Tuesday Sailing

Tuesday night's race was sailed in near perfect conditions; bright sunshine and a brisk south-westerly wind with stronger gusts and shifts. Race officer Mark Dashfield set a triangular course with a down wind start from the middle of the bay to Monkstone, gybing there and across to the eastern and upwind from there back to the start. At the start, Jon Morris in his RS600 was first away closely followed by the Ospreys of Ted Lewis and Matt Goldwait, Mike Stace and Deanna Morton, Paul Redford and Steve Garvey and Nick Berridge and Richard John. In the middle of it all was Tommy D'Ortez in the club Laser. Osprey spinnakers were hoisted and the race was on. Ted and Matt established an early lead and sailed away to take the win; Mike and Deanna secured second with a battle between Paul and Steve, Nick and Richard and Tommy in the Laser for the minor places. Paul and Steve broke their spinnaker pole and this enabled Nick and Richard to pass them downwind to take third and Tommy to take fourth on corrected time. Paul and Steve were fifth with Jon finding conditions tough bringing up the rear.

Sunday Racing

The murky drizzly and windy weather on Sunday reduced the entrants to the mornings club race to four. Dan Jackson in his RS600, Ted Lewis and Matt Goldwait and Paul Redford with Steve Garvey in their Ospreys and Danny Owen in his Vareo braved the elements with Richard John seeing to the formalities of PRO. As race time approached, the visibility improved and drizzle ceased leaving only the strong and gusty wind to be dealt with by the competitors. Danny, in his Vareo, quickly decided the wind was too much and returned to shore, but the other three started together at the line by Monkstone with a beat in to the harbour; Dan rounded the windward mark just ahead of Ted and Matt with Paul and Steve not far behind. The leg to the eastern was quite broad so Osprey spinnakers were hoisted for a fast leg out to sea. Gybing at the eastern the reach across to Monkstone was too tight for spinnakers, but fast nonetheless with Dan leading inches ahead of Ted and Matt. Back onto the beat Dan went in towards the cliffs whilst Ted and Matt stayed further out to sea; the inshore route payed and Dan established a decent lead by the windward mark. Downwind again the Ospreys were chasing hard, but at the gybe Ted and Matt were demolished by a gust capsizing them and ending their chance of catching Dan, who took the win on corrected time from Ted and Matt with Paul and Steve in third. 

Cruiser Racing

The fifth cruiser race saw only four boats come to the start, in a blustery force 4 to 5 WSW wind. Blake Shaw in Slipstream, got away to a good downwind start towards the Monkstone mark, and held the lead to the end. Meanwhile, Roy Lawrence in Astra, Billy Stubbs in Apatshe and Steve Lewis in Aries, swapped position several times during the two visits to North Highcliff and Giltar Spit buoys. However, after racing for one hour and 40 minutes, Astra crossed the finishing line one-and-a-half minutes ahead of Apatshe, and two-and-a-half minutes ahead of Aries. On corrected time, Slipstream came first, with Astra and Apatshe tied in second place and Aries fourth, only 30 seconds behind. 

Results: 1. Slipstream; 2. Apatshe and Astra; 4. Aries.

Saturday Training

The first Saturday free sailing for adults took place last Saturday in a testing f4-5 SW. Under the watchful eye of Mark Dashfield, five sailors enjoyed the gusty conditions using the reefed TSC Toppers. He was ably assisted by Jonathan Morris, an experienced UK Toper squad member, Roy 'Guns' Clayton who ran the races and Wayne and Daniel Morgan providing safety cover. Beach duties and tractor driving was undertaken by Karin Morris; the sailors expressed their thanks to all volunteers

After a training session of reaching, mark rounding and sailing to a transits, the fleet enjoyed two short but exciting races dominated (this week) by Jeremy Stace Smith with the others having close racing behind them. It is anticipated that they will soon be joining the main fleet for club racing.

There will be no session tomorrow (Saturday) due to the Dashfield wedding celebrations. Watch the press article for details of the next session.

Junior Sailing

Last Wednesday's junior training session was again very well attended considering the conditions. Sailing was deemed a 'no-go' so it was land based tuition for the plethora of eager juniors. They were split into three groups, with instructors Sian May and Jonathan Morris taking then level 1 group, Blake Shaw the level 2 group and Nick Berridge doing the level 3 and level 4 work. It is hoped that with regular attendance the trainees will be gaining their certificates at the end of three or four more sessions. All were treated to the universally acclaimed BBQ - thanks to Karin Morris and Jane Stewart-Walvin for keeping the ravenous at bay.

Flag Raising

As well as junior training, the new 75th anniversary flag was ceremonially raised. Commodore, Terry Evans, chose one of the juniors to assist him in raising the flag. The winning ticket drawn was Deryn May who duly raised the flag witnessed by several members who raised a glass of 'bubbly' in celebration.

Jam Evening

The next acoustic jam will be held on Monday, June 13, followed by an electric jam on Monday, June 20. It's the place to be!

Howard

Howard is catering as normal this weekend. Howard deserves our support so come on down and enjoy great food in warm and convivial surrounding. Last week's steak pie was acclaimed by a visitor as the best he has ever tasted and will return to eat another day!

The club will be open every evening and Sunday lunchtime until further notice.

Subscriptions

Annual subscriptions are way, way, way overdue - hint, hint!

Website

Information on club activities etc can be found on the club's website. This is a very friendly and welcoming club which endeavours to involve all members in a variety of activities. If anyone would like to join us, now is an ideal time especially with the discount still on offer. Contact any member who will be delighted to furnish you with further details.

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