Long standing Fleetwood club member Fred Baker passed away on Wed 30th April after a long illness.

Fred grew up in Fleetwood and worked as foreman engineer for the trawler repair company  James Robertson. When the trawling industry closed in Fleetwood Fred set up a small workshop repairing cars etc.   In the 1990’s when the old wooden flagpole had rotted away and it looked like the club would not have one, I got a metal street lamp tube and Fred welded parts to it to make a new one. 

Fred joined the club in the 1970’s with the newly formed scale section, and was very interested in building trawlers and warships.  Later he became interested in scale sailing models and built several in his shed in his garden. 

In his younger fitter days Fred also joined in with the racing yachts, owning both a Mustang & a Laser, but after a while they became too fast for his legs, so he reverted to the more sedate schooners!!

In addition to his shed Fred had a metal workshop with all the equipment needed for model engineering, and was able to help members make metal parts for their models.

Fred helped the club by holding the position as Bosun for several years looking after the structure and managing the berths, lockers, and doorkeys.

Fred’s funeral will be at Carleton Crematorium on Friday 23 May at 11.00 am

Seven Vintage and 3 Classic yachts entered this year’s event. Teams of 2 were drawn at random during the Saturday briefing. The wind was light and generally from the SE, although the direction was tending to vary, making trimming difficult. Two heats were sailed before lunch. After lunch the wind was a little stronger and form the NW. Some spinnakers now appeared. Three more heats were sailed leaving 4 for Sunday.

On Saturday evening a table was booked at the North Euston Hotel for those skippers and officials wishing to partake.

Sunday morning sailing conditions were initially similar to Saturday then finally stronger and from the NW.

RESULTS

Wayne Stobbs           “Skylon” (Vintage)                Gosport                   33points

Alan & David Bell      “Tempest” (Vintage)             Fleetwood               30

David Mathers &      “Black Prince” (Classic)          Hampton Court       29

David Geldard 

Derek Priestley         “Sallie” (Vintage)                   Fleetwood                24

Tony Wilson             “Ballerina” (Vintage)              Fleetwood                23

Olly Murray              “Porpoise” (Vintage)              Fleetwood                21

Peter Whiteside        “Bosun’s Mate” (Vintage)      Fleetwood                20.5

Derek Morland        “WaZp” (Vintage)                    Gosport                    20

Peter Iles                 “Secsea” (Classic)                    Fleetwood                 14.5

Eric Austwick          “Willie Wombat” (Classic)        Fleetwood                 10

Trophies were awarded as follows:

Walter Jones Memorial Trophy    1st Vintage            Wayne Stobbs

Hayes Trophy                               2nd Vintage          Alan & David Bell

Pearson Trophy                            1st Classic             David Mathers & David Geldard

Mayoral Cup                                2nd Classic            Peter Iles

1st Team of Two                         Wayne Stobbs & Derek Morland        53 points

Thanks are due to the Mates on the opposite banks:

Jim, Kevin, Steve, Harry, Julie, Jeanette and Sharon 

and our Officials: Helen & Ann (Scorers), Bob (Starter)              

Glorious day of sailing sailing in mid to top end of A Rig and sunshine

The evening session:

1st Mark Rose (4 Alioth) 6 wins

2nd Olly Murray (67 Dead Reckoning) 2 wins

3rd Peter Iles (78 Britpop)

4th Harry Balderson (83 Sedici)

5th Alan Smith (99 Widget)

6th Eric Austwick (15 Sedici)

Afternoon sailing:

1st Eric Austwick (15 Sedici)

2nd Derek Priestley (67 Dead Reckoning)

3rd Harry Balderson (83 Sedici)

4th Peter Guest (fantasia)

5th Alan Smith (Widget )

Apart from the pleasant sunshine, sailing conditions were terrible, with the light breeze changing direction every few minutes, between NE and SE and sometimes there was no breeze at all. There were 8 yachts entered initially, but one had to drop out during the first heat, due to severe leakage and another dropped out after the second heat. The remaining 6 skippers decided to carry on and eventually the schedule was completed. 

Results

1st    Peter Iles                                     23 points

2nd   Susanne Lewis                            14.5

3rd    Olly Murray & Scarlet                 14

4th    Tony Wilson                                 10.5

5th    Alan Crawforth                              8

6th    Damian Ackroyd & Eric Austwick  5

7th    Peter Guest                                    3 (withdrawn)

8th    Derek Priestley                               0 (withdrawn)

A great nights sailing, very good sailing conditions down the lake