Sailability Keelboat League welcomes sailors back on the water

 The teams competed in Elliot 6M Keelboats with 12 races short races each day. The Blind Sailing Team (Adam Parry, Fran Neale, Judith Spencer and Elna Piras) were crowned overall winners earning a place in the British Keelboat League final held at Poole Yacht Club.

RYA Sailability Manager Joff McGill said: "The Sailability Keelboat League welcomed sailors of all experiences, some had previously competed at international level and others were racing on the water for the very first time. Not only were there some really exciting races but it was also a fantastic opportunity to spend time together off the water".

Sailability is the national programme run by sailing's governing body, the RYA, giving disabled people the chance to try sailing and to take part regularly. There is a network of more then 200 RYA-approved Sailability sites across Britain, which have boats and facilities to cater for people across the whole spectrum of abilities.

To find out more about sailing opportunities for disabled people, or those that need specific support to get on-the-water visit www.rya.org.uk/sailability.

Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club celebrates 75 years

 The Lake Sailing Club celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding on Saturday and Sunday (18 and 19 September).

Special races were held on Saturday to compete for the Founders' Plate followed by an evening meal in the clubhouse.

Two races were held with the 10 best results going forward to a final race to find the winner. This final race, sailed on a pursuit basis with the slowest boats starting first, takes 45 minutes. Whoever is in the lead at that time is the winner of the Founders' Plate.

With a fickle wind eventually settling in the south west, expertise was needed to work out the best way forward.

Richard and Heather Marsh in a RS400 were always likely to be ahead, with Martin and Rene Watts in a Merlin Rocket in contention.

However, it was the Solo boats that had the advantage on handicap, so Nick Hornsby won the first race with Martin Brennan in second place.

Border Counties Midweek Sailing at Winsford Flash Sailing Club

 Seventeen boats arrived bright and early Tuesday morning at Winsford Flash for the final meeting of the inaugural Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series.

The mirror-like conditions were a little worrying but assurances from the locals that the wind would soon materialise kept everyone happy. Although, the high spirits were probably more to do with the tea, coffee and yummy chocolate brownies which set a great atmosphere for the day among competitors and spectators alike.

The third and final race was soon under way with once again many changes of fortune. Steve Bellamy (Comet) was quick to play the wind shifts on the first beat and was one of the first boats to round the windward mark. Phil continued his winning ways doing just enough for a hat-trick of firsts. The ever-consistent Pete was second followed this time by fellow Supernova sailor Eric Hasleden.

A great day on the water was rounded off by prize-giving in the clubhouse and talk of another Border Counties Midweek Sailing Series next year. Many thanks to all those at Winsford who put so much effort into making the day such a success.

Check out bordercountiesmidweeksailing.wordpress.com for further information on Border Counties Midweek Sailing.

Overall Results:

Pos Class Sail No Helm CrewName Club R1 R2 R3 Pts

1st SOLO 5963 Phil Snewin Chester ‑1 1 1 2

2nd SUPERNOVA 1168 Pete Coop Winsford Flash 2 ‑3 2 4

3rd STREAKER 1926 Dave Turtle Shotwick Lake 3 2 ‑6 5

4th LIGHTNING 368 410 Jeremy Cooper Shotwick Lake 4 4 ‑5 8

5th COMET 311 Steve Bellamy Winsford Flash 5 ‑6 4 9

6th SUPERNOVA 1120 Eric Haselden Winsford Flash 9 ‑11 3 12

7th SUPERNOVA 519 Pete Chambers Winsford Flash 6 7 ‑11 13

8th LIGHTNING 368 257 Duncan Cheshire Winsford Flash ‑12 5 9 14

9th LASER/ ILCA 7 198833 Ros Benson Winsford Flash 7 ‑10 7 14

10th COMET 877 Charlotte Coop Winsford Flash 8 9 ‑10 17

Contender Travellers Trophy Round 6 at Broadstairs Sailing Club

 The Contender fleet made is way to Broadstairs for the 6th round of the Travellers Trophy. The 15 highly tuned athletes fresh from the nationals were greeted with bacon rolls and the normal hospitality one has come to expect from Broadstairs Sailing Club.

The travellers were looking out to sea, dubious if there would be enough wind to sail on the very tidal waters, but at around one o'clock the boats launched out and slowly made their way to the course that had been laid by the race committee.

The third and final race of the day and again Stuart Jones got to the top mark first after an eventful beat saw second placed Tom Hooton get T-boned in a port starboard incident with Rob Smith who immediately retired. Tom still managed to round just in front and inside local Dave Adams and they swapped places several times throughout the race but eventually it was Tom finishing second behind Stuart with Dave getting his second 3rd place of the day.

Sunday morning dawned and it looked like there may be some breeze, but as forecast it was dropping off and the tide was now running in the opposite stronger direction. Despite this the race officer was determined to try to get a 4th race completed. The competitors made their way out and managed to get a start but the wind continued to die and it became clear that the tide was too strong to make this a race so it was abandoned and the competitors made their way in for an early bath.

Thanks to Broadstairs Sailing Club for their organisation and hospitality and for running an event during these testing times.

Overall Results:

Pos Helm Sail No R1 R2 R3 Pts

1 Stuart Jones 2706 1 1 1 3

2 Gary Langdown 2484 5 2 5 12

3 Dave Adams 595 9 3 3 15

4 Tom Hooton 678 13 4 2 19

5 Chris Boshier 2702 10 6 6 22

6 Adrian Smith 2730 2 OCS 4 22

7 Nick Curry 2661 6 9 8 23

8 Rob Smith 2449 4 5 RTD 25

9 Bill Hooton 666 11 8 10 29

10 Rodger White 712 8 10 11 29

HD Sails Scottish Solo Championship at Loch Tummel Sailing Club

 The HD Sails Scottish Solo Championship took place at Loch Tummel SC on September 18/19 in the beautiful Perthshire countryside with the event was part of the club's autumn regatta.

The Championship was decided on the four races sailed on Saturday. By sailing consistently Ross Watson was the winner followed by David Sword, both from the home club, with Kevan Gibb third.

The final event in the HD Sails Scottish Solo Travellers is at Bardowie on 9 October. With the demo boat already booked and someone else keen to try a Solo there might be a need to borrow one and the turnout should be good! See you there.

Overall Results

Pos Name R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts

1 Ross Watson 2 2 1 1 4

2 David Sword 6 1 4 2 7

3 Kevan Gibb 1 4 6 4 9

4 Malcolm Worsley 5 3 2 5 10

5 Geoff Henstridge 4 5 3 Dnf 12

6 Robert Signer 3 8 8 3 14

7 Charlie Brecknell 7 7 5 6 18

8 Ian Fleetham 8 6 7 7 

Lyme Regis Sailing Club continues centenary celebrations with sail past

 LYME Regis Sailing Club was blessed with spectacular sunshine at its recent 100th anniversary sail past.

Although there wasn’t much wind for sailing, the weather made for a spectacular sight as dozens of dinghies and cruisers, accompanied by two of the town’s gigs, the lifeboat crew and harbour master, made their way onto the water.

They each sailed past a boat of special guests, including Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Angus Campbell, and his wife Carola, the Mayor and Mayoress of Lyme Regis, Cllr Brian and Wendy Larcombe, and sailing club commodore Rob Wiscombe.

The celebrations were attended by Ray Smith, an inaugural member of Lyme Regis Gig Club, who is 101 years old – five months older than the sailing club.

Meanwhile, the club’s keen members remained on the water and battled the lack of wind to take part in the annual Bart’s Bash races, an annual national event held in memory of Olympic Gold and Silver medalist Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson MBE, to raise funds for the Andrew Simpson Foundation which supports sailing projects across the globe.

Gimson and Burnet back up Olympic medal with European Nacra 17 title

 Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnet added the Nacra 17 European Championship title to their Tokyo 2020 silver in a commanding performance in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Whilst most other Olympic competitors have decided to take a break out of the boat following the Games, Gimson and Burnet opted for racing experience and secured the Euro title with a 30-point cushion.

Gimson and Burnet picked up where they left off from Tokyo with a string of first and second place race finishes to start their regatta and show they were the dominant force of the fleet.

The pair continued their form to eventually claim the gold medal with a race to spare over second place duo Gianluigi Ugolini and Alice Cialfi from Italy.

Fireball Munster Championship at Lough Derg Yacht Club

 Josh Porter and Cara McDowell are the new Fireball Munster Champions after seven races at Lough Derg Yacht Club over the weekend. The pair showed outstanding consistency and speed over the races in a wide variety of conditions.

Their achievement is all the more impressive because they beat the rest of the 15-boat fleet in a relatively older Fireball which was totally refurbished by Porter over the last two winters. Going by the premise that Winder built FRP Fireballs remain stiff and light right throughout their lives he removed all the original gelcoat and recoated the boat in two-pack acrylic paint. The result is a twenty-something aged boat which actually looks, and obviously performs, like a brand-new boat.

The two-day event saw sailors challenged by a massive range of conditions, from quite light in the early race on the Saturday to impressive squalls on the Sunday. Race officer John Leech and his team gave the fleet a variety of courses from plain triangles to Olympic Triangles. Turnarounds were extremely impressive, especially considering that the racecourse was shared with the Mirror class competing in their Southern Championships.

When the scores were added up Porter/McDowell were the absolutely deserving winners on ten points with Butler Og/Inan a reasonably close second on 13 points. Miller/Butler Snr were 3rd overall of 20 points due to relatively a consistent Ent performance and four third place scores. The silver fleet trophy was won by Killaloe sailors Andrew Mullaly and David Tanner, with Mick O'Callaghan/Neil Cramer second and Paul and Moris Ter Horst third. Clodagh Nash and Moris Ter Horst won the Under-21 prizes.

RS Tera Open Open at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

 The wind remained light and patchy but thankfully provided just enough thrust to enable two races for each of the PROs and Sports. The first race in the Pros was won by Oliver Stratton-Brown who spotted a band of wind down the left hand side of the first beat and was never headed. Second was Finaly Lomas-Clarke. In the Sports, George Garner, in his first open, had an excellent start and led the fleet towards the wind in the middle of the pond. Mid-way up the first beat he was overhauled by Tristan Harding, who went on to win with William Stratton-Brown second and George an amazing 5th.

In the second race, it was Oliver in the Pro and Tristan in the Sport who again managed to squeeze the most propulsion out of the tiny puffs of wind, whilst staying out of the increasingly large holes. They both built sizeable leads before the wind shut down almost completely. As the Race Officer contemplated abandoning the race, a patch of wind developed down the right hand side of the last run, enabling the Sport fleet to finish under their own steam, however the Pros made no more progress and had to be finished in their positions on the water.

Overall, Oliver and Tristan were worthy winners, with Harry Slight from Emsworth second in the Pros ahead of Finaly Lomas-Clarke in third. In the Sports, William Stratton Brown was second, with Zoe Lomas-Clarke third, and Ethan Hill from HISC finishing fourth.

At the prize-giving it was widely acknowledged that the conditions had been extremely trying for competitors and organisers alike, but that in the end it had been an enjoyable day, with everyone making the absolute most of the conditions presented.

Overall Results:

Pos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 Pts

Pro Rig

1st 2392 Oliver Stratton‑Brown FPSC 1 1 2

2nd 1225 Harry Slight ESC 3 2 5

3rd 2226 Finlay Lomas‑Clarke FPSC 2 5 7

4th 2214 Andrew Soars FPSC 5 3 8

5th 2661 Charlotte White Wilsonian SC 4 6 10

6th 9 Oscar Bartlett HISC 7 4 11

7th 2391 Tom Yates Gurnard SC 6 7 13

8th 229 Max Halliwell FPSC 8 8 16

Sport Rig

1st 3580 Tristan Harding FPSC 1 1 2

2nd 2348 William Stratton‑Brown FPSC 2 2 4

3rd 3496 Zoe Lomas‑Clarke FPSC 4 4 8

4th 2218 Ethan Hill HISC 6 3 9

5th 2311 Will Bradley Gurnard SC 3 8 11

6th 2459 Mark Soars FPSC 8 5 13

7th 2387 Will Ahlheid FPSC 7 7 14

8th 596 Jago Moore FPSC 12 6 18

Firefly Open at West Kirby Sailing Club

 Eleven boats turned out for the West Kirby Firefly Open sailed on the Marine Lake on Sunday 12th September. The event - organised by Lucy Storey, Pete Bramley and Kate Eggleton - was absolutely brilliant, with club boats available to hire at a very reasonable rate.

A brilliant day's sailing, great to catch up with old friends, and a format that I love. For aspiring University team racers, this is the best practice they can do. For those with older slower boats, you can just about hold on. For those who just think they are a bit older and slower, then the races are short enough that you can hold on! Thank you.

Overall Results:

1st Chris Kameen and Anna Leddingham (Llyn Brenig SC/ WKSC) 7pts

2nd Marian and Angus Armstrong (WKSC) 13pts

3rd James Morson and Lucy Storey (WKSC) 21pts

4th Guy Davison and Josh Darby (Llangorse SC/ WKSC) 21pts

5th Will Trumper and Sarah Gomm (University of Liverpool SC) 22pts

6th and 1st U21 Win Thananitayaudom and Jodie Martin (University of Liverpool SC) 38pts

Conwy Fife One Design 'A' Series Race 20 at Royal Anglesey Yacht Club

 On a quiet and rather grey day, with little wind, 10 Fifes decided to brave the elements and venture forth to see what delights the day held.

Meanwhile, at the distance marks, 35 had taken a handsome win, from 37 with 7 collecting the final canon for third. A rather damp 29 recovered to take 4th with 5, 34, 42, 38, 41 and 24 finishing in that order. A special mention to the crew of 24, who new to the boat this season and with limited experience, but commendable persistence, can now read the sail numbers of the boats in front and certainly had those of us at the back of the fleet casting worried glances astern, roll on next season.

So we sadly arrive at the last race next Saturday. This will be followed by the inevitable celebrations and post mortems, as we contemplate the season passed and look forward to the next.

2021 Gul Fireball Nationals - Final call for reduced entry fee

 

A reminder that the entry fee for the Nationals will increase from £199 to £249 on 20th September. With 31 entries and counting, don't delay to enter before the price increases!

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!

The UKFA would like to thank all our Fireball sailors who have waited so patiently for this event and we can't wait to all meet up in just under 2 weeks!

National 12 85th Anniversary Event at Northampton Sailing Club

 On 12th March 1936, the National 12 Class was born and this weekend the National Twelve Owners' Association celebrated the class's rich and varied 85 year history. Just two weeks after 2021's Burton Week, it was a big ask for the competitors to dedicate yet another weekend to National 12 sailing.

All competitors came away from the weekend smiling. It didn't matter if it was your first N12 event, your first time crewing a N12 or if you were a seasoned N12 sailor. It was certainly worth the effort that both Northampton Sailing Club and the National Twelve Owners' Association put in to make it happen, despite the backdrop of Covid-19. A true celebration of the National 12 class.

If you missed out on the merchandise, the 85th Anniversary clothing is still available to order online - http://www.waveclothing.co.uk/association-kit/national-12-owners-association/85th-anniversary-clothing.