Other sports might call it “a game of two halves” but Fleetwood, instead, decided to provide two very different sailing conditions on each of the days for the RG65 skippers that had travelled far and wide to visit!!
The nice steady breeze that greeted the Friday afternoon arrivals lulled everyone into a false sense of security as to what would happen for the rest of the weekend…..
Saturday started with lots of sun but light winds from the Clubhouse corner (East) and during the day moved generally to the worst direction for Fleetwood i.e. an “over the Care Home” SSE direction. Unfortunately, this was not a nice steady move but complete with regular shifts of +/-80 degrees, huge holes in the wind, and gusts that would flatten any rig and very unusually for Fleetwood a weed problem. This caused problems for the skippers with huge gains and losses throughout the races with no place being “safe”. The race team were also struggling trying to set upwind legs resulting in a number of changes of courses, start lines, course lengths etc. were needed during the day.
Alan Bennett (68) was quickest out of the blocks with his Ivy in the morning session with two quick wins followed by two second places seeming almost immune to the occasional weed issue. Nearly everyone else suffered from a weed issue during one or two races in the morning that proved, if you got weeded, and had a hole in the wind when trying to get to the bank you could easily give 1/3 of the lake away trying to clear it. As a result, during the morning SEVEN other skippers had a top three result in the morning but only Vernon Appleton (Ivy, 73) and John Berry (Uno, 97) managing the top step.
Unfortunately, Jim La Roche’s new hull developed a severe leak during the first race that retired him and put him out for the rest of the day despite his full efforts to repair it.  After lunch the weed problem continued to get worse with even the previously almost weed free Alan getting multiple issues per race. As a result Chris Elliot (Ivy, 74), Olly Murray (Scurry, 67), Vernon Appleton (Ivy, 73), Bill Culshaw (Ivy, 21) and John Tushingham (Ivy, 51) all set off in pursuit of low scores to try and chase him down.  The weed problem continued to worsen as the day progressed and, with races seven and eight being nearly a pure weed lottery, by general agreement the racing was finished slightly early after the eighth race. It transpired that Alan’s early performance meant even Chris’ super consistent performance in the afternoon was not enough to fully close the gap but did give him second place overall and Olly had a couple of race wins in the afternoon to finish only 1 point behind Chris for third.
The next three places only had three points between them as well, keeping stress level high throughout the fleet.
After the prize giving many of the skippers adjourned for a well-deserved meal and libation.
Sunday dawned with the sort of conditions that make Fleetwood famous, it was rather greyer than Saturday and brightened as the day progressed (no rain though) but with much, much stronger, steadier almost straight down the lake breeze. This eased the course setting but also reducing the weed issue by being able to avoid the area most of the weed had blown into.
There were enough shifts to challenge the skippers on the beats and enough gusts to make rig choice and boat set up also paramount. The conditions also pushed boats hard and exposed any potential issues.  Alan Bennett (Ivy, 68) set off the same way he had the day before winning three of the four races before the coffee break with Chris Elliot (Ivy, 74), John Tushingham (Ivy, 51) and Bill Culshaw (Ivy, 21) all chasing hard. Jim La Roche in a borrowed boat (Ivy) was also in the mix until an electrical gremlin after a third place in Race three stopped him for a few races during the morning.
The next session up to lunch time was more of the same up front but highlighted the differences in boat speed between a “just right” set up that easily coped with the waves, gusts and could be tacked and “not quite right” settings that stopped in troughs and could be really difficult to tack with Alan recording a further three wins in this session. Damian Ackroyd (Smartie, 101) finding the slightly shorter keel on his boat not helping in the conditions and had other issues missing a few races during this session.
After the lunch break the gremlins really kicked in and the unluckiest skipper of the weekend, Jim La Roche had a second electrical gremlin but this one put him out for the rest of the day, Olly Murray (Scurry, 67) also called it day with electrical issues and then Chris had a radio issue and a subsequent rig break that also put him out. Vernon Appleton (Ivy, 73) and Damian also succumbed to gremlins early in this session. That left a hardy bunch of six skippers flying up and down the lake for the final five races. Young George Bennett (Uno, 71) continued to impress sailing and coping well with the conditions and recording a couple of 4th places during the day (to go with his 2nd and two 4th from the day before). Alan carried on in the same form from the morning despite the efforts from John, Bill, Bob Conner (Ivy, 14) and Alan Watkinson (Uno, 23) all of which got close (or even in front) of Alan at times but he had absolutely nailed his set up for his rig and watching his boat speed, against the higher pointing smaller rigs, had many of the spectators playing guessing games as the outcome of each beat.
At the end of the fourteen races with a WORST discard of a second place Alan had easily taken first place, John’s slightly more consistent afternoon gave him second place over Bill in a well desired third place.  Derek Priestley, fresh from his Croatian exploits arrived in time to present the prizes.