Sailing Secretary's report 3rd |December 2011

It seems a long time since the start of the season when there were concerns about the showers and whether the hot water would last until the last sailor had landed. The weather turned very pleasantly warm in April but the summer soon passed and June, July and August were less pleasant. September to November then surprised many again. However, judging by the number of glasses that we will be presenting later today, at least some people have had a successful racing season. I wrote in the year book that we would try out some changes to the scoring system for club series. So the high points scoring system was used for the Freezer and Spring Chicken Series. This achieved its objectives in that more people qualified in the series although there was little difference in the actual winners. The system was time consuming to maintain as the computers could not generate the scoring and it had to be largely input manually. We went back to a low points scoring system for the rest of the year.

Following feedback from some ex members, observation of what classes at other clubs were sailing and comments from current members, from late August we experimented with changing away from defined classes to classes self selected by defining the courses and allowing people to choose in which course configuration they wished to race. In practice it mainly resulted in the larger asymmetric boats sailing with the catamarans, but it also allowed novice sailors to join in the racing on smaller courses. Following complaints from some asymmetric and some catamaran sailors the catamarans and monohulls sailing the large windward / leeward course were redesignated as separate classes although to avoid too many small starts they are mostly sailing the same course and starting together. I then had further mild complaints from some that these classes had been split and that the participants had enjoyed having someone to race against which only goes to prove that it is impossible to please everyone.

It has been suggested that there should be guidance as to which boats should sail which course. Broadly catamarans with asymmetric and fast asymmetric monohulls sail the large windward / leeward course. Slower asymmetric monohulls sail the small windward / leeward course where they are joined by novice or slower nominally faster asymmetric monohulls. The large other course is mainly sailed by the former fast handicap but they are joined by catamarans who do not like windward / leeward courses such as Unicorns and Dart 18s and may eventually be joined by slower catamarans such as Dart 15s and Hobie 14s. These boats have all but disappeared from the club allegedly because the courses set were inappropriate and too large. The small other course is mainly sailed by former slow handicap boats but the slower end of the former fast handicap have also ventured onto this course. This small course has in particular attracted a number of novice sailors. However, there are no hard and fast rules and if a 49er wants to practice boat handling and mark rounding it may decide to spend a series racing in the short windward / leeward class. This does mean that is vital that participants remember to sign-on on the correct sheet and helpful for results; if names are printed legibly.
On three occasions we had combined racing with our neighbouring clubs. This did not appear to cause any particular problems and we will repeat this in 2012 having joint racing with Netley, Hythe and Southampton Sailing Clubs. The dates and races are shown in the draft programme and form a separate series. There is a possibility that sailboard racing is getting re-established and these joint races will have a sailboard start.

The tides are not particularly kind in 2012 and to make use of what there is, there will be two evening series. One a weekend evening series and the other a weekday evening series. There is only one race on these days so those who cannot justify coming down for just one race are not disadvantaged by these races forming part of another series.

There will be the same number of open meetings in 2012 as there were in 2011. This year all opens were reasonably well attended and although not all classes are yet finalised I am hoping for even better attendances in 2012. As in 2011 club members will have a discount of £10 per person per day on the entry fees for opens so there is little excuse for not taking part in our own opens.

I must at this stage apologise for problems in producing results in the early part of the year. The laptop being used for the results was a little tempermental and crisis point was reached when all the results for the year to date as well as the open meeting entries disappeared from the database part way through an open meeting. It then took some months to reconstruct the results from a variety of sources. More recently results have been produced rather more promptly although there is still scope for improvement.

The sailing committee is not just a talking shop and each member is asked to take on a particular task. In addition we are fortunate that some members volunteer to take on tasks without being formally on the committee. Thank you all. For 2012 there is a particular need for a person to assist with the maintenance of results.

There was much discussion in previous years about duties. I am not going to go into detailed analysis of how many duties each person should be doing. The GP committee will be reviewing how many and which duty roles are required for each race day. The aim will be to reduce the number of people required to manage a race day. This will, however, make it even more essential that the people on the rota carry out their duty.

I am aware that we are a sailing club rather than a racing club and I am pleasantly surprised by the number of people who go sailing throughout the year at times when no racing is organised. That being so I am also aware that we do not appear to organise much in the way of non-racing sailing. Unfortunately health and safety concerns make it increasingly difficult to organise group sailing to other venues. Dinghy training is well supported with all mid-week sessions being sold out this year. For next year, in addition to training, two dinghy practice three day events have been scheduled aimed at those who have achieved their level 2. All the dinghy training and practice sessions are scheduled during school holidays. Andy Mulley and Keith Paul arrange all this activity along with a dedicated band of helpers. Thanks must go to all these people for all their work especially as some take annual leave to help out.

Power boat training to RYA certificate levels is scheduled not just for January but also for sessions when the weather is slightly warmer. It is some time since we ran any race officer training and I am hoping to arrange some one day sessions for race officers to attend. If there was a demand one or more could be run to formally gain a RYA club race officer certificate.

As well as the usual events there is one very significant event that needs organising and will need a group of people to organise it. Next year is the club’s 60th birthday and we are holding a regatta and party to celebrate. If you cannot commit to a year long activity please consider volunteering to organise and manage this once in 60 years event. There is also a junior regatta on July 7th. This is a one day regatta which was much enjoyed by the participants this year. It would help the club very much if a group of people could get together and organise this. The objective is fun for all ages from 5 to 14. Finally there is an open day (Try a sail) on August 18th . As a minimum this requires people to be here and sailing so the club can be seen as being active. If you can take people out for a sail then even better.

Thank you all for listening.

1-2 October Summer arrives

The Summer finally arrived at Weston as temperatures soared towards the upper 20s and gentle breezes wafted across the water. A group of 49ers turned up to practice and there were more children at the club than we have seen for a long time. The force 2-3 winds mostly from the SE provided ideal conditions for novices and tested the concentration of more experienced sailors. The Tek Kat took to the water and almost won the second race missing out by only 13 seconds on corrected time.

The new cycle path being laid past the clubhouse (thank you Sustrans) has now had the base layer laid down and has already made moving boats along the foreshore from the hoses to the north gate considerably easier. Access from the field to the slipways for Open meeting visitors is also much improved.

Boat Show Tornados 24-25 September 2011

The UK's top Tornados launched from Weston over the weekend to entertain crowds at the boat show. The reports and videos can be found on www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=159702 . Grant Piggott demonstrated why he is the National Champion winning eight of the 9 races and coming second in the other.

17-18 September 2011

This weekend saw visitors from the Contender, RS700 and RS600 classes appreciate our varied sailing conditions with winds gusting over 25 knots on the Saturday and fading away to a complete calm on the Sunday. The contenders showed up the young pretenders by being the largest class with 19 competitors whilst the other two could only muster 20 between them.

The galley did a roaring trade on the the first morning as helms took on ballast with the bacon and egg butties being particularly popular. There were many capsizes and one particular incident demonstrated quite clearly the need to maintain stopping distance between two boats as an RS600 hit the mast of a capsized RS600 damaging the mast and pushing a daggerboard backwards through itself. Aching bodies were the order of the day as the evening approached.

The Chilli on Saturday night was clearly to the liking of some as second and third helpings were demolished before the all important event of the day - the skittles challenge. Again the Contenders led the way although the RS600s did manage one runner-up in the knockout event.

Club racing was somewhat depleted due to the boats that were taking part in the Open, and many stalwarts (claiming average points) helped out over the two days.

10-11 September 2011

The weather tried to have the upper hand this weekend finally winning on Sunday with many boats capsizing and the second race having to be abandoned as the wind continued to strengthen to a solid force 6. Neverthless all boats, crews and buoys were retrieved with no serious damage although some hats and burgees were lost. Ralph Drew, having seen Keith Paul opt out of gybing and completing a neat tack, came in to the same mark clearly thinking about youth being capable of things that septuagenarians cannot manage. Ralph did succeed in gybing a fraction of a second before having his kicker part, his rudder coming off and the boat hurling him some distance away from itself. The boat then drifted on its side much more quickly than Ralph was swimming. Ralph was eventually restored to his boat by a passing RIB.

RESULTS BACK ONLINE

Following a disastrous incident earlier in the year when the results database and all electronic backups were lost the results have been restored. New results are being entered off site and will be posted online as quickly as the results officer can obtain them, usually within 24 hours. Race officers are asked to leave the raw results in the tray marked results located in the race box.

Sailing Secretary

Weston Regatta

The Weston regatta took place over the August bank holiday weekend with six races being held over the three days. The camping field was available for the whole weekend and the club barbecue was available for participants to cook their meals. 42 boats participated in the racing with a number of others taking the opportunity to sail in a variety of conditions but mainly in north westerly and westerly winds. Rather than define which boats sailed in which classes, the classes were defined by the types of courses to be set and participants chose the class they wished to race in.

The classes were defined as long windward/leeward; short windward/leeward; long other; and short other. As there were six races and two discards participants were able to try sailing in more than one class over the weekend. Interestingly the Dart 18 and the Unicorn elected to sail with the large other class which had a strong Contender contingent; whilst the Laser EPS chose to sail in the short other class where closer racing was to be had with the Albacore.

Winners were: Rob Forester, Shadow X (long windward/leeward;
Gail Pussard and Julie Dixon, RS200 (short windward/leeward);
Robert Angus, Contender (long other);
A Green/Peter Ruff (sharing the boat), Europe (short other).

Since there was no requirement to sail in a particular class, novices in faster boats were able to elect to sail shorter courses. The length of the courses did not affect the length of the race as all races were of about one hour’s duration, faster boats sailing more laps and results being determined on the average laps basis. All starts were of the club line which is close to the slipway and provides excellent viewing from the adjacent clubhouse. All courses were wholly visible from the clubhouse enabling spectators and supporters to have shelter and follow the racing in comfort from the bar. The very young were able to take advantage of the latest additions to the clubs ride-on toys with a colouring competition and face painting also on offer.