Bassenthwaite SC  has kindly agreed to host the 2023 Flying Fifteen Classic & Silver Nationals as part of their famous Bass Week, held in August each year. The Championship will be held over the first weekend of the event, 5^th & 6^th August, with boats and crews welcome to stay on for the rest of the week and enjoy fantastic sailing and racing on one of the country’s most beautiful lakes.

Bassenthwaite Lake is technically the only ‘lake’ in the Lake District and situated just north of the town of Keswick, with superb access to the club from the M6 motorway and the A66, which runs past the club, which is situated at the northern end of the lake. Bassenthwaite is around 4 miles long and almost a mile wide and its use is restricted solely to boats from the sailing club, giving clear water and plenty of space amidst stunning scenery.

If you haven’t been to Bass Week before, or even to the club, the club sits in its own grounds in the little hamlet of Dubwath. There is plenty of space for boats and the club can accommodate tents, caravans and motorhomes. The clubhouse is in an elevated position overlooking the lake, where sailors and friends can enjoy a drink from the bar as well as hot drinks, breakfasts and sandwiches provided by the club’s hard-working catering team. For Bass Week, the club also has fish & chips and other catering vans which visit on different nights.

On the first weekend, the club hosts the Commodore’s Reception on the Saturday night, with drinks and dancing to get the party going. If you stay for the rest of the week, other social events are also arranged.
For those wishing to stay on after the championship weekend, the beauty of Bass Week is that each day has its own series, so you can sail or not, as you wish, without losing out. Many visitors mix sailing with visiting the local area and use the club as their base for the week. You can choose what you want to do when you book your entry and whether you want accommodation on site. You can, of course, choose to stay off-site and there are many hotels, pubs and other accommodation in the area to choose from. The club opens booking for the event a few weeks before and details will be posted on the FF Facebook page. Searching ‘Bass Week 2023’ should find the website – but you may be taken first to a fishing competition, so keep trying!

The club has a healthy fleet of Fifteens across all fleets, so you will find some good competition, whatever level of boat you sail. The club will consider splitting the Fifteen fleet away from the rest of the Bass Week racing if numbers allow, which will improve the event even further. For gold fleet sailors with older boats, another advantage of this date is that it will not clash with gold fleet events and championships, so get the dust covers off and come and join us.

So, put 5^th/6^th August 2023 in your diary and we look forward to seeing you there. For further information, contact Graham Lamond on [email protected]