Hartlepool's oldest surviving coble boat to be restored

 Built in Hartlepool as a six-plank pilot coble in 1900 she has survived the rigours of time and a watery grave.

The Bridlington Sailing Coble Preservation Society (BSCPS) is living up to its name with the acquisition of this historic coble to restore and preserve. Prolonged negotiations have taken place between Hartlepool Borough Council and the Society to receive both the Venus and the Viking, a double-ended pilot boat, as museum transfers.

This will enable both vessels to be fully restored, regularly sailed and become part of the growing fleet of sailing cobles based in Bridlington harbour.

Venus is quite unique as a surviving pilot coble, one of the many that worked from Hartlepool during the 1800s and very early 1900s to take pilots out to incoming ships and guide them safely into the port.

They carried a crew of just two, the pilot and his assistant, or 'dog' as he was known.

Pilots worked from Hartlepool, Redcar and Seaton Carew as far back as the 1750's.

Itchenor Sailing Club Junior Fortnight

 A total of 240 competitors, aged eight to 18, competed in Junior Fortnight at Itchenor Sailing Club.

Race organisers and competitors had to endure varied weather conditions, from no wind to too much and biblical quantities of rain. But this certainly did not dampen their spirits. The committee laid on a massive outdoor social programme for all ages under a new tent. This included first and last night bops, a quiz, talent night, magic shows, junk modelling, slippery pole competitions, a games evening, an orienteering event around the village and parent evening racing. The “When the ship went down” themed parent party, sponsored by Salcombe Gin and ChalkStream Trout was hugely successful.

A highlight of the fortnight was welcoming Freddie Carr from Ineos Team UK for the day. He met competitors, watched them racing and shared his experiences in talks about the recent British America’s Cup Challenge in New Zealand.

GP14 Championship of Ireland 2021 at Lough Erne Yacht Club

 The weekend saw the GP14 fleet return to Lough Erne Yacht Club for the 2021 Irish Championships. The event was kindly supported by Enniskillen Bid, Fermanagh & Omagh District Council, Ropelocker.ie and Inish Macsaint Fermanagh Beer.

40 boats took part, including past Olympians, world champions and novice racers. Four of the 40 boats were from Lough Erne Yacht Club with the others travelling from all over Ireland to compete on the waters of Lower Lough Erne.

On the water volunteers set up eight races over the three days led by Derek Bothwell from Howth, Co Dublin, a national race officer.

Owens of Royal Saint George Yacht Club and Brogan of Sligo Yacht Club held on for the race win and took their fourth & eighth Irish GP14 titles respectively.

Shane and Josh finished 1 point behind in second place overall with Ross & Jane third.

Silver fleet went to James Peter Hockley & Alan Thompson from Lough Foyle Yacht Club, and the Bronze fleet to Matthew Cotter & Tom Mulligan from Sutton Dinghy Club.

First Veteran was Hugh Gill, with the youth title going to Ciaran Keogh & Adam Leddy from Greystones Sailing Club.

At the prize-giving, winner Ger Owens thanked all the Lough Erne Yacht Club volunteers and sponsors for a superb event.

Overall Results:

Pos Fleet Boat Sail No Helm Crew R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Pts

1st Gold 14256 Ger Owens Brendan Brogan 2 ‑3 3 3 1 ‑8 1 1 11

2nd Gold 14203 Shane MacCarty Josh Porter ‑4 1 1 ‑7 2 1 4 3 12

3rd Gold Purple Rocket 14242 Ross Kearney Jane Kearney 1 2 2 ‑9 ‑12 2 3 7 17

4th Gold Yin Tang 14275 Hugh Gill Daniel Gill 3 ‑11 5 1 3 7 5 ‑8 24

5th Silver Fred 14254 James Hockley Alan Thompson 5 9 6 ‑25 8 ‑14 6 4 38

6th Gold No Surprise 14144 Colman Grimes Ross Gingles 12 4 ‑19 11 14 5 2 ‑15 48

7th Gold Delusion 14270 Norman Lee Alan Leddy 7 16 9 4 11 3 DNF ‑17 50

8th Gold 1414 Adrian Lee Gareth Gallagher 6 6 SCP 8 ‑22 ‑24 8 10 50

9th Gold 14247 John McGuinness Donal McGuinness 9 OCS 7 10 OCS 4 7 18 55

10th Silver Kanaka 13901 Steven Nelson Daniel Nelson ‑15 13 8 13 9 6 DNF 6 55

11th Gold 14214 Keith Louden Mateo Louden 17 12 ‑18 6 6 13 DNF 5 59

12th Gold Trouble on the way 14219 Curly Morris Stephanie Corkhill 8 ‑21 DNF 5 16 12 10 11 62

13th Gold Solaro 14 0 Katie Dwyer Michelle Rowley 11 15 DNF 16 10 10 DNF 2 64

14th Gold X Diarmaid Mullen Lauren Donaghy 10 17 11 ‑28 7 15 DNF 13 73

15th Silver 14241 Patrick Hamilton James Dewhurst 13 7 10 22 13 11 

Noble Marine Supernova Travellers at Girton Sailing Club

 It was a respectable turnout of 16 boats at the Noble Marine Traveller Series event at Girton SC, including nine visitors.

Overall Results:

First Mk1: Paul Jago

First Lady: Amie King

Pos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 Pts

1st 1261 Gavin Young Cotswold SC 1 ‑2 1 2

2nd 1160 Paul Undrell Cotswold SC ‑7 1 3 4

3rd 1130 Ed Johnson Girton SC 2 ‑11 2 4

4th 1254 Tony Bleasdale Girton SC 3 ‑9 4 7

5th 428 Paul Jago Girton SC ‑5 3 5 8

6th 1234 Marcus Shaw Girton SC 4 6 ‑8 10

7th 1059 Jonti Mason Hykeham SC 6 4 ‑9 10

8th 1139 Dana Church Nottingham SC ‑8 5 7 12

9th 1172 Eric Green Ogston SC 11 ‑14 6 17

10th 582 Amie King Girton SC ‑12 8 11 19

11th 1009 Steve Jellocoe Olton Mere 9 10 ‑12 19

12th 1227 James Adair Hykeham SC ‑15 7 14 21

13th 1018 Joanne Daubney Girton SC 13 ‑15 10 23

14th 412 Philip Hind Ogston SC 10 ‑13 13 23

15th 1032 Paul Burton Girton SC 14 12 ‑15 26

16th 660 Phil North Nottinghamshire County SC ‑16 16 16 32

Royal Cork Yacht Club Expects 100 Laser Dinghies for National Championships in Cork Harbour

 A strong fleet of over 100 boats is expected to contest the 2021 Laser National  championships which start on Thursday, 19th August at Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Cork Harbour event immediately follows the Laser 4.7 (ILCA 4) Youth World Championships on Dublin Bay last week. 

Event registration will be on Wednesday 18th August between 15:00 and 18:00 and Thursday 19th between 09:00 and 10:30.

The sailors briefing will be done virtually via zoom, with the link available on the RCYC website. The first race is scheduled for Thursday 19th August at midday, with start times one hour earlier at 11:00 am on the subsequent three days.

Kestrel National Championship 2021 at Royal Tay Yacht Club

 18 crews from as far afield as the Blackwater, Southampton, Holyhead and Weymouth travelled to Dundee for the 2021 Kestrel UK Championships organised by the Royal Tay Yacht Club. The weather was predominantly light and variable with a circulating low right over the east of Scotland for the four days of racing, making for very challenging conditions for crews and the Race Team.

KOA Special Trophies:

Masters Trophy (highest placed helm over 60) - Stewart Murdoch

Crews race (Fletcher Christian Trophy) - not sailed

Highest placed Mk1/2 Trophy - won by Chris Grice

Highest placed overseas helm - Adam Lomas

Juniors Trophy (highest placed under 21) - Emma Robertson

Best Improver - (between first race and race 10) - Richard Roberts

Handicap Trophy (Best improvement since the last nationals) - Howard Enkel

Wipe Out of the Week - Adam Lomas

Overall Results Top 10

Pos Sail No Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 Pts

1st 1648 Stewart Murdoch Mhairi Murdoch RTYC 2 1 2 1 ‑5 5 1 1 1 14

2nd 1633 Paul Barnett Robin Lamb RTYC 1 2 5 3 ‑6 4 2 2 2 21

3rd 1638 Malcolm Worsley Dannielle Worsley RTYC 3 3 3 ‑5 2 3 3 3 4 24

4th 1644 Ian Hunter Trevor MacDonald RTYC 4 ‑11 1 8 3 6 4 5 3 34

5th 1574 Howie Enkel Danni Tebutt Maylandsea Bay SC 6 8 4 ‑9 1 2 6 6 8 41

6th 1647 Richard Roberts John Jones Port Dinorwic SC ‑11 6 6 4 4 1 7 7 6 41

7th 408 Chris Grice Karin Grice Maylandsea Bay SC 7 5 8 6 8 7 5 4 ‑10 50

8th 1600 Paul Gray Sally Gray Maylandsea Bay SC 5 ‑12 7 2 9 10 8 10 5 56

9th 1632 Sandy Bremner Ken Scott Brown RTYC 8 9 9 ‑12 7 8 9 8 7 65

10th 1636 Alistair Hood Campbell Morrison RTYC 9 10 10 ‑15 10 9 11 9

Delph sailing club's open day for those inspired by Olympics

 A POPULAR sailing club in an idyllic part of the borough is welcoming new members ­— with an open day looking to feed off Olympic inspiration.

Delph Sailing Club, in Egerton, is hosting an open day on August 30 welcoming anyone looking to give sailing a try after watching team GB claim three golds, a silver, and a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

The sailing club is run by commodore, Ian Brown.

Ian himself had not sailed until nine years ago, and was inspired himself to attend an open day at Delph after being inspired by the 2012 Olympics in London.

Delph has seen its membership boom in lockdown and has already trained nearly 40 members to sail or improve this year. The club is run entirely by volunteers which helps keep their fees low.

For any enquiries, email membership@delphsailingclub.com or visit membermojo.co.uk/delph-sc.

Sir Ben Ainslie given freedom of the Beaulieu River

ONE of Britain's most decorated Olympians has joined another highly-select group.

Sir Ben Ainslie, winner of four gold medals and a silver, has become one of the few people to be awarded the honorary freedom of the Beaulieu River.

He was presented with a certificate by Lord Montagu, who described him as the most successful sailor in Olympic history.

Sir Ben, 44, was awarded the honour at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Buckler's Hard Yacht Harbour and the completion of its £2m upgrade.

Super Yacht and Tom Cruise are now cruising around the Scottish Coast

 A superyacht that has been linked to Tom Cruise has been spotted off the Highlands.

Earlier this week it was spotted in Greenock and a host of other locations around Scotland. 

After attending Wimbledon, the Euro's and Silverstone it appears that Mr. Cruise is having  a lovely summer trip.

The 68-metre yacht can host up to 12 people, as well as 17 crew members is currently up for sale by its Russian owner for £37.5 million

She is a winner of 2007 International Superyacht Society Awards in Best Power 43m+ category.

GP14 Youth Championships at Budworth Sailing Club

 With the changes by World Sailing to enable multi-championships together on the same course and event, the GP14 class is eager to encourage youth sailors into our fantastic class and financially supported this event. To encourage more participation an new category racing for a new shield had been introduced by the Association - Youth Helm sailing with an Adult Crew.

Visiting sailors commented on how many juniors had been trained up by the host club Budworth and entered the event.

Sailors who were new to the class expressed that they "found the event friendly, competitive and welcoming. It was a valuable learning experience due to the great training and sprint racing." Another commented "the skills learnt could be transferred into their usual sailing fleets".

The weekend rounded off a brilliant few months for many sailors from Budworth SC as they have stepped out of their junior classes to try the double handed GP14. The hard work clearly paid off with them all sporting huge smiles and maybe a couple bruises.

The event created friendships and hopefully will help the Association in seeing the required entries to be able to upgrade our first Youth Boat at a Worlds to a Youth World Champion. In a week where the GP14 2004 Youth World Champion Stu Bithell won gold for team GB at the Olympics, where can we expect to see these sailors in the future?

Trophies awarded:

National 57 team Trophy (3 highest placed boats from a club or group) - Tadbrook & Combs SC

Hazelock Cup (Highest Lady Helm and Crew) - Roseanna Joyce and Sian Baird

Milliken Cup (18 years and under) - Emily Page

Youth Helm sailing with an Adult crew:

Winner - Michaela and Hugh Attfield

Runner up - Matthew and ross Baird

Third Place - Charlotte and Ken Critchley

Overall Results:

Pos Entry R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 Pts

1 14140 Emily Page & Matthew Williams Budworth SC 1 1 ‑3 1 2 5

2 (youth) 14116 Peter Boyle & Joe Doherty Sutton Dinghy Club 3 4 1 (dnf 15) 1 9

3 (youth) 14232 Hannah Whittam & Henry White Todbrook Sc 2 ‑7 2 5 4 13

4 13883 James Alexander & Joe Mills Budworth SC 6 2 ‑9 2 7 17

5 (youth) 13389 Victoria Theaker & Bryn Barker Coombs Sc 4 3 8 (ret 15) 3 18

6 (youth) 13744 George Jacobs & Henry Bayliss Coombes Todrook Sc ‑10 6 4 3 6 19

7 13721 Rosanna Joyce & Sian Baird Budworth SC 8 5 5 4 ‑9 22

8 14201 Michaela & Hugh Attfield Budworth SC 7 9 ‑10 6 5 27

9 14010 Annabel Page & Georgia Evans Budworth SC 5 ‑8 6 8 8 27

10 13541 Fin Waterhouse & Kian Lawlor Budworth SC 9 ‑11 7 7 10 33

11 13875 Matthew & Ross Baird Budworth SC 11 10 11 (dnf 15) dns 15 47

12 13777 Charlotte & Ken Critchley Budworth SC (DNS 15) 12 12 dns 15 dns 15 54

13 14201 Hermione Attfield Budworth SC (DNS 15) DNS 15 DNS 15 dns 15 dns 15 60

13 (youth) 14018 Samuel Bailey & Finlay Morgan South Staffs Sc (DNS 15) DNS 15 DNS 15 dns 15 dns 15 60

Scottish Open Challenger Championships at Solway Yacht Club

 The Scottish Open Challenger Championships were held at the Solway Yacht Club, Kippford (Dumfries and Galloway) on the weekend 10-11 July. A small (but perfectly formed) fleet of six Challengers were assembled, cleaned and polished.

 Graham is the new Scottish champion and he was presented with the Sandeman Trophy for first overall. Val was second overall and was also presented with the trophy for first (and only) lady helm. Duncan won the Clyde Cruising Club Challenger Trophy for winner of the last race. He was also third overall and first Scottish resident.

All in all an excellent regatta, and perhaps the last word should be left to John (fourth overall) who said "it was like sailing in the Mediterranean" with the sun and warm temperatures!

Thanks are due to Willie Patterson and Stewart Biggar (Race Officer and assistant) and the safety crews; to Mary, Deirdre, Maureen and Val who did all the catering; to Robert Dinwiddie (Commodore) and all at Solway Yacht Club, particularly those who just happened to be in the dinghy park when we needed help pulling the Challengers up the slip.

Overall Results:

Pos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Pts

1st 270 Graham Hall Rutland Sailing Club 1 1 ‑2 1 2 2 7

2nd 312 Val Millward Rutland Sailing Club 2 2 1 2 1 ‑3 8

3rd 28 Duncan Greenhalgh Bassenthwaite Sailing Club ‑3 3 3 3 3 1 13

4th 236 John McPartlin Loch Venachar Sailing Club 5 4 5 ‑6 4 4 22

5th 238 Stephen Thomas Bate Annandale Sailing Club 4 5 ‑6 4 5 5 23

6th 233 Stephen Laycock Loch Ken ‑6 6 4 5 6 6 27

2021 Gul Fireball National Championships registration now open

 The long-awaited Fireball Nationals is taking place at Hayling Island Sailing Club, from 30th September to 3rd October 2021.

HISC is running this event alongside the 505 Eurocup, meaning there's going to be a real buzz both on and off the water!

We're incredibly fortunate to have support from our main sponsors, Gul, and further prizes donated by UKGlobal (who offer discounted insurance rates to UKFA members), Hyde Sails, Ropelocker (who offer UKFA members a 10% discount on all purchases) and North Sails.

To enter and for more information please visit the Fireball website.

The UKFA would like to thank all our Fireball sailors who have waited so patiently for this event.

Kemp Sails Swanage Regatta 2021

 After the obvious gap of last year, 2021 was the second edition of the revamped Swanage regatta. Sponsored again by Kemp Sails, the weekend started off with a pre-racing Gin night on Friday evening to get everyone in the right mood for the weekend.

Race one started with a reaching start, bearing away onto a run with the Dart 18s naturally flying away in the 17-20 knots of wind. With it being an offshore breeze, the gusts and shifts made for challenging conditions for all the boats with multiple capsizes across all of the classes of boats racing.

After drinking late into the night, sailors returned Sunday morning looking a little bleary eyed and the increased wind of 20-25 knots wasn't the sight they were quite hoping for.

After a quick on-the-water safety check of the conditions, sailors were released for some more racing. Again with a completely different course to previous races, the sailors were clearly at their limit and only one short race was managed. Everyone clearly fatigued as they crossed the finish line to head home.

After all that, Ben Whaley in an Aero 7 was the winner on an overall corrected time of 1:10:37 followed by two Dart 18s. Mark Groome and Wendy Bobbit/Kate Michie finished on a time of 1:15:30 and Richard Miller and Michelle Stracey on an overall time of 1:16:20. After three races, only 50 seconds stood between second and third place!

Again, thanks has to go Kemp Sails for adding all the touches to the event that made it a real complete weekend event rather than just some races.

Next year the regatta will be back with no shortage of ideas on how to make it a bigger and better weekend away for everyone attending.

Full results at goskipper.co.uk/results/swanage-sailing-club/swange-regatta-2021