Please select your home edition
Edition
Maritimo 2023 S-Series LEADERBOARD

13th Great North Asymmetric Challenge at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

by Bass Press 23 Sep 13:51 UTC 21-22 September 2024

Sixty-nine boats from as far afield as Scotland, Wales and the South Coast landed on Bassenthwaite's sunny shores for the 13th Great North Asymmetric Challenge, sponsored once again by Trident UK.

Weather forecasts were spot on, the last sunny weekend of 2024 and breeze from the northeast, meaning a leeward gate near the club shoreline offering good spectating for the parents and grandparents, which turned into high drama entertainment in Sunday's building breeze!

Twenty-seven RS200s topped the fleet trumps, with good numbers of RS400s, RS Fevas and Laser 2000s. It was encouraging to see three ISOs join the GNAC for the first time, two of which were new mark two's, built locally by Alex and his team at Ginger Boats.

True to Saturday's forecast, sunny skies and fairly stable north easterly force 3-4 (actually a little more than forecast) was all the ingredients OD Robin Dawson and his crack team of lap counters needed to run four high-octane, back-to-back races on an average lap course with a leeward gate helping keep the carnage to a minimum. Overnight the visiting RS200s were looking strong, with little between Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst (Beaver SC) and Alistair and Helen Norris (LLSC/ RW Bay). Also in contention, but a few points adrift, was Bass members Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman sailing an RS400 and Paul and Jude Allen sailing a 59er.

On Saturday evening the second shift of volunteers arrived at the galley to serve 130 portions of pie in two stints. Soon after the third shift arrived to clean 130 plates, a super effort by 15ish Bass volunteers. Saturday evenings entertainment included live music and was fuelled by toffee vodka...

Sunday's wind forecast had improved overnight, however the morning dawned lighter than forecast. As the breeze danced around and refused to settle, some thought it may not happen. The Bates headed 1.5 miles up the lake, finding a building breeze from the favourable southerly direction. This offered visitors fine views of Scarness Bay and Skiddaw Mountain as they sailed gently to the start line. As the last few boats arrived, the breeze kicked in from the NE and all sixty-nine boats headed back to the bay. By the time the racecourse was quickly reset back to something similar to Saturday's, the breeze had built to a solid F4 with some punchy gusts. Due to the small postponement, time was cracking on and two races followed. The breeze was, at times, full on which resulted in many capsizes and a few bumps as boats blasted downwind into the leeward gates. After two races, weary sailors returned to shore with lot's of interest in who had won. With so many variables in such a mixed fleet, some thought the RS400s would dominate given the days planning conditions.

So... after six races with five to count, sailing an RS200, Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst were crowned 2024 GNAC champions, counting just 11 points from five races. An incredible scoreline in fleet of sixty-nine. In 2nd place, also sailing an RS200, Alistair and Helen Norris counted 23 points, beating Paul and Jude Allen sailing a 59er into 3rd on countback. 1st RS400 and 5th overall was Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman. Travelling 370 miles from Poole YC, 1st ISO was Rob Howlet and Henry Collins in 8th overall. Paul and Sharon Freeland finished 11th overall and 1st 2000. And last but not least, Laia and Aggie Priestley finished 30th overall and 1st RS Feva, an incredible result given the winds and the quality of the fleet.

A big thanks to the team at Trident UK for generously sponsoring once again. And to sign off this years GNAC report, a massive thanks to Red Seal Rescue who once again kept us all safe in yet another breezy event at Bass. Results and photographs by William Carruthers can be found here.

Related Articles

RS400 Trident UK Northern Tour at Bass
During the Great Northern Asymmetric Challenge 20 RS400s gathered for the last leg of the 2024 Trident UK Northern Tour at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club over the weekend of 21/22 May. Posted on 24 Sep
Flying 15 Northern Championship at Bass
Charles and Charlie Apthorp from Hailing Island win the trophy An excellent turnout of 50 boats for the Flying 15 Northern Championship, after high winds over the last couple of days, were greeted with plenty of sunshine and a mirror like lake, with a forecast of F1 from the east. Posted on 9 Sep
Glorious Race Weeks
Bumper participation is an indicator for the health of sailing It would be so easy to write about the Olympics and America's Cup this week in my newsletter but, in all honesty, we're writing and talking enough about those on Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com already. Instead let's focus on Race Weeks. Posted on 3 Sep
Phantom Northern Super Series event at Bass
'A sun-filled day with WSW F4' was an understatement A select group of nine Phantom sailors contested the Northern Super Series event at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club on 10-11 August. Posted on 13 Aug
Craftinsure Bass Week 2024
A total of 220 entries from 42 club for the windiest edition in recent memory A total of 220 entries from 42 sailing clubs hit the initially cloudy and later sunny shores of Costa Del Bassenthwaite for what will be remembered as the windiest Craftinsure Bass Week in recent memory. Posted on 12 Aug
Will you be the 200th Craftinsure Bass Week entry?
Currently 199 boats are entered We are just days away from the start of Craftinsure Bass Week 2024. Currently 199 boats are entered, will you be the 200th? The ILCAs are top of the entry list, with 34 boats entered. Posted on 30 Jul
NSSA National Youth Regatta overall
180 boats, all supervised by team managers with no parents staying on site The 2024 National School Sailing Association annual regatta was held at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club on 22-26 July. After months of preparation, boat moving and grounds prep, 208 competitors sailing 180 boats arrived on Sunday. Posted on 27 Jul
NSSA National Youth Regatta begins
Bassenthwaite's grounds are jam packed, with 210 competitors and 50ish volunteers It's all hands on deck at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club, as the 2024 NSSA National Youth Regatta starts today (Monday 22nd July 2024). The club's grounds are jam packed, with 210 competitors, team managers and 50ish club volunteers . Posted on 22 Jul
Catapults at Bassenthwaite
The class returned to one of its favourite venues The Catapult fleet returned to one of its favourite venues, Bassenthwaite Sailing Club, to take part in a shared event with the Mirror Northerns and the various club fleets over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend (4-6 May). Posted on 31 May
GP14 Northern Area Championship at Bassenthwaite
A high-quality fleet warm up for the Worlds at the picturesque venue With the Allen GP14 World Championship this August, over 50 GP's competed on both sides of the Irish Sea. Posted on 21 May
Maritimo 2023 M600 FOOTERSavvy Navvy 2024