Commodore 1
Linda Spiller was flying the largest sail on her Laser in recognition of the gentleness of the winds. She was rewarded with a good start, with rounding Dam Green first and with the lead on the long, faltering light wind run to Pinkie. The other Lasers, also with full-sized sails, were not going to give up and both Bob Sampson and Jane Anderson overtook Linda Spiller on the way to West. Spiller fought back, (if ‘fight’ is the right term; in such light winds racing was like sword fighting with feathers) overtook Jane Anderson and finished the lap in second place. Meanwhile the Solo of Adam Hilton was an intruder among the Lasers, sneaking up from the rear on the run to Pinkie by getting first dibs of whatever puff of wind was coming up. He passed Sue Murray’s Laser Radial but she got the place back on the second lap and finished the race twenty seconds ahead of him. John Dabbs, sailing alone in his Bosun, didn’t start well but did the same coming-from-the-rear trick to come up with the leading bunch and was only a minute and a half behind the leaders at the end. Bob Sampson forgot to go the correct side of Home 1 on lap 2, gave up his lead and retired. The Commodore series uses a handicapping format which takes into account the past performance of the skipper as well as of the boat with the result that John Dabbs was awarded with first position.
- John Dabbs (Bosun)
- Adam Hilton (Solo)
- Linda Spiller (Laser Full)
- Sue Murray (Laser Full)
- Jane Anderson (Laser Full)
- Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
Retired: Bob Sampson (Laser Full), Robin Spiller (Streaker)
Spalding 1
The wind was up to its tricks again. Almost frisky over lunch it went to play elsewhere at the beginning of the second race requiring Jane Anderson’s skill to pick up any remaining tiny zephyrs. She took the lead on the run to Pinkie (and kept it for the rest of the race). Then the wind filled in behind the fleet and around the rest of the Lake but didn’t affect any boats until they were all halfway to Pinkie. This enabled John Dabbs’ Bosun to repeat its trick of the previous race and make up for a slow start by coming up to the rear of the bunch of single-sailed dinghies.
On the second lap the wind became positively gusty as the leaders rounded Dam Green. Bob Sampson was in second place, Adam Hilton in third, Sue Murray fourth, Linda Spiller fifth; an order that had completely changed by the end of the race, with the Solo at the back of this bunch and Sue Murray running second to the unassailable Jane Anderson.
The wind became more capricious than ever, deciding to come over the western hills rather than the eastern ones and freshening at times but then again dropping at times too! After an hour’s racing the (conventional boat-based) handicaps turned the order on the water upside down to the benefit of Vicki Duncalf in her Topper and the Dabbs Bosun.
- Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
- John Dabbs (Bosun)
- Adam Hilton (Solo)
- Jane Anderson (Laser Full)
- Robin Spiller (Streaker)
- Sue Murray (Laser Full)
- Bob Sampson (Laser Full)
- Linda Spiller (Laser Full)
Grateful thanks were given to Nathan Pollard, Officer of the Day.