The splendid new trophy which Paul and Mandy generously donated will grace a new household this year - Congratulations JuJu - 2020 Windermere Interclub Champions.

Congratulations as well to both Volante and previous champions Owasippe, who share joint second position.

This was an unusual interclub, with rabbit starts and race management done over SMS and VHF, but I don't think it was any the less for that, and I was realy pleased to see such a great turnout and great sportsmanship and sportwomanship from all competitors.

The wind was typically confusing but I didn't hear a single cross word on the lake (admittedly I may have been too far behind though!)

Thanks for participating - and to the three boats that had to pull out because of the government regulations changing yesterday - we missed you!

Finally, here are some pictures I took.

* Thanks to SC1 for pointing out that I had entered 12:14:33 as their finish time when they had reported 12:44:33.

Thanks to Mandy and Paul Hibbert, the winner of Saturday's Inter-Club competition will receive this beautiful trophy. The sharp-eyed will notice that both of the names inscribed so far are members of the LDBC, and Paul and Mandy are racing Owassipe on Saturday, so the gauntlet is thrown!

Latest reports are that there are four entries from RWYC, so there should be a good sized fleet competing for the trophy on Saturday. With everything that's happening we're fortunate to be able to race on the lake, so please enjoy this last race of the summer series, and don't forget to practice covid security! 

See below for more details ...

We have invited the other yacht clubs on the lake to an inter-club championship on Saturday 17th. We usually hold these over two days with a social on the first evening - but obviously we'll have to adapt this year. So we propose just a single day of racing, but we'll try to run 3 (shorter) races wind permitting.

We're proposing to use the rabbit start system we've been using all season, and the finish will be self-timed. So it will hopefully be the friendliest inter-club for a while. There's a reminder of how these operate below.

Owassipe have had a fantastic trophy made, which at the moment bears just two names, both from LDBC! Will the cup change hands?

Another day of wild conditions on Windermere - worthy of the Winter Series! 

1st Greyhound

2nd Deo confidimus

3rd Ridiculous

All boats used spinnakers at least once.

We will hold the last Pursuit Race of 2020 this Saturday. We'll use the "no spinnaker" adjustment again so skippers will recieve a new SMS with their yacht's start time with and without a spinnaker.

Hopefully we'll have a good turnout - the Pursuits have been popular this year. Look forward to seeing you on Saturday :-)

Most yachts started the first of two planned races with reefed mainsails in 20kt winds which were gusting 35, and battling some challenging conditions.

The course was a single lap of 9P, 17P, 7P, 17P finishing between Mark 4 and Bark Bank Jetty. The race plan was to see how the first race went and then use either 9 or 7 for the second race depending on how quickly the first race went!

But the wind God(s?) had other plans. The first race took over two hours - the wind dropping but suddenly gusting and circling for the rest of the day. Very unusual conditions, frustrating, but still lovely to be out on Lake Windermere for the afternoon sailing with friends.

This race brings us to the end of September. We started the summer series in July unsure of whether we'd be able to manage more than a few races.  We're thinking of holding a final pursuit race next weekend, and an inter-club in Mid-October if there's enough interest.

This coming Saturday we will hold two back to back Rabbit Races as a stand-alone competition for one of the Cups.

Please note the slightly earlier 1st warning signal will be 1255.

After a spate of Pursuit Races we're having another Rabbit Series race this Saturday. 1st warning signal is 1325. The weather forecast looks fine - hope to see you on the water!

Results

Also, here are the results with a 2% "no spinnaker" allowance

2% is used in a few handicapping schemes - we're considering "dual scoring" next season - the "official" result and a "club" result. As you can see, today Cor Baby and Juju would have changed places, but the other boats stay in the same order.

Saturday's winds were more patchy than forecast. We tried the 4 min allowance for no spinnaker - the three yachts flying spinnakers took the first three positions, however this only happened in the last five minutes, so the race overall felt much closer.

Results:

1st Juju

2nd Magic Touch

3rd Greyhound

4th Mariska

5th Deo confidimus

The wind forecast looks good for some of the heavier boats this weekend, and so we have decided to try an experiment.

Juju, Magic Touch, and Greyhound are all sailing consistently, and all use spinnakers in nearly every race. With their agreement, we are going to allow a "no spinnaker" adjustment for this race. The intention is to try to bring some of the yachts not flying spinnakers into contention at the end of the race - pursuit races are great for this experiment as everyone can see what's going on as the race progresses.

For this race yachts that will not fly a spinnaker can start four minutes earlier than their published start time.

Hopefully this will give us some data to assess how to implement a no spinnaker adjustment for next summer's purusit races. We may try a second pursuit race experiment on a very light wind day. 

The self-policed start line worked well again. Each skipper is sent their start time and the time they'll be racing for .. all yachts finish together at 15:45:00.

Saturday's winds weren't as high as forecast, but there was enough to get the heavier boats moving.

Results:

1st= Juju & Greyhound

3rd Deo confidimus

4th Mariska

5th Alchemy

6th Magic Touch

Start times have been sent by SMS to all boats entered in the Summer Series. All yachts finish at the same time in a pursuit race - Saturday's race will finish at 15:45

The self-policing start line worked fine in the last pursuit race so this will be the same. It's the skipper's job to make sure that his/her yacht doesn't cross the line before their specified starting time. (If you are across the line just dip back behind it so you can cross it again properly.)

If you'd like to join there's still time - just complete the summer series online entry form to confirm insurance etc.

Look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday- the wind looks likely to be Westerly so we will be in the North Lake again I expect, and if they're in the low teens we'll do a longer zig-zag type course. 

Start line and course details will be send over SMS on Saturday around 1300.

Our rabbit series resumed with race 5 in a good Northerly. Thanks to Greyhound for being rabbit and getting the race started.

The WCA's committee recently decided to proceed with plans to hold the One Design Championships and Winter Series with appropriate changes to facilitate social distancing and make the event as safe as possible.

After consulting the Lake Wardens regarding protocols for launching and recovery on race days we have been advised that SLDC have decided that events involving 30 or more people will not be allowed on Council property.

Given the numbers of dry sailors launching, and crews using tenders from Ferry Nab to access floating moorings, there are significantly more than 30 people around the jetties on race days. Of course they are not generally within 2 metres of one another, however government guidelines for organised events place an upper limit of 30 on an event. Where there is no single point of concentration (as in the Summer Series for example) this hasn't caused an issue. It is obviously different for the Winter Series and is something we therefore need to be cognisant of. We have proposed starting later to allow for more time to launch etc, but the Council also have to consider other users of the jetties, car park, and Dan's Shack.

SLDC have said they will review the decision on a monthly basis, and we will engage to understand whether this is something we can work within by trying to use other launching venues, but at the moment we are unsure as to whether we will be able to proceed.

Despite a few fairly intense showers before the start Sunday turned out to be a good afternoon for sailing. Not as windy as forecast or as some of us might have preferred, but the consensus was an enjoyable afternoon's racing.

The self-policed start line seems to work really well for pursuit races - we might keep it when/if everything returns to normal.

Results:

1st place Juju

2nd place Volante

3rd place Greyhound

4th place Alchemy

5th place Deo confidimus

6th place Pipistrelle

Start times will be have been sent by SMS to all boats entered in the Summer Series. All yachts finish at the same time in a pursuit race - Sunday's race will finish at 15:45

The self-policing start line worked fine in the last pursuit race so this will be the same. It's the skipper's job to make sure that his/her yacht doesn't cross the line before their specified starting time. (If you are across the line just dip back behind it so you can cross it again properly.)

If you'd like to join there's still time - just complete the summer series online entry form to confirm insurance etc.

Look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday - the wind looks likely to be Westerly so we will be in the North Lake again I expect. It also looks like we might have enough breeze to move some of the heavier boats! Start line and course details will be send over SMS on Sunday AM.

Quite a difficult race in the wind conditions. The longish course meant we only did one lap but the fleet seemed to spread out and converge as we went around. Two retirements, six boats finishing. No problems with the starts today so well done all. One lesson from the day was that boats need to have working VHF for this format of racing. Hopefully everyone had fun even in the frustrating wind conditions - as Juju kindly said - "Nice to be on the water in the sun." Hear hear!

The sailing committee decided to make this a trophy race, and (temporarily?) commandeered the WCA Yorkshire Building Society Trophy as the Bunny Cup for the occasion. Conditions were not dissimilar from the first race and we started near mark 14. Although Greyhound had a near perfect start some of the others crossed ahead of the rabbit and had to come back to dip the start line. Two boats didn't manage this and were told to continue the course (with a 5 min time penalty which seemed fair).

So, congratulations to William and crew on Greyhound as deserving winners of the 2020 Bunny Cup. The on-the-water race was close between Roxy, Pipistrelle and Deo confidimus. (Roxy, a guest from WMV, is a Viko 21, and Juju is a J24.)

Standby for details of the next race .....

Nine boats have completed the online entry form so far. Four took part in the first race, with Cor Baby taking the honours and pipping Magic Touch by 2 minutes and 31 seconds on corrected time after a nominal 90 minute race.

The start turned out to be harder to execute than anticipated thanks to the shifting wind but a sporting spirit saw everyone get away without any issues.

There was a moment of excitement on Sunday morning when it looked like Deo confidimus had managed to be less than 5 minutes behind Cor Baby on corrected time - it turned out not to be the case - the Sailing Sec had missed the first digit of Cor Baby's handicap giving her a punishing 0.917! The dastardly scheme didn't go unnoticed though and has been rectified above.

We plan to take advantage of the decent forecast for Saturday and begin August with Race #2. Magic Touch has offered to play the role of rabbit. We hope you can join us - the RNLI collection bucket is no longer empty so our messing about on boats is for a good cause too.

The RYA has published a simplified gate start procedure to allow for handicap races without the need for a committee boat and race management team. By its nature this is informal, fun racing but the RRS will still apply provided a NoR and SIs have been published.

The WCA will use this model as the basis for an ad-hoc race series we're calling the "Run-Rabbit" series in honour of the name the RYA gave to what is usually called the pathfinder boat in normal gate starts.

The WCA committee has decided to make this series free of charge to encourage sailing and racing following the unprecedented events of this year.

The Notice of Race is available on the 2020 Summer Series Page, where the Schedule of Races, Sailing Instructions and other information will also be maintained.

Entry is open to cruiser/racing yachts in good standing with the WCA, RWYC, LDBC, WMV, Low Wood Bay Marina, & Maiden Marine Marina. Other entries may be accepted at the discretion of the WCA Sailing Secretary.

Eligible boats can apply for entry by completing the online Race Entry Form.

Please note: -

• Venue, course details and other race management will be provided by SMS to entrant's registered mobile.
• On-the-water race management will be via VHF CH08.
• There will not be any visual signals. Sound signals will be made by the 'rabbit.'
• For any pedants, timings are taken from the start of the sound signal.
• The 'rabbit' will sail close-hauled on port.
• Competitors start by sailing on starboard between the mark and the stern of the 'rabbit' as ther gate opens up. You can not call 'starboard' to the 'rabbit' on pain of a special prize being awarded.
• The 'rabbit' will tack to starboard and join the race.
• Participants self-time when they cross the finish line after the correct number of laps, and report time when requested over VHF. Results will be provided later over Zoom call with favourite tipple and posted online.

We have decided to run a shake down pursuit race on Saturday, and attempt the social sail afterwards. Everyone is welcome - please come along if you can. We will have to rely on VHF to coordinate. Plan is to congregate before 1330 off Brockhole pier in the N Lake. We will give starting times and course then.

Members should have received an SMS message with details. Please RSVP to the follow-up SMS.

Hope to see as many as possible - best wishes WCA Committee.

The WCA Committee has been meeting over Zoom to prepare for a sensible and respectful return to summer activity.

We are planning to return to summer sailing with modified pursuit races first. These will not have a committee boat and the start line will be the projection across the lake of either the Bark Barn Jetty or Brockhole pier in the North Lake, or Storrs Hall Pier in the South Lake.

Rather than rafting up after the first of these we're considering having a club sail-by : essentially boats under engine only sail in a loop so crews can see each other and say hello etc. All from a safe distance, but a nice way to see each other after lockdown. 

The pursuit race itself is intended to be a bit of fun and a chance to shake off the cobwebs. For the first we may give start times depending on length rather than handicap. If you're over the line early just loop back round.

We're liaising with the RYA and Lake Wardens to make this activity as low-impact and respectful of others' committments as we can. The biggest impacts will be in five areas: -

i) crew arrangements : these should comply with the government's guidance concerning social groupings and social distance. So ideally keep 1m apart and restrict to two households (plus anyone social-bubbling with either of those households). It probably makse sense to stick to assigned roles. Skippers are responsible for whether their crews must wear masks or other PPE as appropriate. Skipper's should make sure that any crew changes comply with government guidance on social distancing, and be able to provide social tracing information if required.

ii) man (or woman) overboard protocol : Obviously safety is the primary concern and if necessary the normal ugrency protocols will apply, but in less urgent cases skippers should expect to retrieve their own crews whenever possible. To this end we will require a boarding ladder to be available as part of the required equipment for racing.

iii) We will also require a functioning VHF radio to be carried.

iv) Post-racing social : We understand that the BoatHouse is reopening but will require table bookings and table service. A table can be booked per boat and we are liaising with the BoatHouse about how those who would like to do so may book for after a race. We also understand that the Boathouse may be offering takeaways which can be taken back to the boat/car, so we may be able to organise something along those lines as well for those interested.

v) Ferry Nab : there are restrictions on the use of Ferry Nab jetties at the moment. Skippers should make sure they read the Lake Wardens' notices (on their facebook page).

We will send an update text and add more detail here as things firm up over the week. Feel free to email any of the ususal suspects if you want to come along : Times like these make us all appreciate the real value of friends and friendships - old members, and friends are welcome to participate in the pursuit race or the socially distanced social sailing loop afterwards!

With warnest wishes :-)

p.s. We'll plan to start the social looping around 1540 with the pursuit race ending 1530. Starts will be roughly the same as usual.

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