Dinghy Sailing News

Novice Day.

What a turn out! We had 18 boats in all. 4 Wayfarers, 3 Lasers, 1 Laser 2000, 1 RS Vision, 1 Optimus, 1 Rocket,

1 Pico, 1 Topper Byte, 1 420, 1 GP14, 1 Enterprise, 1 Comet, 1 Feva. A mixed fleet you could say.

Neil Boyce (race officer) gave us all a briefing about basic sailing rules and told us what we would be doing during the day.

Given wind direction it was decided that we should all go down to Russels Lake. It took quite a while to launch and everyone lent a hand. We spent the morning at Russels. There was a figure of eight course to get everyone warmed up, then a triangular course to practice all points of sail.

Back to the club for lunch. After the break Neil set two short races near to the club.

The day was very successful and except for one capsize due to a breakage it was without incident.

Well done to all the novice sailors and thanks to all those who helped make the day a hit.

Don’t forget the Saturday series – this is especially for the new/novice sailor.

Sword Sands fun sail.

With bats, balls and lunch all ready the day dawned grey, overcast and it was raining. We turned up at the club to find the patrol boat and 2 boats ready to go – OK perhaps it will clear up! Sadly this was not to be. On reaching the sands another boat (a cruiser) was also ready and waiting for the games to begin. What a lovely man, he invited all 6 of us on board and warmed us up with a cup of coffee – thanks for that. We then all pushed off back to the club, unfortunately he still had some time to wait.

Priory Bay

We had been along the seafront and had seen 3 large yachts struggling against the strong winds. On arriving at the club to cancel the day there was not a soul to be seen. They had obviously seen the weather forecast, I believe the winds reached an eight during the day. Hopefully we might find another day in the calendar to reschedule.

Thanks,

Linda Vacher.

Round Hayling Island Dinghy Cruise

Well what can I say – a great days sail! The sun was shining and the sea was blue(ish) and the seals were there to see us off. The boats were all rigging up for the day, there was 1 Byte, 1 Comet, 1 Kestrel, 1 Lark, 1 Laser 2000, 1 Leader, 1 Magno, 1 Skipper, 6 Wayfarers and of course the patrol boat which the Uni provided crew for (many thanks for that guys).

The wind was quite light on the way out of Langstone and a couple of boats had to work hard to get out of ‘the run’. We gathered near the Fairway Beacon then set of East towards Chichester Bar. From what I gather about half the boats went round the beacon and the others took the inner passage close to the beach – a bit of a bumpy ride but good fun.

One boat decided to do a (practice) capsize to entertain the onlookers and with the aid of the patrol boat he too landed safely on the sandy beach.

Colin says it isn’t a race but they did get there first!

A bite to eat, a rest and a chat then we were off on a ‘run’ down to Langstone bridge. Being on a ‘run’ we kept fairly much as a group and arrived at LSC around the same time, the skipper and two wayfarers went under the bridge the other 11 boats were quickly wheeled over the bridge by the trolleys provided by members of Langstone SC. With the women holding on to the boats and the men taking the boats over the road we did this operation in record time – what cooperation folks.

The last leg of our journey took us across Langstone Harbour and back to the slip for about 17.00 hours, two boats had GPS and recorded a distance of 19.3 NM. (over 5 hours sailing).

Thanks to ;- Langstone Sailing Club for the use of their trolleys – we couldn’t do this trip without this help.

The Patrol boat crew – very professional.

The guys who provided dry warm clothes for the chap providing the entertainment.

Everyone who joined us for the day, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

Linda Vacher.

Langstone at High Water Cruise Report- Saturday 10th September

Six boats set off just before high tide at 15.00 hours for the High Water Dinghy Cruise.

We headed East by North East over to Oyster Island, we could see the bottom for a good bit of the time but had plenty of water. We stopped on Oyster for a quick look round and between us shared a bit of the history of the Island. From there we had a gentle run North towards the Binness channel and slid silently through looking at the many Oyster Catchers and Egrets.

For more photos of the High Water Cruise, please on the picture above...

It was now nearly 18.00 hours so we headed back to Tudor and as there was still enough water we sailed across Mulberry Sands.

We reached the slip at about 18.45.

Thanks to everyone who came and of course thanks to the Patrol boat crew.

Langstone at Low Water Cruise Report- Saturday 13 August

The forecast was not too good, shall we go, shan’t we go?? Well the 8 boats who had turned decided we would go. So at just after 10.00a.m. we were off. At the beginning there was not really enough wind however we all sailed down to Sword Sands and swapped crew, from there we went on round to Rod and Alpha then stopped to regroup on the gravel spit just north of that point. After consulting our charts we all set off north passing Nap and Long Island to port. We followed the channel almost to the gravel yard. For the return journey the wind picked up and we had two capsizes, one of which turned turtle – no problem for the wonderful patrol boat crew! After a battle upwind back to Sword Sands we had a quick bite to eat. The wind was quite gusty and strong by this time so 6 of the boats reefed down and we all set off back to Tudor, we arrived safe and well on the slip at about 14.30.

Seals in Langstone Harbour

I’ll finish with some of the words/comments from the participants who described the day. Fantastic good fun, challenging, a steep learning curve, entertaining, exciting, invigorating, instructive, exhausting. Thank you one and all I had a great day. The finish very well timed – the heavens opened 10 minutes after we got back. We checked ‘cambernet’ when we got home and the wind had been up to a good six. So well done everyone – we set off in a 2 and returned in a 6.

Linda Vacher.
lindavacher@hotmail.com

Tudor Sailing Club Regatta 2005

The annual Tudor Sailing Club regatta was held on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th July. The event this year attracted a total of 35 dinghies sailing in fast, medium and slow handicap fleets for three races over the two days and 7 cruisers sailing two races, one on each day. Saturdays racing was due to start at 1230 but was postponed a short time to allow the wind to fill in, conditions for the first race were perfect for a summers afternoon sailing, sunny with some wind (not enough for quite a few).The three dinghy fleets were set different courses of varying lengths according to the speed of the boat, this meant that each fleet had its own racing area and no inter fleet clashes occured. The winner of the fast handicap in race 1 was Adrian Stell in his newly acquired RS700, in the medium handicap the wayfarer of John Burchett and Roger Threadingham from Locks SC won the race by a comfortable margin, the slow fleet was won by the Enterprise sailed by Malcolm Clubley and Theresa Nunn. The racing on Saturday was followed in the evening by a drama from Lamados and a lovely pig roast. Those who had complained that there was not enough wind on Saturday must have been doing a wind dance at the social as there was more than plenty the next day.

Sunday dawned grey and windy, and the race officer decided to postpone the first race of the day as the weather was forecasted to clear up in the afternoon and visibilty was very poor. Racing started after lunch and the first race of the day got underway at 1pm for the cruiser fleet and at 1.10pm for the fast handicap dinghies. Five cruisers entered the second race of the weekend and after a race of just under two hours the yacht Grey Mantle helmed by Keith Prior Smith and crewed by Roy Stickley both of whom are regatta veterans was declared the winner, the yacht also won the first race. In order to fit two dinghy races in, the usual fun races had to be cancelled after agreement from the many competitors. The two dinghy races on Sunday were raced under strenous conditions and many found it an acheivement to get all the way through both races without falling over (or losing their crew overboard). The wind hampered the fast fleet many of whom found it difficult to stay upright for any length of time, however the slow fleet managed to stay capsize free for both races. Racing within each fleet was very close with the lead changing often. Hard hiking by the girls in the Graduate meant that they achieved a 2nd place in the first race on Sunday in the slow fleet, this was their best result of the weekend. Hard work from Cath and Tracey in their Wayfarer also paid off and they posted a third place in the first race of the day, previous injuries meant that they were unable to enter the second race of the day but their combined results left them 3rd overall in the medium handicap. The two races in the fast fleet were both won by Mark Webb in his RS600 with second place in the first race taken by Chris Ayres and Len Rich in the Buzz.

A good weekend was had by all, thanks must go to Sandie Parker and her team of race officers and patrol boat crew, Sandra Hunt and the team from the galley who provied their usual excellent service and the volunteers in the bar.

For full Dinghy results - Click Here

For Cruiser Results - Click Here

If you have any photos of the regatta that you would like everyone to see can you please e mail them to the webmaster, thanks.

Priory Bay Cruise, Saturday 16th July 2005

Sadly I omitted to tell people about the sand bar just off of Priory bay
so the ladies (of at least three boats) jumped out to pull their men folk ashore only to end up wading in 4 foot of water before they reached the beach. Sorry about that, I'll include in the briefing next year! A good day was had by all, hopefully it will be just a nice next year.