Inaugural Wintermere dinghy regatta at South Windermere Sailing Club
by Mark Fearnley 25 Mar 2019 21:53 PDT
24 March 2019
Inaugural Wintermere dinghy regatta at South Windermere Sailing Club © Mark Fearnley
Fell Foot, at the south end of Windermere is a great place to sail. Beautiful, big open water, with enough windshifts to make it tactical and keep sailors on their toes. However there are some wind directions that make it shiftier than normal. This was the case that greeted the 19 boats for the first ever Wintermere open regatta at South Windermere Sailing Club, on the 24th March.
The prevailing F3-4 Westerly wind had already come over Thwaites Fell, Woodland Fell, and the Furness Fells before it descended onto Windermere, not quite sure which way to go next or how hard to blow. So it was always going to be a day to keep a sharp eye out for the gusts, and perhaps not an ideal one for the Fireball of Pete Slingsby or the three RS100 asymmetrics from Royal Windermere YC.
Three tight and competitive races were help back to back. It looked like Mike Deane (K1) had the first race in the bag, but was met with stony silence crossing the finish line, having sailed the wrong course. Guy Wheeler (Streaker) kept in touch with the faster boats and won, followed closely by Joe Quick (Solo). It also looked like 2 of the FF15s were in with a shout, with Phil Snewin ended up 3rd.
Mike Deane made no mistake in the second race to win, followed by Jo Quick coming in 2nd again, and Tom Burke (Laser Radial) 3rd. Simon Longstaff in his Flying Fifteen dominated the last race to win, with the consistent Mike Deane 2nd, and Phil Snewin 3rd.
That was enough for Mike Deane from the home club to win overall, with Joe Quick from Coniston SC second, and Guy Wheeler from the home club third.
A big thanks to Pete and Lynne Holt for doing OOD so well, getting decent courses in despite the indecisive wind.
Note for the diary: 9th June for the Windermere Waterhead race - the entire length of Windermere and back, setting off from SWSC at Fell Foot.
Full results can be found at www.swsailing.co.uk/series/2062