Author: jollysailor

Gillette Series 14 – 13th July

With a fairly light wind there were 16 starters and it was good to see Monica back in her Europe.
 
First back through the line were Jessica and Karen in Lasers (the girls really are taking over – May, Merkel, Clinton?) The first man through the line was Mark (Laser) followed by the Solos of Newton and Julian W then Peter S (Byte II).  Luke came through in 7th just ahead of Hugh, both in Lasers. Then came the first double-hander with Sally & Stuart (Leader) just ahead of Monica (Europe) and Paul H in the only remaining Supernova, now that Ian has departed to the Cotswolds. Next through the line was Richard H (Laser) in front of Bob in the third of the Solos out tonight. At the rear of the fleet there was a trio  of double-handers with Dave & Ann (Leader), Paula & Angela (Comet Duo) and Chris & Carol (Sport 14).
 
The race lasted four laps and Jessica and Karen maintained their leading positions to finish 1st and 2nd,
behind them there was a good battle between Mark, Newton and Peter S for the next positions. There was another good scrap for 6th place with Hugh just taking it on the last lap from Julian and Luke.
 
The final positions on the water were-
1ST Jessica; 2nd Karen; 3rd Newton; 4th Peter S; 5th Mark; 6th Hugh
 
On handicap Julian should leapfrog Mark and Hugh to take 5th.
 
Thanks to SOOD Steve S and his team of Ellen, Jessica W and Andy K.
 

Sunday Racing 31st July

As you hopefully will have seen in the news letter this Sunday the club will be hosting a RYA open day. This will start at 11.00 and to fit in with this the Sunday racing will consist of a single one hour handicap starting at the EARLIER TIME of 10.00. This will count towards the summer handicap series, 

 

Reading SC – ABANDONED BOATS

ABANDONED BOATS – POSTING OF PART II NOTICES LEADING TO THE SALE OR DISPOSAL.
 
Dear RSC Members,
 
We have two boats pictured below, that despite a number of attempts, we have been unable to identify their owners. Therefore we have taken the decision to post Part II notices for the sale and disposal of the boats under the 1977 Torts Act.
 
These notices expire on the 17th October 2016, after which the club will be entitled to sell the boats and recover outstanding membership fees and costs.
 
If either of these boats belong to you, or if you know who they might belong to please contact Roland Lines – RSC Boat Park Marshall rscboatpark@gmail.com as soon as possible.
 
Many thanks for your help
 
RSC Committee
 
Attached below are images of the following unidentified boats:
Lark “Iona” (was in S7), Adventuress (was in Q10)
 
Both these boats have now been moved to a holding area to free up much needed space in the boat park proper.
 
 

Summer series 5 – 10th July 2016

It was very breezy this morning blowing about 16 mph SW. Richard S was OOD, but he did not record the course for posterity, so no idea where the fleet went, but wherever it was they went there quickly!
 
Pursuit Race
There were 15 starters and it was definitely a Laser day with 8 out there plus 2 Radials.
William in his Topper hung onto the lead on the first lap with Chris H (Comet) in 2nd place, then came Jon in the first of the Lasers with Hadey (Radial) 4th being rapidly caught by Karen coming through in 5th place. Ellen & Newton in the RS200 had caught Luke in the family Radial and he was about to be caught by Paul R in his Aero. Then came a stream of Lasers, James, Mark, John W, Gareth, Rick and Dave P (good to see you back on the water or should that be in the water!). Laser 61642 brought up the rear of the fleet (let us know who you are by signing in !).
At the gun Jon had got past Wiliam and Chris to take the victory.
The final positions were – 1st Jon; 2nd Karen; 3rd Ellen & Newton ; 4th Paul; 5th Hadey; 6th Luke
 
Handicap Race
The wind got up a little more for the second race and the fleet was down to 12 boats.
Paul came through the line in the lead with Newton & Ellen 2nd, Karen 3rd ,Jon 4th and Mark 5th these five held those positons for all three laps of the race. On the first lap James was 6th just ahead of Luke and Hadey who crossed the line virtually together. Then there was quite a gap back to 61642 in 9th place and another gap back to Gareth in 10th place and then William and Rick bringing up the rear.
 
At the end of the second lap the first six were in the same order, but Hadey had moved up one place to 7th and Gareth and Rick had gained one place to 9th and 11th.
 
At the finish the first five had retained their positions, but James must have had a moment earlier in the lap as Hadey pipped him across the line to take 6th. 61642 did not make it to the finish so this moved Rick up one more place.
 
Final positions on the water were –
1st Paul; 2nd Newton & Ellen; 3rd Karen; 4th Jon; 5th Mark; 6th Hadey.
 
On handicap Hadey should move up to 5th with Luke moving up to 6th.
 
Thanks to Richard S and the OOD Team of Isobel, Bill C and Richard.
 

Gillette Series 13 – 6th July 2016

There was a light SW wind, about 6 mph, and Peter R set the first beat to 4, then 9p, 5s, 6s, 7s, and back through the start.
 
There were 14 starters and unfortunately the wind dropped just before the start gun, which made it a struggle to cross the line. Eventually everyone got under way and Karen (Laser) was first back through the start with a clear lead from Steve S (Solo) with Hugh (Laser) 3rd, Newton (Solo) 4th, Peter S (Byte II) 5th and Ellen & Luke (RS200) 6th.  Curtis (Laser) came through next in 7th place just ahead of Mike A (Lightning), who was followed by Paul H (Supernova), Sally & Stuart (Leader) and Mark B (Enterprise). Then bringing up the rear were the three Lasers of Rick, Richard H and Mike T.
Steve S retired at the end of the first lap, but not sure of the reason.
 
At the end of the second and final lap Karen was still clear ahead but Ellen & Luke had gained four places to move up to 2nd place with Newton moving up to 3rd. Hugh was now 4th and Mark B had moved up five places to 6th. Another five place mover was Richard H who was up to 8th, but everyone else either maintained position or lost places.
 
The final positions on the water were –
1st Karen; 2nd Ellen & Luke; 3rd Newton; 4th Hugh; 5th Peter S; 6th Mark B.
 
On handicap there should be quite a few changes with Newton taking 1st from Karen with Ellen & Luke down to 3rd, Peter S up to 4th , Mike A up to 5th and Hugh 6th.   .
  
Thanks to Peter R and the OOD Team of Carol & Chris M, Monica and Paul R.
 
 

Thames Valley Challenge 2016 Race Report

  
Saturday saw the culmination of months of planning,  the 2016 Thames Valley Challenge, a youth and junior team racing event in RS Fevas.  This is an annual event that is rotated between the local sailing clubs, and this year it was the turn of Reading Sailing Club to host the event ably supported by Goring SC.
 
10 teams took part, consisting of 60 plus competitors. That, along with almost 40 helpers in terms of race crew, rescue boats, umpires, ferry boat drivers, shore crew, galley crew etc.. plus spectators, meant that well over a 120 people were on site, making this one of the biggest if not the biggest event held at the club.
 
Reading SC entered two teams, with Reading 1 consisting of 3 boats with  William, Joe and Ben as helms and Thomas, Alex and Sam as crew.  Reading 2 had Milo, Louis and Rhys as helms and Kate, Dylan and Rory as crew. 
 
For those unfamiliar with the concept of team racing, the idea is that each team races each other in a series of short ~10 minute races. Individual scores don’t matter, it is the team result that counts. Tactics, using the racing rules to gain an advantage to hold up a competitor’s boat to let one of your team boats through, play a big role.  Races occur back to back, with 3 minute start sequences. The go for the first race is the 3 minute signal for the next and so on. Boat crews are changed over on the water once they have completed their particular set of races. So the whole event runs like (or is meant to) a sausage machine – which takes a lot of pre-planning and co-ordination from all the various event teams.  So this is a lot for the children to take on board (as well as some of the adults!) particularly those new to team racing.
 
Conditions were sunny, but with a challenging force 4 gusting 5 from the west.  After the various briefings for the event teams and the competitors the Fevas went out with their smaller mains, reefed from the get go with the first race kicking off just before 10.00 am.
 
At about half way through the day, with each team having sailed about 5 races, Reading 1 led the pack having won 4.  Reading 2 had yet to win a race, but given the stiff wind conditions and the relative inexperience, and the light weight crews, they were going very well to keep going and to keep the boats upright. Milo helming in Reading 2, deserves a special mention for coming first and second in a number of his races – a great result for his first go at team racing.
 
The day finished on race 40, just 5 short of the full schedule of 45, each team having raced 8 races.  This itself is a record as far as Thames Valley Challenge is concerned with most years not getting much beyond 30 races- so a triumph for the start boat !  The final results revealed some very close racing with two teams tying for 1st place with 6 wins out of 8, and 4 teams for 3rd place each with 5 wins, including Reading 1.  This took some careful reading of tie breaking rules before the Principle Race Officer came to the final adjudication below (ably advised by Paul R).
 
Congratulations go to Dorchester for pipping Goring Girls at the post on the tie-break and taking first place.  As you might expect there was a bit of a grudge match going on between Goring Girls and Goring Boys. I think the girls were very pleased that they came ahead of the boys.  Reading 1 unfortunately lost out in the 3rd place tie-break and ended in 6th place based on average points scored. But as you can see it was close racing. Reading 2 didn’t manage to win a race, but as before given that this was their first time out in team racing and the challenging conditions, they all did very well and show much perseverance to keep going – augers well for future events.
 
Selected photos for the event below. Thanks again to all the teams that turned up and a special thanks to all the helpers from Reading SC, Goring SC and the other clubs that made the event the success it was. 
 
 
 

Thames Valley Challenge 2016 Results
Position Team Wins Tie Break
1 Dorchester 6 Add. H3a Dorchester beat Goring Girls when they met
2 Goring Girls 6 Average Points
3 Goring Guys 5 Add. H3c Teams having not all met, tie broken by the sum of points scored in all races divided by the number of races sailed. 9.25
4 Maidenhead 5 9.38
5 Silverwing 1 5 10.25
6 Reading 1 5 10.75
7 Sliverwing 2 4
8 Upper Thames 3
9 Goring Greats 1
10 Reading 2 0
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

July Cup 2016

There was a 6mph SW wind, although it varied up and down during the race and Peter S set a first beat to 4, then 2p, 5s,6s, Xs and back through the start.
There were 19 starters, which was actually the same number as last year.
 
Newton & Ellen (RS200) were first back through the start followed by Ryan & Roland (National 12) and Karen (Laser). Peter R (Enterprise) came through in 4th place with Hugh (Laser) 5th, Mike A (Lightning) 6th,Adrian (Laser) 7th, Hadey (Radial) 8th,Steve P (Laser) 9th and Dave I (Radial) 10th.
Sally (Comet) and Eddie B (Laser) retired at the end of the lap.
 
At the end of the second lap the first four boats were in the same positions, but Adrian had moved up two places to 5thand Hadey was up two places to 6th. Behind these there was a close battle between Gareth (Laser), Rick (Laser), Dave I, Chris H (Comet) and Franz (Contender) with Bob (Solo) bringing up the rear. Dave I decided two laps were enough and retired after crossing the line.
 
On the third lap there was no change at the front but Hugh had regained 5th place pushing Adrian down to 6th. Steve P was up to 7th but in a battle royal with Hadey, Rick, Mike A, Gareth and Alistair S.
 
The fourth lap saw no change in the positions of the first four boats, but Adrian was back up to 5th with Hugh 6th and Mike A up to 7th. Alistair had gained two places to 11th and Chris H two places to 12th, but the boats from 7th to 13th were constantly changing position throughout the race.
 
At the end of the fifth and last lap Newton & Ellen had a commanding lead and crossed the line well ahead of Karen, who had just managed to get past Roland & Ryan. Peter R had kept his 4th place throughout the whole of the race and Adrian had got away from Hugh to finish in a safe 5th. Hugh nearly got caught at 6, but just managed to stay ahead to finish 6th with Hadey, Steve P and Mike A finishing line astern just behind Hugh. Chris H gained another two places to move to 10th and Gareth gained two places to 13th and Bob managed to catch and pass Franz.
 
The final positions on the water were –
1st Newton & Ellen; 2nd Karen; 3rd Roland & Ryan; 4th Peter R; 5th Adrian; 6th Hugh.
 
On handicap the first three will remain the same, but Chris H, Mike A and Hadey should move up to 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.
 
Thanks to Peter S and the OOD Team of Sylvia, Damian, John and Brian. 

Gillette Series 12 – 29th June 2016

It was a bit frisky tonight with a SW wind about 14 mph, but with much stronger squalls coming through and the threat of rain in the air. Chris A stepped up to take on the SOOD duty and set the first beat down to 4, then 2p, 5s, 6s, 7s and back through the start.
 
There were only 9 starters and Karen, Mark B and Rick had opted for Radial rigs and Franz had abandoned his Contender for a full rig Laser. Peter S had decided to be bold and use his CII sail on his Byte and Dean & Nick had also stuck to full rig for their Vago.
First back through the start line was Karen with Mark B 2nd, Franz 3rd and Curtis 4th, all in Lasers and fairly close together. Peter S (Byte II) came through in 5th place with Rick (Laser) slightly further back in 6th place being chased by Dean & Nick (Vago). Bringing up the rear of the fleet were Mike A (Lightning) and Chris & Carol (Sport 14).
 
At the end of the second lap Karen had extended her lead, but Curtis had got past Mark and Franz to move up to 2nd. Dean & Nick had caught and passed Rick. By this time Chris & Carol had been lapped and they received the gun at the end of the lap.
 
On the third lap Curtis had caught Karen and they crossed the line virtually together. Peter had moved up to 4th by passing Franz and further back Rick had retaken Dean & Nick.
 
On the fourth and last lap Karen had got ahead again and Curtis had a mishap coming down to No 6 when a lull followed by a gust pushed him over the buoy line with a consequent capsize. This moved everyone up one place with only one change in position when Dean & Nick re-passed Rick.
 
Final positions on the water were –
1st Karen; 2nd Mark B; 3rd Peter S; 4th Franz; 5th Dean & Nick; 6th Rick.
 
On handicap Peter should leapfrog Mark to take 2nd place.
 
 
Thanks to Chris A (especially as he stepped in at the last minute) and the OOD Team of Helen, Graham K, Billy I and Julian W.
 
 

Summer Series 4 – 26th June

With a NW 11 mph wind Karen used a Tektona start with a first beat to X (between 4 and 3 on the buoy line) then 2p, 6s, 8s, 1s and back through the start.
 
Pursuit Race
There were 22 starters and first away was Gordon P in his Mirror, but Chris H (Comet) led at the end of the first lap followed by Mike A (Lightning) then Curtis in the first of the Lasers.  Peter S (Byte II) came through in 4th place with fast moving Paul R (Aero) in 5th and Chris A (Solo) 6th.
The gun went on the second lap and by this time Julian B (OK) was just in front of Paul with Curtis still 3rd and Chris H 4th, Mike A 5th and Jon 6th.
 
Handicap Race
Gordon and Mark B sat the second race out so the fleet was down to 20 boats.
Jon C (Laser) was first back through the line chased by Paul R (Aero), then the Lasers of Hugh, Steve P, Curtis, James and Richard S. Julian B (OK) came through in 8th place followed by Ken P in yet another Laser.  There was only one Solo out today helmed by Chris A and he was battling with Peter R (Enterprise) Peter S (Byte II) and Adrian (Vago) for 10th place. Behind them Chris H (Comet) was trying to hold off the Lasers of Rick and Gareth and bringing up the rear of the fleet were Dean & Nick (Vago), Alistair S (Laser) and Angela & Paula (Comet Duo).
 
At the end of the second lap Jon and Paul crossed the line together and Julian had moved up to 3rd.
Richard S had gained three places to move up to 4th and James was up one place to 5th with Curtis dropping to 6th. Ken P had made up two places to 7th and Peter R was up four places to 8th. Peter S gained three places to move to 11th and Dean & Nick had gained five places to move to 13th. Gareth and Alistair had managed to get past Rick when he became stranded at 8!
 
At the finish gun Paul crossed the line in 1st place just ahead of Jon with Julian still 3rd and Richard S still 4th, but Peter R had gained another three places to move up to 5th. The only other movers on the last lap (in the right direction!) were Chris H and Gareth who managed to get past the Vagos of Dean & Nick and Adrian.  
 
The final positions on the water were –
1st Paul R; 2nd Jon; 3rd Julian; 4th Richard S; 5th Peter R; 6th Curtis.
 
On handicap Jon should take first from Paul and Peter R should move up to 4th.

Although the wind varied a bit it was a very pleasant morning for sailing and for the first time for some weeks there were no retirements from either of the races.
 
Thanks to Karen and the OOD Team of Jan M, John M, Ralph P and David P.
 
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