ALMOST perfect conditions greeted the Royal Windermere Yacht Club’s Windermere Class 17 foot fleet for their last race of the season in the north lake at the weekend.

‘Pilgrim,’ helmed by Dave Milburn, made a good start and led to the top mark, closely followed by ‘Water Witch’ (Richard Broughton).

But they lost the breeze and ‘Mistral’ (Robert Slack) closed in fast until ‘Pilgrim’ managed to find the breeze again and pulled away as the fleet split trying to make the most of the changeable south easterly conditions.

‘Liberty’ (Colin Bentley), staying towards the middle of the lake, engaged in close competition with ‘Water Witch’ and ‘Mistral’ whilst classic 17 Footer ‘Whisper’ (Gay Crossley) and ‘Nepenthe’ (Miles Logie) opted to stay towards the east shore.

But ‘Pilgrim’ held on to win with ‘Liberty’ second and ‘Water Witch’ third and winner of the classic fleet category followed by ‘Whisper’ with ‘Nepenthe’ in third.

With another exciting season of racing now coming to a close, the overall results for the Windermere 17 Footers see ‘Pilgrim’ in first, second ‘Chameleon’ (Nigel Tullett) and third ‘Falcon II’ (Tony Rothwell).

Among the classics, first came ‘Atholl’ (Nick Aubrey), second ‘Whisper’ and third ‘Water Witch’.

Sunday’s racing for the dinghies and the Flying Fifteens was cancelled owing to lack of wind.