Spring Series 3 19th March 2017

It was another very windy one this morning, SW 15-18 mph with bigger gusts coming through. Adrian set the first beat down to 4 then 9, 6, 7 and back through the start.
 
There were eight starters for the pursuit race and four for the following handicap race, but after that the details on the race sheets get a bit difficult to interpret. It looks as if the OOD Team were having as much trouble staying upright as the sailors were!
 
Pursuit race
The brave souls who started were Ben H (Topper), Ralph (Pico), Chris H (Comet), Hadey (4.7), William (4.7), Dean & Nick (Vago), Jon (Laser) and Steve S (Aero).
At the finish gun the order appears to be – 1st Steve; 2nd Jon; 3rd Chris; 4th Hadey; 5th Dean & Nick; 6th William, but not all necessarily on the same lap!
 
Handicap Race
There were four starters for this race, Hadey, Dean & Nick, Steve and Jon, but only two finishers, Steve and Jon and they will have to tell you who won!
Thanks to Adrian and the OOD Team.
 

Spring Series 2 12th March

Last Sunday it was really windy and this week there was very little wind, but there was a lot of rain!
With little wind to work with, James wisely set a short course, Xp, 8p, 6s, 7s, and back through the start.
 
Pursuit race
There were six starters this week, which is one more than last week!  Chris H (Comet) was first away but by the return to the start line he had been caught by Newton & Ellen (RS200) and Richard S (Laser). Steve S (Aero) came through in 4th with Alistair S (Laser) 5th and Adrian (Vago) 6th.
At the gun the final positions were –
1st Newton & Ellen; 2nd Richard S; 3rd Steve S; 4th Chris H; 5th Alistair S; 6th Adrian
 
Handicap Race
Everyone stayed on for the second race, which turned out to be a two lap affair. At the end of the first lap Richard S led from Newton & Ellen with Steve S 3rd, Chris H 4th, Adrian 5th and Alistair 6th.
There were no changes in position on the second lap so this was also the finishing order.
 
Thanks to SOOD James P and the OOD Team of Andy B, John H, Damien M, William P and Bea P
 

Spring series 1 Sunday 5th March

The first of the Spring Series races and what a start to the series. When Jon and David opt for radial rigs you know that there is trouble ahead! The format was the same as last year, a 35 minute pursuit followed by a 45 minute handicap race.
With a SW wind varying between 15 and 25 mph, Newton set the first beat to 4, across to 2, back to 9 then 5, 6, 7 and back through the start.
 
Pursuit race
There were only five starters and needless to say, it was quite windy on occasions, with everyone seeming to capsize at some point. It was not much of a pursuit either as there was only one boat, Chris in his Comet going off ahead of four Lasers.
David was first back through the line followed by Jon then Chris, James and Franz.
By the end of the second lap James had caught Chris and Franz had disappeared and at the finish gun the final positions were –
1st David; 2nd Jon; 3rd James; 4th Chris.
 
Handicap Race
Franz was still drying out, so there were only four starters for the second race and only three finishers!
Chris did not make the end of the first lap! James was doing quite well early on with a full rig as the wind had dropped slightly, only to be wiped out a number of times later in the race when a squall came through.
The final positions were –
1st David; 2nd Jon; 3rd James.
 

Frostbite Series

Over the winter we saw a tremendous variation in conditions, from hardly any wind at all to real hoolies, but we lost only one Sunday to ice on the lake and thankfully no flooding this year.
Newton & Ellen were series winners in their RS200, at one stage it looked as if Jon might catch them as they missed four out of the last five races, but a 2nd place in the penultimate race was enough to see them take the series.
It was interesting to see that there were four different classes of boat in the top four in the series.
1st Newton & Ellen – RS200; 2nd Jon – Laser; 3rd Chris – Comet; 4th Steve S – Aero
 

Frostbite 12 – 26th February

There was a brisk 14 mph SW wind this morning which was forecast to increase to 16 mph with 30 mph gusts, something to look forward  to then! 
Mike A set a first beat down to 4, then 2, 5, 8, 6, 7 and back through the start.
 
There were 16 starters today and Steve S (Aero) was first back through the line followed by Jon and James in Lasers. Then there was a slight gap before another gaggle of Lasers led by Richard S then Mark, Curtis, Ken, Franz, Dave L and Adrian. Next through came Hadey  and William in 4.7s (strictly speaking also Lasers, but it breaks up the Laser monopoly a bit to call them 4.7s!). There was a slight gap before Rick came through with a radial rig followed by Chris (Comet) and Dean & Nick in the Vago with Ralph some way behind after a coup[le of capsizes.   
 
By the end of the second lap the strong wind maestro JC had taken the lead with Steve in 2nd place and James 3rd. Curtis (who was also flying a radial) had moved up two places to 4th getting past Richard and Mark.  Dave L had gained a place to move to 8th and Hadey had also moved up one place to 10th. Dean & Nick had gained two places by passing Chris and Rick. Ralph came in to retire at the end of the lap after another capsize, which injured his shoulder.
 
Jon had increased his lead on the third lap, but even he managed to capsize after crossing the line.
He was not alone as a number of others had come to grief, in particular Steve had disappeared from 2nd spot after impaling his mast in a capsize! James was now 2nd and Dave L, Franz and Hadey had all moved up five places to 3rd, 4th and 5th. Curtis was now 6th with William who had also gained five places up to 7th. Richard and Ken who had been 6th and 7th came in to retire and Mark disappeared from the leader board, presumably capsized. There were quite a number of boats going over and it was difficult to tell who was who, as upturned hulls look pretty much the same!
Adrian had moved up three places to 8th and a recovering Mark came through in 9th with Dean & Nick  
up three places to 10th. Steve had finally got going again and came through in 11th with Chris 12th and Rick was lost at sea!
 
Most of the fleet was well spaced out by the end of the fourth and last lap and Jon finished well ahead. The only movers on this last lap were Adrian up four places to 4th and Steve up five places to 6th. Rick made a welcome reappearance and looked as if he would get a finish, but then unfortunately capsized on the way to 6 and eventually had to retire.   
 
Final positions on the water were –
1st Jon; 2nd James; 3rd Dave L; 4th Adrian; 5th Hadey; 6th Steve
 
On handicap Jon should keep his victory, but Hadey and William will move up to 2nd and 3rd pushing James, Dave L and Adrian down to 4th, 5th and 6th.
 
Well done to everyone who sailed, but especially to Hadey and William (one over on the old man !)
 
Thanks to Mike and the OOD Team of Claire D, Paul H, Bob L, Gary S and Paul W.
Claire had a baptism of fire in one of the rescue boats and she does not actually sail, so well done to her as well.
 
 

Handicap Analysis Meeting

A reminder that all are invited to a post racing meeting on Sunday 5 March to discuss the dinghy handicaps at the club.
We have now updated our information page on the website www.readingsc.org.uk/hdps
This includes output from an RYA tool using 4 years worth of handicap racing results
Information on personal handicapping

If you are unable to make the meeting then please let us have your thoughts to sailing@readingsc.org.uk

Spring Series

The Spring Series start this Sunday. As last year there will be a short 35 min pursuit followed by a 45 min handicap race. The pursuit count down starts at 10.30

Frostbite 11 – 19th February

With a SW wind Dave I set the first beat to 4, then 2,3, 8, 6, 7 and back through the start.-
 
There were 22 starters, which was more than we have had for a few weeks and first back through the line were Newton & Ellen (RS200), followed by the Lasers of Jon, Richard S, Ken, and Ralph. Roland & Ryan (National 12) were next to cross the line just ahead of Adrian (Laser) and Peter R Enterprise).
Then there was another trio of Lasers, Sylvia, Rick and Hugh (making a visit back from Uni).Dean & Nick (Vago) were next along followed by a close group consisting of Peter S (Byte),Franz, James, Curtis and Alistair all in Lasers. Behind these Hadey and William in 4.7s were sandwiching Neville in his Leader and brining up the rear of the fleet were Chris (Comet) and Rhys (Topper).
 
By the end of the second lap Jon had taken the lead, Richard had moved up to 2nd and Roland & Ryan had gained three places to move up to 3rd. Ralph had passed Ken to take 4th and the other movers were Sylvia gaining a place to move to 8th, Hugh up to 10th,  James and Curtis both up three places to 12th and 13th, Neville up two to 17th and Chris up two to 19th.
Rhys received the finish gun at the end of this lap.
 
At the end of the third and last lap Jon had retained his lead, but Newton & Ellen had regained three places to take 2nd pushing Richard down to 3rd. Ken gained a place to move up to 5th and Sylvia also moved up one to 7th. Dean & Nick had a good last lap moving up six places to 8th and Neville gained another two places to 15th and Chris moved up one place to 18th.
 
Final positions on the water were –
1st Jon; 2nd Newton & Ellen; 3rd Richard S; 4th Roland & Ryan; 5th Ken; 6th Ralph
 
The only change on handicap should be Ken leapfrogging Roland & Ryan
 
Thanks to Dave I and the OOD Team of Paul B, Roland L and Richard M

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