Gillette 20. – 24th August

With a WSW wind of about 8 mph David C (taking a bread from Triathlons) had to set a start line fairly close in to the bank with 5 as the first mark, then 9s, 4p, 2p, 8p,6s,7s and back through the start line.
At the start Rick mad a good attempt to take out some of the opposition by motoring down the line on starboard, pushing the leeward boats before him! 
Despite this there were 13 starters, but no juniors tonight, although Hugh (Laser),who has now moved up from junior to youth or should that be to student, was first back through the line at the end of the first lap, followed by Julian W (Solo), who probably falls into the Senior class!
Sally & MIke C in the first of the three Leaders came through in  3rd place, just ahead of the two Solos of Newton & Bob. Nev & Mike N in the second of the Leaders were 6th. Then there was quite a gap back to Dave & Ann in the third Leader, who were just ahead of Curtis (Radial),Paul H (Supernova), Mike A (Lightning) and Rick (Laser) with Mike T (Laser) and Chris & Carol (420) bringing up the rear.
At the end of the second lap Hugh had increased his lead slightly and Sally & Mike C  had closed up on Julian challenging him for 2nd place. Newton had suffered a rigging failure and came in to retire and Mike N & Nev had got past Bob to move up to 4th. Chris & Carol got the gun at the end of this lap.
On the last lap Hugh went further ahead and crossed the line two minutes ahead of Julian with Nev & Mike C managing to get past Sally & Mike C to take 3rd place. Dave & Ann just managed to pip Bob for 5th place and Curtis and Rick both gained a place.   
The final positions on the water were –
1st Hugh; 2nd Julian W; 3rd Nev & Mike N; 4th Sally & Mike C; 5th Dave & Ann; 6th Bob
That’s Leaders in 3rd, 4th and 5th places!
On handicap it looks impossible to split Hugh and Julian for 1st place, so we’ll leave that to the spreadsheet!  There should be no change in the other positions.
Thanks to David C and the OOD team of Jon, Nick, Cliff and Chris.
nt from Windows Mail

SOOD NEEDED MONDAY 29th

We have a last minute problem with no SOOD for Mondays Lex Cup race. If someone is available to do this then please let me know or just turn up. This can be taken as a swap for a duty that you have later in the year. If no one is available then the race will be CANCELLED. I will be away myself on that day.

Newton

Weekend Painting

There will be some disruption during the weekend and the start of next week as we continue to paint the changing rooms.
If you are able to provide any assistance during Saturday, Sunday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday then please pop down to the club or drop us an email.
There are plenty of jobs from grinding the floors, through hoovering and washing to painting and even just making cups of tea.  The more members who volunteer means the work gets done quicker and we can all get back to sailing.

Gillette Series 19 – 17th August

The forecast was for an Easterly wind of 7 mph, but it turned out to be more of a NE wind between 0 and 5 mph! Rod used a Committee Boat start just North of Tektona with a first beat to X (which was in line with 7 but further down the lake) then 5p, 2s, 4s and back through the start. Well that was the plan, but the wind was so light that the course was shortened and the race finished at 2.
 
There were 12 starters, which was quite good considering the conditions. The fleet split into two groups at the start with one group heading out left to the buoy line and another group heading straight down the lake. Newton (Solo) led the buoy line group and Ellen who had gone to a full rig Laser led the middle of the lake group. Ellen rounded the first mark just in the lead from Newton so there was not that much difference in choice of course.
As to be expected in the light winds the fleet got well spread out and there was not a great deal of overtaking.
At the gun the positions on the water were 1st Newton (Solo), 2nd Ellen (Laser), 3rd Dean & Nick (Vago), 4th Julian W (Solo), 5th Karen (Laser) 6th Mike A (Lightning).
Dave I (Laser) was 7th just ahead of Bob (Solo) with Nev in the first Leader next, then Rick (Laser) followed by Dave & Ann in the second Leader and Paul H (Supernova).
On handicap the first two should keep their positions but Julian should move up to 3rd with Mike A 4th ,
Dean & Nick 5th and Karen 6th.
 
Juniors
Edward and Joe were out in their Toppers and Jemima in her Oppie. Edward managed to ease away from Joe to lead at the finish and Jemima resolutely kept going to get a finish and a third place. After finishing her race Karen kindly remained on the water to sail alongside Jemima giving her encouragement.
The final position were 1st Edward, 2nd Joe, 3rd Jemima, but it is interesting to note that had Edward been sailing in the adult series he would have got a 2nd place on handicap!  
 
Thanks to Rod and the OOD Team of Bob H, Martin W and Neil B.
 
 

Summer Series 10 – 14th August

A lovely morning, but not much wind about 2 – 5 mph from NNW. Paul R set an Olympic style course starting somewhere above Tektona then down to Xp, 5p, 4p and back through the start.
 
Pursuit Race
There were only nine starters which was probably due to the absence of wind and summer holidays. After everyone had rounded the first mark the wind dropped off completely for about 10 minutes, but gradually picked up again. There was only one lap and the gun went shortly after the last boat had crossed the line.
The final positions were –
1st Karen – Laser; 2nd Nev – Leader; 3rd Jess B – Laser; 4th Ellen & Newton-RS200; 5th Dave I – Laser; 6th Dean & Nick – Vago.
 
Handicap Race
Jess and Dave I decided that they could not take any more excitement so sat this one out.
Newton & Ellen were first back through the start line with Nev 2nd and Karen 3rd. Then there was quite a gap before Dean & Nick came through in 4th place with Paul W in a Radial 5th, Mike A – Lightning 6th and Chris H – Comet 7th.
The only change on the second lap was Karen getting past Nev to move to 2nd place and the fleet had split into two groups with the first three boats pulling away.
There were no changes on the last lap, but Dean & Nick did make up some ground on the three boats ahead of them.
Final positions on the water were –
1st Newton & Ellen; 2nd Karen; 3rd Nev; 4th Dean & Nick; 5th Paul W ; 6th Mike A
 
On handicap Nev should move up to 2nd and Chris H move up to 5th.
 
Thanks to Paul R and the OOD Team of Bob H, Chris S, David M, David P and Maggie W. 
 

Gillette Series 18 – 10th August

Steve S had difficulty in setting a start line and a course as the wind was swinging round so much. Eventually just before the start it settled down to a WSW about 5- 8 mph and Steve used X as the first mark, close to 5 on the buoy line, then 9s, 5p, 4p, 8p and back through the start line.
 
Karen (Laser) was first back through the start followed by Newton (Solo) and these two had pulled a slight gap on Hugh (Laser), who came through in 3rd place. Bob (Solo) had got away well and was right behind Hugh with another gap back to Dean & Nick (Vago) in 5th place. Julian out in the third Solo was 6th but only just ahead of Paul H (Supernova). At the rear of the fleet Mike A (Lightning), Rick (Laser), Dave I (Laser) and Sally & Stuart (Leader) were having a good battle.
 
At the end of the second lap the two leaders came through in the same order, but Karen had eased out slightly. Bob had managed to get past Hugh to move up to 3rd. Paul H had gained two places to move up to 5th place and Rick had gained a place to 8th.
 
On the third lap the first four had maintained station, but Julian had moved up to 5th and the boats behind these five were constantly changing position.
 
At the end of the fourth and last lap Karen crossed the line well ahead to take the victory. The only movers behind her were Dean & Nick regaining 6th place and Rick reclaiming the 8th place he had lost on the lap before.
 
The final positions on the water were –
1st Karen; 2nd Newton; 3rd Bob; 4th Hugh; 5th Julian; 6th Dean & Nick
 
On handicap the first three should keep their places, but Julian should move up to 4th and Mike A to 5th pushing Hugh back to 6th.
 
Juniors
The juniors were back in action tonight with Edward and Joe in their Toppers and Jemima in her Oppie.
The honours on the water went to Joe who led for the whole of the race with Edward in 2nd place and Jemima 3rd, but the sting is in the tail because on handicap Jemima should take the final victory.
 
Thanks to Steve S and the OOD Team of Bill C, Peter C, Robert B and Steve P. 
 

Gillette Series 17 – 3rd August 2016

It was very lively tonight with a WSW wind about 15 mph, but gusting considerably more than that !
Mike N set a first beat down to 4, then 3p, 9p, 5s, 6s, 7s and back through the start.
 
Some decided that the best place was the clubhouse deck, but 12 hopefuls took to the water.
Ellen (Radial) and Rick (Laser) both capsized before the start. Ellen manged to get going again but Rick had impaled his mast in the mud and did not make the start line. Angela & Paula (Comet Duo) also had problems, but did finally manage to get away some distance behind the rest of the fleet.
 
First back though the start line was Paul R (Aero with the 5 sail)) followed by Steve S (Laser – but using a Radial rig). Curtis (Radial) came through in 3rd place with Newton (Solo) 4th, Hadey (4.7) 5th and Nev & Sally (Leader) 6th just ahead of Ross (Laser), who was followed by the second Leader of Dave & Ann. Ellen after her late start had already made up some ground and came through in 9th place ahead of Richard H (Laser) and Mike A (Lightning) with Angela & Paula bringing up the rear.
 
The first five retained position at the end of the second lap, but Ross had moved up one place to 6th, Ellen was up two places to 7th and Dave & Ann had managed to get past Nev& Sally in the battle of the Leaders. Angela and Paula decided to call it a night after one lap.
 
Newton retired on the third lap when his boom came out of the gooseneck, but family honour was upheld as Ellen had gained another three places to move up to 4th. The only other mover  was Richard H who had caught and passed Nev & Sally.
 
On the fourth lap and last lap the only changes in position were Ross taking 5th place from Hadey and Richard H passing Dave & Ann.
 
The final positions on the water were –
1st Paul R; 2nd Steve S; 3rd Curtis; 4th Ellen; 5th Ross; 6th Hadey.
 
On handicap there should be a number of changes resulting in –
1st Paul; 2nd Hadey; 3rd Curtis; 4th Ellen; 5th Steve S; 6th Ross
 
Thanks to Mike N and the OOD Team of Jessica W, Chris A, Nick J, Hugh L, James C and Nigel J.
 
An amusing and at the time perplexing occurrence was the appearance of a fountain in Mike A’s Lightning. This happened several times during the race and Mike could not understand why this was happening. On reflection the only explanation would seem to be that the pressure of the wind was forcing the nose of the boat down into the water (the mast is set well forward on the Lightning) and to counter this Mike was leaning out to the back of the boat. The combined effect was to force the hull of the boat down into the water and the resultant displacement pressure forced water up the self bailer causing a fountain !
If anyone out there has a more viable explanation Mike would be interested to hear from you.  
 

Sunday Racing 31st July Another Reminder

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,

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