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.
 

Gillette 11 – 22nd June

There was a SW wing about 8-10 mph, which gradually dropped away as the race progressed. Mark B set a first beat to 5 then 9s, 3s, 4s, 8p, 6s, 7s and back through the start.
 
There were 18 starters tonight including three Juniors, Jemima in her Oppie and Edward and Joe in Toppers. Roland & Ryan (National 12) were first back through the start followed by Newton (Solo), Karen (Laser), Curtis (Laser), Rod (Laser) and Julian W (Solo). Then there was a slight gap back to the Vago of Dean & Nick in 7th place and Chris A (Solo) in 8th then another gap back to Paul H (Supernova).
There were two Leaders out and Sally & Stuart were ahead of Dave & Ann at the end of the first lap. At the back of the fleet were the Lasers of Mike T and Rick and the Sport 14 of Chris & Carol.
 
At the end of the second and final lap Karen had moved up to 2nd place pushing Newton down to 3rd, but there were no other changes of position with the leading eight boats.
Meanwhile Sally & Stuart, Chris & Carol and Rick all decided to retire before getting stranded by the dropping wind!
 
The final positions on the water were –
1st Roland & Ryan; 2nd Karen; 3rd Newton; 4th Curtis; 5th Rod; 6th Julian.
 
On handicap Newton was close enough to take the victory, but the other places should remain unchanged.
 
The Juniors received the gun at the end of the first lap with Edward in the lead followed by Joe and Jemima, but on handicap Jemima should leapfrog her brothers to take 1st place.
 
Thanks to Mark and the OOD Team of Chris H, Mark H, Gary S and Jim T.
 

BBQ Series Sunday 26th June Cancelled

Dear all
 
we have decided to cancel the BBQ series this coming Sunday.  A lot going on in the club right now in terms of preparation for the Thames Valley Challenge. 

Also at some point I need to cut my grass, before my house disappears from view !

 
I’ll send an email when we will re-start the series, but it will be after the Thames Valley Challenge.
 
 
James Primrose

Work Party This Saturday

Dear all

Due to the Thames Valley Challenge taking place on Saturday 2nd July, we

are pulling forward July's work party to this Saturday 25th June to get

various jobs done.

If you can come down to help out it would be appreciated.

Summer Series 3 19th June 2016

The forecast was for a 7 mph SW wind, but in the event it was about 10 -12 mph and quite a pleasant morning.
Bob set a long beat down to 3 then 9p, 5s, 7s and back through the start.
 
Pursuit Race
There were 23 starters and first away was Gordon P in his Mirror but at the end of the first lap early starter William (Topper) was  in the lead with Steve S (Solo) 2nd and fast moving Paul R (Aero 7) through to 3rd. Dave & Ann (Leader) were going well in 4th with Hadey(Radial) 5th and Chris Hilson (Comet) 6th.
The gun went on the second lap and by that time Paul R had come through to take 1st and Karen (Laser) had moved up to 2nd with Dave & Ann gaining a place to take 3rd.
The final positions were –
1st Paul; 2nd Karen; 3rd Dave & Ann; 4th Steve S; 5th Ellen & Newton (RS200); 6th Hadey.
 
Handicap Race
Dave I, Gordon P and Mick G decided one race was enough for them so the fleet was down to 20 for the second race.
There were a number of incidents on the first lap, Chris H nearly took Jon’s rudder off and then later approaching No 3 Adrian (Vago) had just tacked on the buoy line and Rick came steaming in and T-boned him!  First back through the line was Paul R with Karen 2nd, sounds familiar! Newton & Ellen were 3rd, Jon (Laser) 4th, Ken P (Laser) 5th and Curtis (Laser) 6th. Steve S was 7th just ahead of Steve P (Laser) who crossed the line a whisker ahead of Rod (Laser) with Richards S in yet another Laser in 10th place.
Further back there was trouble ahead as six boats, Dave & Ann (Leader), Hugh (Laser), Chris A (Solo), Rick (Laser) Gareth (Laser) and Mike A (Lightning) all approached No 7 line abreast. Inevitably there was a coming together and multiple collisions. Strangely the only one who appeared to have transgressed was Mike A as he was the only one to do penalty turns – funny that!
Hugh retired, but not sure if that was a result of the collision round 7 or some other reason.
 
Paul increased his lead on the second lap, but there was no change behind him until 5th place, which Curtis had taken from Ken. Rod (Laser) had moved up one place to 8th, Hadey had moved up seven places to 11th ! William received the finish gun at the end of this lap.
 
At the end of the third and last lap Paul crossed the line to take victory, but Newton & Ellen just pipped Karen on the line to take 2nd. There was another close finish between Ken and Steve S with Steve just snatching 6th place from Ken. The final positions on the water were –
1st Paul; 2nd Newton & Ellen; 3rd; Karen; 4th Jon; 5th Curtis; 6th Steve S.
 
On Handicap Paul keeps the win, but Steve S jumps up to 2nd pushing the other down one place.
 
Thanks  to Bob and the OOD Team of Chris B, Dene F, Nicholas L, Susanne C
and yet again Roland L.
 
 
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