A FINE effort by the Royal Windermere Yacht Club team gave them a creditable sixth place in the British Keelboat League National Final.

The event, which was hosted by the Royal Thames Yacht Club at Queen Mary Reservoir, saw each team sail a fleet of eight new RS21 keelboats on a rotation basis over three days.

In testing conditions, the Royal Windermere team of Nick Heather, Nigel Tullett, Gavin Tullett and Robert Richardson, who had successfully come through a qualifying event on Ullswater in June had been in the top four for most of the event but were just edged out on in the closely fought final races.

Another Royal Windermere sailor, Harry Frith, was also competing in the event, his Newcastle University Academy team finishing seventh.

Back on Windermere, the Flying Fifteens called off their race on Sunday due to inclement weather, but the cruisers' last inter-club race of the season went ahead.

On Saturday with a good breeze and lovely sunshine, 'Slippery When Wet, helmed by Craig and Jules Allwood, took first place, with the Royal Windermere’s ‘Va Va Voom’ fourth and ‘Heart Beat’ fifth.

On Sunday, conditions were considerably more challenging but ‘Slippery When Wet’ won both races and the weekend ‘first.’

Sunday also saw the dinghies out in challenging conditions.

In the first race John Richardson was off to his customary quick start in his RS100 only to capsize at the first windward mark and completely wrap his mainsheet around the buoy.

Phil Hubbard, sailing his Devoti D1, took advantage to cross the line first, but second placed John Pawson in his GP14 won after the handicap was applied with Pat McVey third.

The second race in more moderate conditions saw Richardson finish first followed by Hubbard, though after handicaps were applied, Pawson was again declared the winner with Richardson second and McVey third.