Anniversary Commodores Weekend

Gerard kicked us off with bacon butties and then the celebrations began.

Lots of boat swapping took us through to the first of the childrens races - The Funny Face Race and as you can see it wasnt just the kids who got their faces painted. Everyone joined in the fun.

We then raised £47 in the Charity Race for Cancer Research before setting up the Oaks Relay

(Oak because thats the symbol for 80th Anniversary) David Statmans team set off at a pace with Patricks team still wondering whether the race had started - there was a big effort to catch up but David and his team ended up winning.

The day was rounded off with a barbeque for the stalwarts and the midnight race for those with good eyesight. Well done to all who took part.

Sunday was not much better weather wise, but the kids got off to a great start with a canoe race and raft building. It was dry for them but ......

That didnt last -

A superb lunch was provided by the catering team and enjoyed by all, before a good race to burn off some calories. Then the famous bottle race got underway with a great entry of sailors armed with water pistols.

Throughout the day Yvonne ran her bring and buy with some members getting hold of a bargain or two

The prize giving finished off a great weekend with prizes for everyone who took part.

Wine, chocolates, toys galore there was no shortage of winners and a piece of celebration cake for everyone.

Tim was very pleased with the outcome and would like to thank the Committee and members for all the help they gave and to those who supported the event so well by taking part.

My thanks to everyone!