Club Sailing

Last Saturday the wind was light and southerly, the course started at Monkstone upwind into to the harbour and out to sea (port triangle). Four boats, Mike and Deanna, Paul and Anthea, Dan and Scarlet (in a Miracle) and Richard in the Laser.

Richard was over the line at the start and had to go back. Mike got away as Paul was a little late on the line. Mike went out to sea and Paul went in. Paul managed to pass Mike on the beat, but Mike regained the lead by the windward mark. The beat was assisted by an ebbing tide that increased in strength as the evening went on. Both flew spinnakers and after two reaches Mike had a pulled away slightly and built on that to take the win over Paul. The tide made life hard for the slower boats. Dan eventually beat Richard by three seconds on corrected time.

Second race the course was made smaller for the remaining three boats (Dan went in) and the wind shifted to the west, which meant there was no beat. At the start, Mike and Richard got away promptly and Paul gave them both over a minute head start (very sporting). After two laps, Paul had closed up the gap, but couldn’t quite challenge Mike, who took the win.

Tuesday evening’s race drew three Ospreys, an RS200 and a club Laser for a race in warm sunshine and a lightish north-westerly, run by Paul Redford. The boats were away more or less together at the start; gradually the Ospreys pulled ahead, with Paul and Anthea hitting the front. Mike and Deanna and Jaime and Ted swapped places several times during the race, but eventually Mike and Deanna prevailed after Jaime and Ted were forced into error and took a 720 penalty. The RS200 of Dan and Ruby was keeping up well and in the end first were Paul and Anthea, then Dan and Ruby and Mike and Deanna.

Junior training 

Reduced numbers last week due to half-term, but the assistant instructor group continued their course led by Steve Small. Beginners stayed ashore due to the gusty conditions, but Blake gave them  practice at tacking skills in an Optimist on the beach. Jo and Alistair gave some racing tuition to their groups in readiness for the CYRC weekend, tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday. There will be youngsters from Pembrokeshire clubs visiting Tenby to take part in race training and a series of short races on Sunday. 

Passage race 

Thirteen starters crossed the line at Hobbs point at 10 am last Saturday hoping to sail to Tenby. Unfortunately, the wind was so light that none managed to get out of the Haven before the tide turned. The three Tenbyboats, Slipstream, Aries and Apache, had earlier decided to retire and switched on engines, especially when faced with the danger of drifting into some of  the many obstacles in the Haven. These and two others motored around to Tenby arriving around 4 pm.

Many thanks to Ted and  Ieuan and Howard Williams from PHYC for waiting at the finish. Also thanks to Ieuan for ferrying the yachtsmen to and from their boats up until late evening.

New Members

We have some of the best sailing waters found anywhere in the UK, but the number of active sailing members is static at best. We have space available for more dinghies in our dinghy park and are keen to recruit new adult sailing members.

For anyone interested, we can arrange free taster sessions on a Wednesday evening (or at other times if that is not convenient); once the basics have been mastered, we have a number of club boats suitable for adult use before new sailors need to think about getting their own boat.

Anyone interested, please contact Blake, details above, or Ted Lewis on [email protected] or 07790 839735.

Regatta

The annual club regatta, once again kindly sponsored by local solicitors Lewis Lewis & Co. Ltd., of Tenby, St. Clears and Carmarthen, is looming. This year it will be held on June 25 and 26 and hopefully there will be about 40 boats competing.

We need lots of volunteers to help, in particular Rib drivers and crew, crew for the committee boat on the Saturday, people to deal with entries and results, to name a few.

If you can offer some time that weekend, please email Ted Lewis on the address above.

2016 Membership

A reminder to all members. Subs for 2016 were due on January 1. If you haven`t renewed yet, please go to the club website, print and complete the membership form and forward with payment to membership secretary. Or, for those with online banking, please pay direct to the club account. Some of the membership benefits - discount on food and drink at the club; use of club premises outside ‘public’ hours; use of club boats, toilets and changing rooms. Please renew promptly.

Forthcoming events

June 11 and 12: Club Youth Racing Circuit at TSC.

June 25 and 26: Club regatta and Round Caldey race.

Website

The club’s website can be found at www.tenbysailingclub.org.uk; the club and details of events going on can be found on Facebook and Twitter. New members welcome; sailors, aspirant sailors and non sailors. We are a members club run by volunteers who try to involve all members in a variety of activities, both sailing and social. To enquire about joining, call at the clubhouse, contact any member who will be pleased to help, or contact us on line.