Reading Sailing Club Members

With a SSE wind 12 – 15 mph, Adrian set the first mark as 1 then 2, 9, 6, 4 and back through the start line. There were 11 starters this morning and they all stayed out for both races.

Pursuit Race

At the end of the first lap the early starters were still out in front with Ron/Mirror leading Paul W/Morbic, Chris H/Comet, Roland/Solo and Aileen/Comet. Then came the Lasers of Incognito 1, Darren and Ralph, who were followed by Alessandro & Mike T/470 and then two more Lasers helmed by Nigel and Incognito 2!

By the end of the second lap Roland had taken over the lead with Incognito 1 moving up to 2^nd place and Darren up to 3^rd. Chris H and Ron were still hanging on in 4^th and 5^th and Ralph had moved up two places to 6^th.

At the gun the final order was – 1^st Roland; 2^nd Darren; 3^rd Ingonito 1; 4^th Chris H; 5^th Ralph; 6^th Alessandro & Mike T.

Handicap Race

Before the start of the second race Adrian changed the course to 1, A, 5, 4, and back through the start.

Daren/Laser was first back across the line some 20 seconds ahead of Ralph/Laser, who was closely followed by Roland/Solo. Then Chris K/Laser and Alessandro & Mike T/470 crossed the line abreast battling for 4^th place.  Mark/Laser was next through in 6^th about 30 seconds ahead of Chris H/Comet. Some 30 seconds later Nigel/Laser crossed one minute ahead of Ron/Mirror with Aileen/Comet on his transom and she was followed by Paul W in his Morbic.

At the end of Lap 2, Darren still led, but Chris K was up to 2^nd and Alessandro & Mike T up to 3^rd.  This pushed Ralph and Roland down to 4^th and 5^th places. Behind these the order remained the same although Mark had increased his Lead over Chris H to two minutes.

No change in the first two on Lap 3, but Ralph had repassed Alessandro & Mike T to move up to 3^rd place and Mark had passed Roland to move to 5^th. Further back Nigel passed Chris H to move to 7^th and Aileen passed Ron to move to 9^th. Both Ron and Paul W received the gun at the end of this lap.

Lap 4 was the last and Darren crossed in 1^st place followed by Chris K in 2^nd. Alessandro & Mike regained 3^rd place by getting past Ralph, but there were no other changes in position.

The order on the water was – 1^st Darren; 2^nd Chris K; 3^rd Alessandro & Mike T; 4^th Ralph; 5^th Mark; 6^th Roland.

On corrected time this becomes – 1^st Darren; 2^nd Chris K; 3^rd Ralph; 4^th Roland; 5^th Mark; 6^th Chris H

Thanks to SOOD Adrian Frost and the race team of Andy Field, Helen Juon and Paul Hyde.

Not sure if there were any more OODs, but these were the only names on the race sheet. Bob Hine and John Windass were down on the rota, so thank you too if you were there

Even windier than last Sunday with Storm Eunice coming through from the SW at 20-40 mph and even stronger gusts! There were 6 brave souls willing to give it a go.  

Pursuit Race

Not sure of the course, but there four laps before the 35 minute gun signaled the end of the race. Ron/Mirror was still leading at the end of the first lap with Chris K/Radial in 2^nd place and Alessandro & Mike T/470 in 3^rd. Both Roland/Solo and Tom M/Radial capsized before they had even completed one lap. Both boats got stuck in the lake bottom and Tom had to be fished out of the water and his boats rescued afterwards. Poor Roland managed to get back into his boat and carried on sailing the race only to have his tiller extension break at the very end of the race.

After two laps Chris K Had taken the lead but Ron was hanging on to 2^nd place but another lap later Alessandro & Mike T had pushed him down to 3^rd. Chris K held his lead to the finish, but declined the chance to gybe round 6!

At the gun the order was – 1^st Chris K; 2^nd Alessandro & Mike T; 3^rd Ron; 4^th Roland.

After the race ended SOOD Mark rescued Toms boat and sailed it back to shore, unfortunately getting a bang on the head from the boom in the process!  (However he was hailed the hero of the day by Hadey and AileenI

Handicap Race

With Roland’s Solo out of action and Tom still recovering the fleet was down to just three.

At the end of the first lap the order was 1^st Chris K, 2^nd Mike T & Alessandro; 3^rd Ron and this did not change until the last lap. Ron hid behind the island for a brief respite and then managed two laps before capsizing over the buoy line.

On the last lap Chris K capsized rounding 6 (should have stuck to tacking round!) and let Mike T & Alessandro snatch victory on the water. Chris K did get going again to get a 2^nd place finish.

Hero Mark sprang into action again to retrieve Ron’s Mirror!

On corrected time Chris K did take 1^st place with Mike & Alessandro 2^nd and Ron a DNF (not to be sniffed at in such a small fleet).

Well done lads for gallantry (and providing the entertainment).

Tektona sinks!

Just before this, as the second race was less eventful Mark and Rick went to check on Tectona. Sadly it had so much water in it from the storm that when Rick got on to fix something, it started slowly sinking. Rick was safely back in the power boat when Tektona finally went under about 10 minutes later. No one on shore could believe it – end of an era!

Rick has now sealed his place as the leading contender for the Capsize Cup (displacing James’s heroic feat of a couple of weeks ago).

Rick has the hat trick with capsizes in a Laser, RS200 and Tektona. He will go down in club history as the man who sunk Tektona and may even be known henceforth as Tektona Lindsley!

Thanks to SOOD and Super Hero Mark and the race team of Aileen, Chris Hilson, Hadey Lines, Nigel Dawson, Richard Flood and Tektona Lindsley.

Another windy morning, blowing about 20 mph from the South with stronger gusts up to 30-35 mph. Rick set the first mark as A (just past Tektona), then 1, 2, 4, 8, 6, 7 and back through the start.

There were eight takers this week, but most of them took some precaution against the tricky conditions. Darren opted for a radial rig but was sailing to the full rig handicap. Chris H used his small sail on the Comet and Roland and Paul W used reefed sails. Chris Kilshaw was the only full rig Laser out today.

Before the race got underway the Scottish SB of Stewart and Scott had to retrieve the other SB from the bushes as a certain person (Jolly Sailor – best time to have a pseudonym) had not hitched it securely. Still the Scots have a lot of practice at rescuing lost causes (that’s blown the holiday at Dumfries again!).

Rick kindly fetched a chair for Hadey (still on crutches poor soul) so that she could sit down to record race positions.

Pursuit Race

At the end of the first lap Ron/Mirror was still leading and Darren/Laser was  2^nd having caught Roland/Solo. Chris H/Comet was in 4^th place ahead of Chris K/Laser, who had capsized rounding 6. Mike T & Alessandro/470 who were last to start were up to 6^th and Paul W/Morbic was 7^th. Mike C came to grief rounding No 4 and came in to retire.

On the second lap, Chris K capsized again, also when rounding No 4, but unfortunately found himself on the wrong side of the buoy line and had to sail all the way down to the gap past No 6!

At the 35 minute gun, the order was -1^st Darren; 2^nd Roland; 3^rd Mike T & Alessandro; 4^th Ron; 5^th Chris H; 6^th Paul W.  

Handicap Race

After a short break to give Chris H time to finish his elevenses, everyone got underway.

Not for long as Chris K went over about 5 seconds after starting, but undeterred he quickly got going again. Mike T & Alessandro were going well in the 470 and came though the line over a minute ahead of Darren in 2^nd place. Chris K had recovered to 3^rd place crossing the line just 10 seconds in front of Roland. Two minutes later Ron crossed in 5^th with Chris H 30 seconds behind him and Paul W another 4 minutes later.

At the end of the second lap Mike T & Alessandro were still leading from Darren. Chris K came round 6 in 3^rd place, but then had a mishap rounding 7, appeared to fall backwards and entertained the geese with a few choice words that they may not have heard before! This gave Roland the chance to cross the line in 3^rd place. Meanwhile Ron was taking a breather by the buoy line and dropping his sail to test his uphaul and letting Chris H sneak past him. Paul W was still going and at one point even seemed to have his Morbic on the plane. Chris H, Ron and Paul were relieved of further travail after two laps.

No change in the order on the last lap with Mike T & Alessandro finishing in 1^st place some 4 minutes ahead of Darren, who in turn was about two minutes ahead of Roland in 3^rd place.

The order on the water was – 1^st Mike & Alessandro; 2^nd Darren; 3^rd Roland, then one lap down 4^th Chris H; 5^th Ron; 6^th Paul W and Chris K retired.

On corrected time this becomes –

1^st Darren; 2^nd Mike & Alessandro; 3^rd Roland; 4^th Ron; 5^th Chris H; 6^th Paul W

Thanks to SOOD Rick Lindsley and the race team of Alistair Scott, Chris Howie, Hadey Lines; Ian Stewart and Mike Arnott.

After two light wind Sundays it was blowing a hoolie this morning! The BBC weather forecast had 20 mph with stronger gusts, but it may have been more than that. The safety boats were very busy and the OOD team (plus Ralph) were keeping a rough tally of capsizes as well as race positions.

Pursuit Race

Seven hardy souls set out and at the end of a lap Rhys/4.7 was in the lead with Chris K/Laser in 2^nd place and Paul R/Aero 7 in 3^rd. There had already been a number of capsizes and Chris H/Comet said it was the windiest he had ever sailed in and retired after only half a lap or so. Chris K/Laser also retired later in the race. The rest of the fleet persevered to complete the 35 minutes and the order at the gun was – 1^st Darren/Laser; 2^nd Rhys/4.7; 3rdPaul R/Aero 7; 4^th Ed/Aero 5; 5^th James/Laser

All the racers were incredibly brave to go out and some very talented sailors did remarkable well to only capsize once or twice.

Capsize Tally (approximate – may have been a few missed!)

James            17

Rhys               4

Chris K           3

Paul R            3

Chris H           2

Darren            1

Ed                   1

Full marks for perseverance go to James P who somehow had the energy to finish the race despite capsizing approximately 17 times! Don’t know how he did it, but definitely the leading contender for the Capsize Cup.

The Handicap Race did not run as everyone decided to come off the water after the first race, apart from Paul and Ed in the Aeros. Well you have to be a bit mad to sail an Aero anyway!

Well done to everyone for facing such challenging conditions.

Thanks to SOOD Steve Sharp and the race team of Aileen, Dave Royse, Carsten Pieser, Colin Heaven, Mike Caton, Nigel Lacey and Ralph Page.

It was a light wind last week, but it was even lighter this morning! Last week James used four letters (No – not that four!) and this week Mike T used three letter and one number making an extended rounding of Number 5 before returning through the traditional start line. Next week it may well be a circuit of the outer start line mark!

Pursuit Race

There were 12 drifters out for this race and with only 35 minutes to go it was not surprising that the faster handicap later starting boats did not catch the early starters, although Rhys and Chris K in their Lasers did get past Chris H/Comet, despite Chris sporting a crisp looking new sail. Rhys has joined James in the black sail gang, perhaps the black absorbs energy from the sun like mobile solar panels?

At the gun Mike C/Solo led from Aileen/Comet and Roland/Solo and with Rhys 4^th and Chris K 5^th. Chris H was next just in front of black sail James followed by Nigel/Laser and Newton & Sam/RS200. Next was Ron, usually much further up the order in a light wind, but he is still working off the Christmas puddings! Behind him were Hilary/Radial and Paul W & Robin/Morbic.

Handicap Race

Thomas and Lucy M in Radials joined the fleet for the second race and notably Alessandro in his smart new Aero.

Unfortunately, the wind was still largely absent, and it became a one lap race with the fleet split into small groups.

First back across the line was Chris H who had obviously got to grips with his new sail. Then two minutes later Mike C crossed just in front of Aileen having managed to get past her just after the last mark before the finish.

There was a gap of four minutes and Chris K just pipped Alessandro for 4^th place by just one second. Newton & Sam were 6^th, two minutes ahead of Rhys. Then five minutes later there was a tight group led by Roland ahead of James P, Thomas, Hilary and Lucy. Two minutes later Nigel crossed the line with Ron another two minutes later.

In the midst of the gently moving dinghies the fastest boat on the water was Paul W’s Morbic, propelled by the enthusiastic use of oars.

On corrected time the order is – 1^st Chris H; 2^nd Aileen; 3^rd Mike C; 4^th Chris K; 5^th Newton & Sam; 6^th Ron.

The only proviso would be if Alessandro was sailing an Aero 7 or Aero 9. If it was an Aero7 he would be 5^th ahead of Newton & Sam!

Thanks to SOOD Mike Trussler and the race team of Adam & Gill Brash, Bea Primrose, Chris Sharp, Marcin Tiela and Peter Strobel.

It was a very light wind this morning coming from the SSE and varying from 0 to 3 mph! In the absence of a breeze James P decided to use a letter course, using the right letters but not necessarily in the right order (to quote Mr Morecambe!), A, D, B, C and back through the S.

It was also one of those rare occasions when the numbers of the race team matched the numbers on the water.

Pursuit Race

With the light wind and the fiendishly short course there were just over three laps before the 35 minute gun sounded. For the first two laps the order remained the same with early starter Ron/Mirror leading from the Comets of Chris H and Aileen with Roland/Solo in 4^th place. The Lasers of Mike T and Chris K were next with Paul W/Morbic ahead of Nigel/Laser.

Not sure what happened, but Chris H had a disastrous third lap dropping from 2^nd to 5^th. Ron was still leading but Aileen was now 2^nd and Mike T had moved up to 3^rd ahead of Roland and Chris K. Nigel and Ron did not actually complete their third lap before the gun sounded.

The final order was 1^st Aileen; 2^nd Mike T; 3^rd Ron; 4^th Roland; 5^th Chris K; 6^th Chris H.

Handicap Race

The wind did pick up slightly on the second lap, which resulted in a six lap race for the leaders.

Chris H was first back across the line just ahead of Mike T, who was followed closely by Aileen, Chris K and Roland. Ron was next across followed by Nigel and Paul W in his usual position.

By the end of the second lap the two Lasers of Mike T and Chris K had moved to the front pushing Chris H down to 3^rd with Roland passing Aileen to move to 4^th with no further changesbehindthem.

On the third lap Chris K and Chris H passed Mike T to move to 1^st and 2^nd. The only other change was Nigel passing Rom to move to 6^th place. Paul received the gun at the end of his third lap.

The fourth and fifth laps saw no change in the order, but Nigel and Ron were finished at the end of their fifth laps.

So, the fleet was down to five for the final lap and perhaps unsurprisingly in the light conditions there was still no change in the order which was – 1^st Chris K; 2^nd Chris H, 3^rd Mike T; 4^th Roland; 5^th Aileen with Nigel and Ron one lap short in 6^th and 7^th and Paul 8^th.

On corrected time the order changes to – 1^st Chris H; 2^nd Chris K; 3^rd Aileen; 4^th Mike T; 5^th Roland; 6^th Ron.

Thanks to SOOD James Primrose along with Bea & Rhys Primrose, Ainhoa Montero de Espinala, Graham Kneebone, James Coombs, Joanne Holden and Marcin Tiela.

With a light SW wind varying 2-5 mph, Ron set pretty well the same course as last week, 4, 9, 5, 6, 7 and back through the start.

Pursuit Race

11 starters this morning and it was good to see Chris and Toby out in their Omega.

In the light wind the earlier starting boats could not be caught by the faster handicap boats and the order at the gun was –  

1^st Mike C/Solo; 2^nd Chris H/Comet; 3^rd Roland/Solo; 4^th Dave & Ann/Leader; 5^th Newton & Sam/RS200; 6^th Aileen/Comet

The only Laser out today was Chris K and he was 7^th with Alessandro & Mike T/470 next followed by Paul W/Morbic, Rick &Lottie/RS200 and Chris & Toby/Omega.

Handicap Race

Emily joined the second race, which turned out to be a one lapper with the first six boats fairly close together. Chris & Toby, Rick & Lottie and Paul retired leaving nine to finish.

The order on the water was – 1^st Alessandro & Mike T; 2^nd Roland; 3^rd Mike C; 4^th Chris H; 5^th Chris K; 6^th Aileen; 7^th Emily; 8^th Newton & Sam; 9^th Dave & Ann.

On corrected time this changes to – 1^st Chris H; 2^nd Roland; 3^rd Aileen; 4^th Mike C; 5^th Emily; 6^th Chris K

Thanks to SOOD Ron Vass and the race team of Dean Jones, Georgina Howell, Hadey Lines, Luke Dixon, Mike Todd and Paul Hyde.

With a SW wind about 10 mph, Ralph set the first beat down to 4, then A (going towards 2), 9, 5, 6, 7 and back through the start.

Pursuit Race

There were 15 starters and at the end of a lap the order was still pretty well the order that they had started, with the Comets of Aileen and Chris H followed by the Solos of Roland S and Mike C with Karen/Radial in 5^th place and the first Laser of Mike T in 6^th. At the gun the order was -1^st Chris H; 2^nd Aileen; 3^rd Mike C; 4^th Roland; 5^th Paul R (who was last to get away in his Aero); 6^th Karen

Handicap Race

Mark opted out of this one, so the fleet was now down to 14.

First back across the line was Paul/Aero and he led for all three laps of the race. The boats behind Paul were very close at the end of the first lap with Roland S in 2^nd place leading James P/Laser, Newton & Sam/RS200, Darren/Laser and  Mike T/Laser , all covered by 45 seconds. Karen/Radial crossed in 7^th place just one second ahead of Mike C/Solo with Chris H/Comet, Rick/Laser and Dave & Ann/Leader not far behind them.  Jon/Laser came through 30 seconds later in 12^th place, surprising for him as he is usually up towards the front. Also surprising was Aileen/Comet back in 13^th after her stellar second place in the first race! At the back Paul W was sailing merrily along in his Morbic.

By the end of the second lap, Paul had increased his lead at the front and Darren had moved up three places to 2^nd with James still in 3^rd with Roland down to 4^th. Newton & Sam had a bit of a fracas at No 4 and had to do turns resulting in Mike T, Mike C and Chris H all getting past them. Further back Jon gained two places getting past Dave & Ann and Rick. Paul W received the gun at the end of his second lap.

Paul finished in 1^st place and James managed to pip Darren for 2^nd spot. There was a really tight battle for 4^th place with Roland crossing just one second ahead of Mike T. Jon had a good last lap moving up four places to 6^th and Dave & Ann gained a place by passing Karen.

The order on the water was – 1^st Paul; 2^nd James P; 3^rd Darren; 4^th Roland; 5^th Mike T; 6^th Jon.

On corrected time this changes to – 1^st Chris H; 2^nd Roland; 3^rd James P; Equal 4^th  Paul and Darren; 6^th Mike T

Well done to Chris H with another double in his Comet.

Thanks to SOOD Ralph and the team of Alessandro, Bea, Chris Knt, Gareth E, Hadey and Jewels.

It was quite a pleasant morning for the cup race with a SW wind about 15 mph. Mike A set the first mark as 4 then 2, 9, 5, 6, 7 and back through the start.

There were 32 boats out, which may be a record for the New Year Cup and will take some beating as we go through 2022. It was good to see some new racers out and some returning after a spell away.

At the end of the first lap, James C/RS300 was already well in the lead with the Lasers of Mark and Ralph chasing followed by Newton & Sam in the RS200 and Roland in his Solo. Ed/Radial came through in 6^th not far ahead of Ken/Laser and Karen and Richard S in Radials and Chris K in another Laser. Then there was a large group battling for the mid-fleet positions with Emily/4.7, Dave & Ann/Leader, James P, Adrian, Jeremy and Rick in Lasers, Ella and Will in Radials and Mike C/Solo all in the mix. About a minute later Jewels/Mirror crossed the line leading Hattie/Radial and the Comets of Aileen and Chris H with Ron in his Mirror another minute further back. William/Topper and Dan S/Pico were having a good battle ahead of the Toppers of Francis, Peter A and 47518 (sorry we did not get your name down) and the Pico of Rebecca S. Paul W in his Morbic was the lanterne rouge holder, which was not surprising as he decide to change his rigging on the water during the start sequence!

Lap 2 saw no change in the order of the first five, but Chris K had moved up to 6^th. Further back Adrian gained two places passing Ken and Dave & Ann and Mike C, Jewels and Hattie got past Ella. In the battle of the Comets Chris was just ahead of Aileen and William in his Topper was just holding off Dan in the Pico.

On Lap 3, Richard S moved up to 5^th with no change in the positions ahead of him. Ken and Adrian and Will were fighting for 12^th place with Dave & Ann in 14^th and they were managing to stay ahead of Rick and Jeremy. Mike C was ploughing a lonely furrow and behind him Hattie had passed Jewels. Then there was a really close battle for 19^th place between Chris H and Aileen with Ron not far behind them. By this time a number of the back markers had retired, but Peter A and Paul W had persevered and were finished at the end of their third circuit.   

The end of Lap 4 saw James C even further ahead, but Mark, Ralph and Newton & Sam still retained their positions behind him. Roland had regained 5^th spot with Chris K still 6^th and Ed had moved past Karen to 7^th with Richard S and Emily behind her. Adrian, Will and James P (recovering from an earlier capsize) passed Dave & Ann to move up places and these were the last to avoid being lapped by James C finishing his race, although Rick did a bit of wiggling to ensure he was lapped! So, Rick, Jeremy, Mike C, Hattie, Chris H, Jewels, Aileen, Ron, Dan, William all received the gun at the end of this lap.

At the end of the fifth and last lap James C crossed the line in 1^st place some four minutes ahead of Mark in 2^nd. Chris K and Karen both gained places on this last lap to finish 5^th and 6^th.  The final order on the water was –

1^st James C; 2^nd Mark; 3^rd Ralph; 4^th Newton & Sam; 5^th Chris K; 6^th Karen. 

On corrected time there were some significant changes with the order becoming –

1^st Mark/Laser; 2^nd Emily/4.7; 3^rd Jewels/Mirror; 4^th Ralph/Laser; 5^th Karen/Radial; 6^th Chris K/Laser.

Thanks to SOOD Mike A and the race team of Adrian B, Bea P, Chris & Toby B, Frantz C, Jess B and Marcin T.

Not much wind this morning and only seven made it to the line for the post- Christmas dinner workout !

At the end of the first lap, Rhys/Laser led from Newton & Crew/RS200 with Chris K/Laser in 3^rd place. Then along came the Solos of Steve S and Roland followed at a distance by Chris H/Comet and Ron/Mirror.

By the end of the second lap Rhys had slipped back to 5^th place being overtaken by the four behind him who actually maintained their order, but all five were only separated by a few seconds.

With the wind disappearing the third lap took longer than the previous two laps together! Chris K crossed the line in 1^st place with Steve 2^nd, Rhys 3^rd and Newton 4th. Significantly Chris H had passed Roland to finish in 5^th place and Ron had decided not to bother with this lap!

On corrected time the Pennant will be waved by Chris H with his Comet handicap.

Thanks to SOOD James P and the race team of Bea, Brian M, Constanta and Peter A.