For those that have the energy, and planning ahead for next year, make sure you note that Bass Week will run from 5th to 13th Aug 2023 (as late as it gets!)

After big celebrations for the final beach party, there was a reduced turnout of just over 50 boats for the final race of the series and bringing the regatta to a close.

Commodore Jon Denwood opened the final prize giving by thanking all that had helped, both front and back of house, to prepare and deliver an excellent event.

After presenting the prizes for the weekend series, there were some special trophies presented to club sailors for their performance over the whole week.

• The Dave Ovington Trophy for best fast handicap – Mark Somerville and Joe Roberts
• Miners Trophy for best Flying 15 – Mike Moore
• HiJinx Trophy for best helm under 19 – Matthew Somerville
• Endeavour Trophy for best junior – Oliver Smith

At the end of the prize giving Nigel O’Donnell kindly gave a vote of thanks on behalf of the competitors.

A chilly but sunny day, with another WNW breeze was similar to Thursday’s conditions thought slightly lighter F2. The forecast showers, fortunately, missed the club.

The afternoon race was for juniors and seniors (how do they find the energy?), but, for a change, it wasn’t particularly wild!

After racing, the third prize giving took place before some competitors left to go home to recuperate.

The high winds of the previous couple of days had passed through, finally! For a change it was from WNW rather than the usual SW which enabled the courses to have a couple of extra long beats.

Again there was some great planing conditions, and numerous capsizes.

The clouds cleared, sun shone, wind freshened, and backed slightly, for the afternoon RNLI pursuit. The Mirrors held their lead until the final beat when Rob and Gemma Burridge in a Laser 2000 broke through to win overall.

Here’s a selection of photos of the week

Another blustery day for the one day, three race, series.

The largest fleet was the Mirror/Topper/Teras, and they pushed forward on the start resulting in a general recall.

There was some good reaches, and spectacular planing. The rescue crews were kept busy with the numerous capsizes.

The base with no strength eased as the afternoon went in, but there were still powerful gusts for more spectacular reaches.

The 2nd prize giving of the week was held after racing, and a restocked fish and chip van was on hand to reenergise many exhausted sailors, before dancing to live music.

A wild and wet night, with rain, and a forecast of strong gusts, seemed to dampen enthusiasm generally. However the rain had passed through when it was time to get ready for racing, and the gusts didn’t match expectations, so about 60 boats took to the water.

There were numerous capsizes before the start as the wind tended to be very gusty, and shifty to boot. There were some good excellent planing conditions to enjoy, but even the leaders were being caught out at times, and went for a swim, however brief!

The Nairn pursuit was held after lunch, with about 40 boats. The blustery conditions continued to take out even the best sailors at gybe marks, on the reaches and even beats!

The Mirrors were one of the first fleets to start and soon took the lead with Graham Vials and Andy Smith having some close battles. With about 10 minutes to go Graham had a good lead but was caught by a gust on a run, turtled his boat, then Andy took the lead.

Too many capsizes by the faster, pursuing, boats was their downfall and they lost too much ground to catch the leaders, so Andy and Katia Smith won overall.

The day started dry and bright with light winds for the morning junior novice’s race.

By the afternoon the wind had freshened, and the OD was convinced there was an opportunity to use the southern end of the lake for racing. However, by the time racing was due to start, conditions were more suited to using the north end of the lake.

The Flying 15s were the first fleet to have a general recall, but were much more cautious 2nd time around! As the wind swung to and fro during the race, Sale Fell may have influenced some strange wind effects, or possibly downdraughts on some legs of the course.

The better wind strength led to good planing conditions, and a few capsizes.