It was a superb weekend to open the competition on Bassenthwaite Lake where 130 boats with crews from throughout the UK had gathered for the annual regatta.

The weather was warm and sunny and the wind constant, although perhaps too light for some of the young and athletic sailors.

A four race series started the nine day Regatta with its principal sponsor, Lakes Distillery. Entrants came from as far afield as Loch Venacher in the north and Ely in the south.

They were divided into ten fleets each starting two minutes behind the next.

Local crews didn’t appear at the top of the leader board in many of the fleets in this initial series.

However, the GP14’s were an exception with Paul and Vicky Bowmer (Keswick) putting in a superb performance to leave more regular winners of their class in the supporting positions.

Phil and Naomi Smith (ex Harrington) took the RS200 class with Robin and Erin Dawson (Cockermouth) in second place.

The most unexpected result came when Ant Woodyear (Braithwaite) crewed by Jo van Lechterop (Carlisle) took victory in the Slow Handicap fleet by the closest of margins.

Four boats in this large grouping finished on equal points but the local crew posted the best series of results from the individual races.

Nine further races are being held during this week before the final series of four races takes place this coming weekend.