Author: jollysailor

14 December Frost Bite 4

After the excitement of a lively AGM it was back to the sailing, but first a big THANK YOU to all the members of the Committee and the organisers and helpers for the Monday Oppies, Wednesday Suppers, Thursday Pirates and Saturday Pinkies. We appreciate your hard work and commitment on behalf of the club members.
 
With quite a brisk SW wind, about 12 mph but gusty, Adrian set the first beat to X, which was hidden around the back of the island, about where No 1 was usually to be found.
There were 16 starters and some elected to stay out wide and some decided to go between the bank and the island. The latter group seemed to fare slightly better on the first lap.
After rounding X it was back to 6, then right down the lake to 4, then across and past 9 to 8,
turning left up to 5, then across to 7 and back through the start. Good idea to write this one down!
At the end of the first lap Paul R (Aero) wearing a jaunty piratical head scarf was in the lead followed by David and Jon C (Lasers) and then Ian C (Supernova), Karen (Laser) and Newton & Ellen (Laser 2000).  Then there was a slight gap back to James P (Laser) and then a larger gap back to Dave P, Dave L and Mike A (Lasers) and an even larger gap back to Hadey (4.7).
Peter R was next, but not surprisingly was struggling to hold his Enterprise sailing single handed. (It is rumoured that a change in the racing rules is being considered for next year to allow single handed sailors to use their other hand as well !). Quite a way behind Peter came Alistair S (Laser), William P (Topper) and Steve P trying to cope with the somewhat cramped conditions in a Laser compared to his usual Titanic.
Unfortunately Sally came to grief on the first lap and had to be retrieved by the rescue boys.
By the end of the second lap Paul and David C had pulled a slight lead on Ian and Karen in 3rd and 4th places with Newton & Ellen battling with Jon for 5th place. James had capsized gybing round 5 and got tangled in the buoy line and Dave P had capsized going back towards X, this had let Mike A and Dave L through, but then Dave L was hit by a gust after gybing round 8 and he capsized, letting Mike up to 7th with Dave P retaking Dave L to 8th. Peter R decided to retire on this lap, but Hadey, Alistair and Steve were still plugging away and William was given the gun at the end of this lap.
The three leaders were in the same positions at the end of the third lap, but Karen had retired as she needed to get away early to start her annual winter migration to the ski slopes. Jon had squeezed past Newton & Ellen to take 4th place. There was a terrific tussle going on between Mike A, Dave L and Dave P in 6th, 7th and 8th places with James P starting to make up ground (should be water) on them in 9th place. Hadey was in a clear 10th place and Steve had managed to catch and pass Alistair, who had suffered a triple capsize and these were finished at the end of this lap (in more ways than one).
At the end of the fourth and final lap Paul was first across the line with David C slightly behind him with Ian slightly further back in 3rd. Jon managed to hold Newton & Ellen off to take 4th. Dave P won the scrap behind moving up from 8th to 6th, with Dave L 7th, Mike A 8th and James P 9th. It was a really good race with an interesting course, good wind and close racing throughout the fleet.
The final positions on the water were 1st Paul, 2nd David C, 3rd Ian C, but on handicap it will be David first with Paul second and Newton & Ellen third.


 

7th December Frost Bite 3

 

Well after two light wind weeks the wind finally arrived and was 14 mph, slightly gusty and from the West. David C set the first mark to 3P followed by 2P 4S 9P 5S 8P X S , X was placed straight out from the jetty half way across and the start was from Tektona.
Some of the Lasers decided to go for radials (Karen and Curtis), Sally (Comet)  and Peter R (Enterprise)  both rigged but Peter thought it was on the edge for a single handed and Sally and Peter decided at the last minute to go together in the Ent – good move.
Chris A and Alistair S signed on, but decided it was a better plan to watch rather than swim !
At the launch the wind got up a bit more and was a lot gustier. Forecast was for 25mph gusts and that was probably right. A couple of boats capsized before the start including Ian C (Supernova).
At the first mark Karen was leading from Peter R & Sally then Newton & Roz (Laser 2000) then Peter S (Byte). By the second mark it was still Karen ahead followed by Newton & Roz, then Peter R & Sally. As Karen rounded 2 a gust hit her and she capsized, but recovered quickly leaving Newton & Roz in the lead. Peter R & Sally hit 5 and then had trouble doing the penalty turn in the gusty conditions, and lost a lot of time. This allowed the Lasers of Dave P, Dave L, Curtis and Rod B to move up to 3rd  to 6th places respectively. Ian recovering from his capsize at the start was battling with Adrian (Laser) for 7th place. Mike C (Solo) was 10th behind Peter & Sally with Peter S bringing up the rear having lost a lot of time on the first lap and may have capsized?  Sylvia must have capsized on her way to 9 on the first lap and got parted from her boat that started to get blown away. The rescue boat plucked her out.
On the second lap Karen was hit by another gust at 3 as she prepared to gybe. This time the mast went into the mud and despite her efforts she could not get it up. (know the feeling !) Jon pulled her out and she retired. Newton & Roz had a large lead by the end of the second lap, Dave L had moved up to 2nd and Ian had worked his way through the fleet to 3rd with Curtis and Adrian neck and neck for 4th
At the end of the third lap Newton & Roz were still leading, but Ian was now up to 2nd with Dave L 3rd and Dave P had moved up to 4th.
The first three remained unchanged at the end of lap four, but now Adrian had taken 4th with Dave P 5th and Rod B up to 6th. This group of Lasers was having a terrific scrap just behind the leading three boats.
The fifth and final lap saw no change in position throughout the fleet, but with the wind steadying slightly Ian had started to catch Newton & Roz but they managed to hold him off and crossed the line just 4 seconds ahead.
The final positions on the water were 1st Newton & Roz, 2nd Ian C, 3rd Dave L.
The only change in position due to handicap was Peter & Sally gaining one place to push Curtis down to 8th, however it should be noted that Curtis is now the series leader.


Steel Cables Re-Discovered !

Steel Cables Re-Discovered !
 
Thanks to the diligent efforts of a number of people this Saturday’s work party, the old steel cables that run the length of rows  B/C,  D/E,  F/G  K/L & M/N have been uncovered.  If your boat is in one of this rows please feel free to secure your boat to them either for security or as an anti-flood measure.
 
Can I remain everybody who has a boat in the park that they should be making winterization preparations now. This means securing your boat both for flooding and high winds. 
 
All the best
 
James Primrose 
 
Boat Park Captain.

30 November Frost Bite 2

This was a much more pleasant morning than Frost Bite 1, nice and dry and even the sun was shining. The only downside was that there was not much wind again, about 1 – 2 mph NNW although it did get up to about 8 mph by the end of the race.

Newton had set X as the first mark up near the buoy line about 5 metres West of No 6, then across to 9, 5, 2, 4, 8 and back through the start line to X.
There were 20 starters this week and Karen (Laser) was leading at the first mark, but by the end of the lap Ian C (Supernova) had taken the lead by quite a distance. Karen was 2nd with Steve P (505) in 3rd, followed by David C, Curtis and Jon C who were all in Lasers. There was then a gap to the next group of five boats led by Sylvia, Adrian and Mike A in Lasers with Hugh (Byte) and Julian (Solo) sticking to them. There was another small gap to Peter R (Enterprise) and Mike C (Solo) who were locked together and then a much larger gap back to James P and Dave P in Lasers followed by Hadey (4.7), John C (Topaz), Sally (Comet), Alistair S (Laser) and finally young William P who was going very well in his Topper.
At the end of the second lap the first six boats were in the same position apart from David C taking 3rd place from Steve, but there was a really close battle taking place between Karen, David, Steve, Curtis and Jon. Adrian and Julian had moved up to take the lead in the second group who had now been joined by Mike C and Peter R. James P and Dave P were still leading the group further back but Sally had moved up two places passing Hadey and John C, but these three were also having a terrific battle.
At the end of the third and last lap Ian C crossed the line well ahead, but both David C and Steve had managed to pass Karen pushing her down to 4th and Jon C had managed to get past Curtis to take 5th place. Mike A had come through to lead the second group taking 7th with Adrian 8th. However Julian and Hugh were close enough to pip these two on handicap.
Sylvia was 10th but Peter had got the better of Mike C to take 11th, but again on handicap it was likely that these positions would be reversed.
Final positions on the water were 1st Ian C, 2nd David C, 3rd Steve P, however Steve was unfortunately disqualified as he was across the line at the start, returned but did not go far enough to recross the line completely.
The final position on handicap should be 1st Ian C, 2nd David C and 3rd Karen.
The winner of the second group on handicap and 6th overall should be Hugh in his Byte and the winner of the third group should be William in his Topper.
Well sailed Hugh and William !


23 November Frost Bite 1

Not so much Frost Bite 1 as Monsoon 1 !!
It was a miserable wet start to this series with not much wind either.
With the wind in a tricky NNE direction Nev set a short beat (or drift) up to 6 as the first mark.
There were only 10 boats starting and three of these were deemed to be over the line when the start gun went. Newton & Ellen (Laser 2000) and Peter S (Byte) returned to restart, but David C (Laser) pushed on as he was not convinced that he was over the line.
The first man to finish was Steve P (505) followed by David C and then Curtis, however on handicap the winner would be David C with Curtis 2nd and Newton & Ellen 3rd.
David C was disqualified as he did not return when adjudged to be over the line at the start.
He subsequently lodged a protest on the grounds that as no recall flag was flown he believed that he was not being recalled.
This raises an interesting issue, as if it was a general recall all boats would have to restart.
However if it is an individual recall only the boats that are actually over the line need to restart. The problem is how does the SOOD identify and inform those boats. The pragmatic approach would be to simply shout out the sail numbers or the names of the helms, but this does not appear to be an option within the racing rules. However this pragmatic approach could create another problem in that it could be an advantage to be the first named offender as he would have first notice of the requirement to return, compared to say the second or third offender!
Time to dig out the rules book and inform the OOD teams what they should do in these circumstances ?

 


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