THERE were unexpectedly summery conditions for the start of the Royal Windermere Yacht Club's Flying Fifteen summer season on Saturday.
A zigzag North lake course saw Andrew Kirk and Litton Ledger in Zephyr first round the Rayrigg windward mark, closely followed by Frank Kelly and Doug Douglas in Fiscal Folly.
After the spinnaker leg to Claife boats took very different courses in search of a favourable wind shift, with Fiscal Folly coming through to lead the fleet round the Millerground mark.
Flat brought boats together again, and over the second lap Zephyr regaining the lead, with Michael and Jonathan Bentley in Folly working their way through to second at Millerground. They then moved into the lead and held off strong challenges from Zephyr until the finish.
On Monday, fluctuating breezes at Belle Grange and Swans Nest delayed some boats, but Michael Bentley and David Hawkes in Folly found the best line and held the lead over the two laps in increasingly gusty conditions.
Graham Murray and Paul Haslam in Fever kept up the pressure all through the race but remained in second place, with Philip and David Snewin in Freyja third giving Folly a commanding start to the new season.
Results: Saturday: 1 M. & J. Bentley, Folly; 2 A. Kirk & L. Ledger, Zephyr; 3 F. Kelly & D. Douglas, Fiscal Folly.
Monday: 1 M. Bentley & D. Hawkes, Folly; 2 G. Murray & P. Haslam, Fever; 3 P. & D. Snewin, Freyja.
n THE Spring Series in April was won narrowly by Terry Tinn's Flying Ferret with Roger Brown's Freebooter II a close second.
CONDITIONS could not have been better for Killington Windsurfers' first races of the season. A force 3 north-easterly increased steadily throughout the evening to a force 4 and last year's league champion John Pawson took a commanding lead to win the first race.
Martin Chapman showed the benefits of training throughout the winter and came through to third position.
Sean Lockwood fought for the lead in race two and was strongly challenged by Phil Atherton but managed to keep him at bay.
The third race saw Lockwood and Pawson colliding on the third and second last buoys resulting in them both getting icy dips into the lake.
Overall result: 1 Lockwood, 2 Pawson, 3 Atherton.
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