CHALLENGING conditions greeted the Windermere Class 17 Foot fleet competing in The Royal Windermere Yacht Club’s CJE Hall Tray and Iris Trophy this week.

With winds gusting to more than 30mph, race officer Steve Bewsher set a zig zag course for the first race with a first beat to Belle Grange before crossing the lake eventually beating up to Wray before a run back down to Adelaide.

Positions within the fleet changed constantly but in first place came ‘Liberty,' helmed by Colin Bentley with in second place ‘Falcon 11’ (Tony Rothwell), and third ‘Whisper’ (Gay Crossley), who also took first place among the classic fleet.

With the breeze increasing further, only five yachts started the second race, which took a similar pattern as the lead changed regularly.

There were less than 60 seconds between the first and last boats crossing the finish line with 'Atholl’ (Nick Aubrey) in first place, ‘Liberty’ (Colin Bentley) in second and ‘Pilgrim’ (David Milburn) third.

The first of September’s 17 Foot Windermere class races was held in the North lake in glorious sunshine and very light north easterly winds.

‘Liberty’ (guest helmed by Robert Richardson) took an early lead but after rounding Red Nab started a long slow run down to Hen Holme before losing the breeze and ‘Falcon II’ (Tony Rothwell) stole in to win it, with‘Liberty’ in second place and ‘Whisper’ (Gay Crossley) third and first classic.

The Flying Fifteens race was very close to the first mark but as the westerly wind picked up, the fleet split with three taking the lead.

‘Carbon Footprint’ (Phil Snewin) led from then on, followed by ‘Funny Enuff’ (John Atkinson) and ‘No Illusions’ (John Walter), with the final result being ‘Carbon Footprint’ in first place, a fine catch up by ‘Niffty’ (Nigel Tullett) coming second and ‘Funny Enuff’ third.

The previous week's 'Race Week’ saw the best and worst of Windermere’s late summer weather, with glorious sunshine and good southerly breezes then grey skies and rain bouncing off the water.

‘Chameleon’ stole the show helmed by Nigel Tullett, with ‘Whisper’ (Gay Crossley) showing impressive performances among the classics.

The first of the recent dinghy races was held in very strong winds in the south lake which gave the RS100s a fine performance.

Robert Richardson took first place with father John second and Gavin Tullett in his laser came third, and the second race saw the same top three finishing in the same order.

The third dinghy race, the Commodore’s Prize, was held in better conditions in the north lake.

‘Smarties,’ a GP14 helmed by Keith Owen and crewed by Kathryn Moss, reached the windward mark first but the quicker RS100 (John Richardson) pulled ahead downwind.

However, Nigel Hutchinson in his Solo ‘UltraSONIC’ won the race on handicap, followed by ‘Smarties’ in second, then Mark Hillman in a laser in third, while ‘UltraSONIC’s excellent season’s performance won Nigel Hutchinson the Commodore’s Prize.

Meanwhile in Ireland, RWYC members Richard Rigg and Nathan Batchelor led the Irish national Flying Fifteens’ race and were running second in the world championships, while former World Champions Steve Goacher and Tim Harper were lying fourth in the World Championships, which are continuing through this week.