AM: Barnwell Cup 5

With the Lakes Trust running their annual Open Day and various club members 
giving boat rides and manning stands, it was a depleted group of nine dinghies that 
took to the water for the midday race.  As the horn sounded for the start, it was Jane 
Anderson who was away fastest in her Laser, with Vicki Duncalf not far behind in her 
Laser Radial.  The sun had brought out crowds of people to try out all the activities on 
offer for the Open Day, resulting in much of the lake being dotted with canoes, 
windsurfers, pedalos and dinghies etc, so that despite a course carefully designed by 
the Race Officer to try to keep away from the busiest parts, the fleet had lots of 
additional obstacles to contend with as they made their way up the lake to the first 
turn at the Zebra buoy.  As the fleet tacked for the dogleg across to West White and 
back to Middle, the lead boats found some stronger winds across the centre of the lake 
and Toby Tobias, who had started well, lost a little impetus as his Bosun heeled well 
over in the gusts.  Conversely, Jane Chadney was picking up the pace as the lead 
boats headed up the lake and had moved into second place by the turn at Far.  On the 
long reach back down the lake, the two Janes remained at the front, before another 
dogleg from Home 2 up to Inlet White preceded a return to the most crowded areas of 
the lake.  

Freshly returned from a cruise to (almost) the land of the midnight sun, Mike Ford 
was clearly finding Tamar's midday sun equally to his liking and was going strongly, 
completing the first lap in fourth place in his Solo.  Close on his heels, though, was 
John Weller's Laser and with his greater boatspeed, he proved difficult to shake off 
for much of the second lap.  At the rear of the fleet, Stephanie Heasman was sailing a 
great race, managing to get ahead of experienced Topper helm John Duncalf and pull 
a good thirty seconds clear on the second lap before she went the wrong side of a 
buoy and in going back to correct her error, allowed John to get past.  No such 
problems afflicted Jane Anderson, however, who had extended her lead to nearly two 
minutes on the second lap and was across the line three minutes ahead of her nearest 
rival to win convincingly on handicap.  Jane Chadney was next home but it was Mike 
Ford who eased into second on handicap by a margin of just four seconds ahead of 
Jane, with Toby Tobias keeping the momentum going to take a good fourth place.

Results: 

1st Jane Anderson (Laser)
2nd Mike Ford (Solo)
3rd Jane Chadney (Laser)
4th Toby Tobias (Bosun)
5th Vicki Duncalf (Laser Radial)
6th John Weller (Laser)
7th John Duncalf (Topper)
8th Stephanie Heasman (Topper)
9th John Savage (Solo)

PM: Pursuit Race 3

On a still busy lake, the afternoon's pursuit race got underway with John Duncalf's 
Topper the first boat out of the blocks, with a substantial four minute buffer before the 
second boat set off in chase.  The next away was Toby Tobias in the Bosun, who had 
added Val  Matthews as crew, the latter greatly enjoying her return to dinghy racing 
after a past history of crewing in the rather more exotic location of Uganda; the 
decision to add crew looked to be a good one, as the onset of a strong sea breeze had 
joined forces with the westerly wind to give some robust gusts across the more 
exposed middle of the lake.  By the end of the first lap, John Duncalf was still well 
clear, but it was already becoming apparent that the boat to watch was Roger 
Heasman's Streaker, which had started fifth but was already challenging the Bosun 
for second.  The next two boats through were the Solos of Mike Ford and John 
Savage, with John doing well to make a very rapid return to sailing after a brief stay 
in hospital.  Roger Heasman duly overtook John Duncalf during the second lap and 
moved clear, though he was still having to contend with additional unexpected 
hazards, such as having to avoid a wayward Pico that had become stuck on the Home 
2 mark, with its crew in the water.  For Toby Tobias, the additional hazards came 
from within the fleet, as Mike Ford attempted to overtake approaching  the Inlet mark;  
there was a coming together as they rounded the mark, with both boats subsequently 
doing penalty turns to ensure that neither could be subsequently be disqualified.

As the race moved towards its conclusion, Roger Heasman was still clear at the front, 
but faster boats were starting to take closer order.  Simon Veal was continuing to 
make progress through the fleet, moving up to second place, but ran out of time 
before he could close up on Roger and the horn sounded to give Roger a clear first 
place, with Simon second.  The battle for third was much closer, with Jane Anderson 
scything through the fleet after being last boat away, but Paul Whybrow was adjudged 
to have just held her off to retain third place.

Results: 

1st Roger Heasman (Streaker)
2nd Simon Veal (Laser)
3rd Paul Whybrow (Solo)
4th Jane Anderson (Laser)
5th Mike Ford (Solo)
6th Vicki Duncalf (Laser Radial) 
7th Toby Tobias and Val Matthews (Bosun)
8th John Savage (Solo)
9th John Duncalf (Topper)
10th John Weller (Laser)
11th Adeney Pooler (Graduate)