150 Celebration Race Day, as reported in the Westmorland Gazette 24 June 2010.
The Royal Windermere Yacht Club celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding with an attempt to race all its boats together on Saturday.
The Seventeen Foot Fleet had 22 yachts on the start line for the Caprice and Windermere Soling Salvers races. Many owners had made an effort to be there, especially Michael Hopkinson who brought along his “gaff rigged” 100 year old seventeen footer; a Windermere Nineteen footer made the journey from Salcombe to compete. She is (as far as we know) the only remaining one of her class. Ian Frith was back for the first time in a long time with Deva, one of the oldest Seventeen footers in the fleet. Senior Past Commodore, Alan Thompson who is 89 next birthday sailed in Capella, his previously owned yacht, he sailed with the heart of a lion and finished a remarkable 11th overall. The race was won by Phil Evans in Chameleon from Graham Murray in Fathom, the Classic fleet winner was Nick Aubrey in Athol.
Thirteen Flying 15s started on the original Henholme line with a long beat up to White Cross Bay with Nigel and Jean Tullett in Kiffs reaching the mark first followed by a group consisting of David Brockbank & Rob in Five, Bev Armer & Roger Waddington in Cavalier, Carole & Dave Berry in Fftse. The race zig-zagged back to Henholme with an, at times, 'exciting' reach to Adelaide. Kiffs unfortunately rounded Henholme mark the wrong way and later retired, leaving Five to lead the rest of the race to the finish. There was a good race for the remaining positions with John Atkinson & Elizabeth Moreton in Funny Enuff finishing second and Cavalier third.
The windy weather reduced the size of the dinghy fleet, already depleted by holidays and some members sailing in other fleets, so five GP14s and six RS400s took to the water, which was extremely choppy due to the wash thrown up by the massed ranks of Yacht Club boats before the start. The wind which was gusting hard which caused Mike Hynes and Isabel Gordon in Demi-Sec to capsize. They were soon righted and carried on, but their exploits caused a rethink in the Theobald boat which returned to port. In the conditions, it was a long course, but Simon and Paula McVey sailing Short and Sweet rounded Belle Grange mark in the lead followed by Nigel and Moya Hutchinson in Supersonic. At this point Mike Hynes sailed for the wrong mark. His error was pointed out by his crew at which point Mike threw in a tack, capsized and threw in the towel. Spinnakers were not needed as the boats flew to Adelaide and back to FBA. On the second beat the wind increased and the Hutchinson boat followed Hynes back to the Club, leaving Simon McVey being followed by cousin Pat sailing Layla with Ken Jones.
In the RS fleet, John Richardson led from start to finish, followed by John Whalley and Paul Legge second and third. The others retired after capsizing, some with rig damage.
An enjoyable, and at times exciting, afternoon's racing was had by all, followed by an excellent buffet afterwards, enjoyed by nearly 150 members and their friends.