Noble Marine Lightning 368 Travellers Trophy Series 2022 at the Bala Easter Regatta

 Six Lightnings entered this round of the Noble Marine Travellers series but we lost Jeremy due to unforeseen circumstances before any boats were launched.

With three back to back races on Saturday and Sunday and good winds forecast it was going to be a tough weekend.

Overall Results:

Pos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 F5 R6 Pts

1st 428 Simon Hopkins Up River YC 1 1 1 1 1 ‑1 5

2nd 434 Duncan Cheshire Winsford Flash SC 2 2 2 2 2 (DNF) 10

3rd 87 Ceri James Shotwick Lake SC 3 3 3 4 3 (DNF) 16

4th 407 Bryan Westley Aldridge SC 4 4 4 3 ‑4 2 17

5th 117 Rob Sloggett Bala SC 5 5 DNC DNC DNC (DNC) 31

Next round of the Noble Marine Insurance Travellers series moves to Up River YC on 14th-15th May where on Saturday Simon will impart some wisdom on going fast and winning races, then Sunday everyone gets to put it into practice.

POSH 2022 - the Paignton Open for Single Handers

 Paignton Open for Single Handers (POSH) was founded in 2012 as a replacement for the club's Spring Regatta. This unique format appeals to a range of high-performance single-handed dinghies and has been adopted by many as a class open meeting. The regatta has gone from strength to strength - 2019 saw the largest ever turnout, plus an incorporated National Championships for the RS Vareo class.

Paignton Sailing Club is renowned for hosting high profile events with an enviable record, superb facilities and equipment, and a world-class Race Management team. The club itself is located on the Paignton Harbour and has plenty of parking within walking distance. It is only a short distance away from Paignton beach, from where the dinghies will be launched, allowing sailors to launch during any tide state into the sheltered waters of Tor Bay.

After the recent success of our 2021 event, which was postponed due to Covid regulations, we look forward to 2022, when we are hosting the event back in its regular May slot, where we expect the entrants to be around 100 boats. This year, the event will also include the Byte Nationals running from the 6th to the 8th May.

POSH 2022 is once again kindly sponsored by Sailing Chandlery. For more details, please visit paigntonsailingclub.co.uk

International windsurfer set to return to Loch Insh for masterclass

 INTERNATIONAL windsurfer Islay Watson is set to run a special masterclass for young windsurfers at her home club at Loch Insh this weekend.

Members of the ‘Loch Insh MonstArs’ sports club are preparing to learn some tips and be introduced to the world of foiling.

Currently ranked second in the world within the IQ Foil Olympic Windsurfing class, Islay started her journey at Loch Insh in the Highlands of Scotland. 

The IQ Foil class has been selected for the next Olympic cycle and Scot’s Islay Watson and Andy Brown have been leading the way in international competition.

The sport’s governing body, RYA Scotland, is set to invest within this technology and provide a series of youth IQ boards for use by clubs around the country for aspiring young windsurfers wanting to learn these new skills.

The class is set to take place on 23 April 2022 between 10 am – 4pm.

SAILING PROGRAMME FOR YOUNG PEOPLE RETURNS TO SCOTLAND

 Born from the pandemic, Our Isles and Oceans aims to provide young people who have experienced difficulties during lockdown and restrictions with the opportunity to learn to sail and take part in the 2023-24 Clipper Round the World Race.

Our Isles and Oceans is working with several partners including Argyll and Bute Council, United Nations Association Climate and Oceans, the Scottish Association for Marine Science, Clipper Race, GRM Marketing, ArdMoor, BID4Oban, Royal Dee Yacht Club and Snap Innovations.

The programme’s focus is to aid young people aged 18-35 – the generation most impacted by the pandemic’s lockdowns and restrictions – in creating sustainable livelihoods.

Ambassadors can go on to apply to be on board the Our Isles and Oceans 70-foot racing yacht benefitting from a fully funded crew member position in the 2023-24 Clipper Round the World Race.

The spring programme will be based along Scotland’s west coast from Oban and Tobermory and around the Isle of Mull, with the aim to reach the Isle of Skye in this programme.

A sailing programme giving young people a week of funded training aboard a racing yacht is returning to Scotland’s west coast next week.

On 25 April, Our Isles and Oceans is launching its second programme, welcoming 40 new Ambassadors onto its 68-foot racing yacht.

Our Isles and Oceans offers Ambassadors the chance to learn to sail from an experienced crew of professional sailors from key partner, Clipper Race. In addition to learning to sail, the Ambassadors will learn about the ecosystem around Oban and Mull from an educational component developed by the Scottish Association for Marine Science in collaboration with last year’s Ambassadors.

Since launching in June 2021, Our Isles and Oceans has seen 40 young people complete the programme. The upcoming spring programme will see another 40 learn to sail and receive their RYA Start Yachting Qualification following five days of sailing and activities.

Easter racing at Overy Staithe Sailing Club

 Overy Staithe SC kicked off their 2022 season with four days of racing over the Easter weekend. The conditions couldn't have been much better, with sunshine and a nice breeze encouraging a large fleet out on the water.

A total of 24 boats took part in the three-day Easter Trophy event, with Alex Scoles claiming overall victory in his Europe dinghy. Duncan Ellis claimed second in his OK with Lucy Lamont third in her Laser Radial and Ash Deakin (Laser full rig) in fourth.

Sailing at Overy Staithe is heavily tide dependent, so racing on Friday and Saturday saw the fleets enjoying the evening tides and sunsets, with Sunday and Monday being 'racing and then home for breakfast' sailing!

The next event is the club's Sharpie and Europe Open over the May bank holiday weekend. The fleet will enjoy an evening race at 18.00 on Saturday 30 April and a morning race at 07.00 on Sunday 1 May; what better way to spend a weekend?

2022 Hansa TT at Frampton on Severn Sailing Club

 To open the Hansa TT series of 2022, it was a return to Frampton on Severn Sailing Club for the first time since 2018. The weather turned out very good with winds force 2 gusting to 3 and varying in direction from SW to S. The day was cloudy with a short shower just as the second race finished.

The most populated class was the Hansa 303 single handers with six boats in the mix, Rory McKinna (Clyde Cruising Club) justified his long trip south by winning all four races, with following boats keeping the pressure up as they changed positions throughout. It was good to see Logan Bell (Rutland), who started his traveller racing mid-season last year, start his first full season's Hansa TT series racing with us at Frampton on Severn.

Unfortunately, there was only one starter in the Hansa 303 Double Hander, so Steve Kitson and Jane Knight (New Forest) had an easy win.

Thanks must go to Frampton on Severn Sailing Club for putting on a great event and especially to OOD Ken Elsey for setting an interesting and testing course for the days racing. Thanks must also go to the Galley Staff for keeping everyone fed and watered, plus all the other helpers on the day to make it run very smoothly.

Overall Results:

Hansa 2.3

1st Lindsay Burns - Frensham

2nd Rowena Marsh - New Forest

Hansa 303 1 Person

1st Rory McKinna - Clyde Cruising Club

2nd James Woosnam - Frensham

3rd Mike Everitt - Frensham

4th Hannah Nicol - Bristol

5th Leslie Philip - Tideway

6th Logan Bell - Rutland

Hansa 303 2 Person

1st Steve Kitson & Jane Knight - New Forest

Hansa Liberty

1st David Durston - Whitefriars

2nd Paul Pearson - Rutland

3rd Paul Phillips - Frensham

4th Tessa Watkis - Frensham

An Easter extravaganza for the imperious Alan Campbell at Welwyn Garden City Sailing Club

 There was certainly no egg of the face of unstoppable Alan Campbell as he claimed the major prize at Welwyn Garden City Sailing Club.

The Stanborough Lake-based club held their annual Easter Egg Cup competition with Campbell not only the winner of the fast fleet but also the event overall.

And on top of that he also carried off the prize for the personal handicap.

There were Easter eggs to go with the trophies and while the winner was not to be denied, he was pushed all the way by fellow supernova sailor David Lambert who went home with the Easter egg he promised his family.

In the patchy wind conditions Annette Walter beat everyone in the first race but struggled in race two.

Although she followed Charles Adams over the finishing line, she did enough to beat him on handicap to claim the Slow Fleet Egg Cup.

RC1000 class returns for another summer of competitive racing in the South West

 The Royal Western Yacht Club continues to host all of the RC1000 Championship events, with 5 to count towards the series result. Racing inside Plymouth Sound and also offshore south of the breakwater, the racing comprises of a mixture of courses: Windward / Leeward, a 'round the cans' sprint race and a medium distance offshore race depending on conditions - 3 races per day.

The class is sponsored by Salcombe Gin and is supported by Ullman Sails, Allspars, Paul Gibbins Photography, Freshwater IT & Web, PR Systems, The Chandlery, Plym Yacht Club & the Royal Western Yacht Club.

The class takes inspiration from the RC35 class and was founded by Jon Harris and Jon Pegg of Ullman sails, who wanted to create some competitive racing in Plymouth, something not really seen since the early 2000's. Races are primarily Windward / Leeward aimed to be 45 to 60 minutes long with 3 races per day 1 weekend a month. August is left free of racing to allow for the usual holidays and not to impact on series results. Rules of the class allow boats with an IRC rating of 0.990 to 1.015. Over a 60 minute race the rating top to bottom of the class is one and a half minutes of corrected time to keep the racing close, something that remains a key component of yacht racing.

The first event is 23-24 April, with more Regattas in May, June, July, Sept & October. Details here. The Class will also be racing at the 2022 IRC Southwest Championship & the Plymouth Regatta 8-9 July.

Boats confirmed for the 2022 season:

Jump n Shout - Archembault 35

Altura - Beneteau 34.7

I say Ding Dong - Beneteau 34.7

Sunfire - Sunfast 3200

Ju Kyu - J109

Musk Ox - X362 Sport

Bandit - JPK 1010

BlackJack - First 35

Saltheart - Hod 35

Bada Bing - Humpherys 30

Luna - First 35

Amigos - Archembault 35

Sirduction - Hod 35

Xenia - X362s

Men Behaving Badly - A35

8th Gill Easter Egg and Optimist Regatta at Grafham Water Sailing Club

 Good Friday featured a light and fitful breeze (although beautiful weather for the parents sunning themselves and eating ice creams on the bank) that caused a long postponement ashore. Finally it appeared to settle and a race course was rapidly set up whilst the fleets launched, only for the wind to go round in circles as soon as the first warning flag was displayed.

The resulting running start proved no problem for these young sailors and the race was on! Much to their delight, although the Optimists started 4 minutes behind the ILCA 6 and other assorted boats of the handicap fleet, they actually overtook most of them before the end. The wind still refused to settle, so racing was abandoned for the day, and everyone's skateboarding and touch rugby skills were honed.

Day 2 gave a sunshine and a superb breeze of 6-10kt with a steady mean all day. Four races were sailed.

The winner of regatta fleet was Ruby Coster from Royal Lymington YC (discarding a first with a perfect score line), with James Pipe (Royal Harwich YC) second and Darcy O'Donnell (Royal Southern YC) third. Everyone came off the water smiling and had a great time, making new friends over the event.

The handicap fleet whizzed around the course with much place changing amongst the ILCA 6 boats. However, Adele Burbidge tended to move to the front with very smooth technique as the wind shifted around, and won three of the four races. Matthew Donley took second place.

Handicap fleet results:

Pos Class Sail No Helm Crew Club Rating R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Pts

1st Laser Radial / ILCA 6 215303 Adele Burbidge Grafham Water 1147 (DNC) 1 1 2 1 5

2nd Laser Radial / ILCA 6 197899 Matthew Donley Grafham Water 1147 ‑3 3 2 1 2 8

3rd Laser Radial / ILCA 6 0 Sky Collard Grafham Water 1147 6 2 3 3 ‑7 14

4th Laser Radial / ILCA 6 201871 Sam Bevan Grafham Water 1147 5 4 ‑8 5 4 18

5th D Laser 4.7 / ILCA 4 218524 Dom Atherton Grafham Water 1208 2 ‑6 6 6 5 19

6th Laser Radial / ILCA 6 191866 Jasper Paddick Grafham Water 1147 1 ‑8 4 7 8 20

7th 2000 21109 Isla Jackson Josh Donley Grafham Water 1090 8 5 5 ‑9 3 21

8th Laser Radial / ILCA 6 197375 Oscar Paddick Grafham Water 1147 4 ‑10 7 4 9 24

9th 2000 RH Alfie Scott Davison Lloyyd Bigger Grafham Water 1090 (DNC) 7 9 8 6 30

10th Topper 4.2 575 Thomas Matthews Grafham Water 1409 7 9 ‑10 10 10 36

Optimist main fleet results:

Pos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Pts

1st 6518 Will Mears Corinthian Otters (DNC) 1 1 1 5 8

2nd 3551 Jacob Jull Grafham Water 1 4 4 ‑5 1 10

3rd 3281 Noah Mathers Burnham 3 2 2 ‑4 3 10

4th 6449 Harry Whelan NSSC & Bewl 5 3 ‑7 2 2 12

5th 5949 Lola Saunders DRSC 2 5 ‑10 3 4 14

6th 6467 Alex Saunders Warsash ‑7 6 3 6 6 21

7th 6465 Elisabeth Collins Cam SC 6 ‑8 6 7 7 26

8th 6330 Keah Edwards Cam SC 4 ‑10 9 8 8 29

9th 5931 Callum Marshall Blackwater SC 9 7 5 9 ‑11 30

10th 6145 Charlotte Self CBYC 8 9 8 ‑11 9 34

Optimist regatta fleet results:

Pos Sail No Helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Pts

1st 5915 Ruby RLymYC ‑1 1 1 1 1 4

2nd 5402 James Pipe Royal Harwich YC 2 4 2 ‑5 4 12

3rd 6561 Darcy Royal Southern YC ‑6 3 4 3 2 12

4th 5215 Wiliam Pope Royal Harwich YC 4 ‑6 3 2 3 12

5th 5370 Oscar Manning Ripon SC 3 2 5 ‑6 5 15

6th 5252 Antonia Munoz Royal Harwich YC 5 5 6 4 (DNC) 20

7th 5026 Leo Hemmingway CCSC 7 7 (DNC) DNC DNC 30

Two dinghy regattas to be held in Summer 2022 at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

 Two weekend dinghy regattas in 2022, both being held at Torquay. Fun and competitive racing for PY Dinghies - Asymmetric, Non-Asymmetric and Junior Classes.

The English Riviera Dinghy Regatta, introduced in 2021, is a Torbay combined clubs event over the weekend of June 11th - 12th.

The Torbay Dinghy Regatta will take place over the weekend October 8th - 9th.

We look forward to welcoming sailors from around the country to come and join us at these events and enjoy racing on some of the finest sailing water in the world.

EASY AND QUICK ACCESS TO THE RACE AREAS FROM THE SHELTERED HARBOUR

CLUB, CAR PARK AND TOWN CENTRE ARE ALL CLOSE TO THE HARBOUR

FREE BERTHING AND DINGHY PARKING

GREAT HOSPITALITY, BAR AND FOOD

Over many years, the Royal Torbay Yacht Club has established an enviable reputation in hosting top class regattas and championships. We welcome enquiries from class associations seeking venues for Regional or National Championships at either of these events.

At the same venue, the Torbay Royal Regatta, August 19th - 22nd.

For further information contact Bob Penfold events@rtyc.org or visit rtyc.org

International 14 Easter Tray at Itchenor Sailing Club

 15 International Fourteens attended this year's Easter Tray event at Itchenor Sailing Club over the Bank Holiday weekend. The three-day event is the traditional curtain-raiser for the class and is the first cross for the gun teams with their sights set on the World Championships in August.

Day one was a tight battle between POW winners Glenn Truswell & Ed Fitzgerald and current world champions Archie Massey & Harvey Hillary. Both teams were evenly matched over three windward-leeward races, with Massey & Hillary finishing the day on top with a 1,2,1. Behind Douglas Pattison & Mark Tait were locked in a three-way battle with Andy Fitzgerald & Richard Dobson, and Katie Nurton crewed by Cam Tweedle.

Day 2 and Olympic hopeful and ex 49er World Champion James Peters joined the party crewed by another ex-14 world champ Tom 'Tingtog' Partington. The 'scratch team' went straight to work on Massey and Truswell, taking the first race of the day and following that up with a 2,3 for an impressive debut.

For Monday's racing, the race team switched from windward-leeward to two long-distance harbour races changing the emphasis from handling and tactics to navigation and speed. Again the top three were engaged in an epic battle, with Massey & Hillary finding another gear to open up a gap on Truswell & Fitz, with Peters & Partington a click of down but comfortable in third.

Overall Results:

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

1st Zog 1565 Archie Massey Harvey Hillary 1 ‑2 1 2 1 2 1 1 9

2nd Scrumpet 1553 Edward FitzGerald Glen Truswell 2 1 2 ‑3 3 1 2 2 13

3rd Amaising Masie 1557 Katie Nurton Cameron Tweedle 7 ‑8 7 6 5 4 7 6 42

4th Marilyn 1561 Douglas Pattison Mark Tait 3 5 5 4 4 5 (DNC) DNC 43

5th Penguin Dance 1559 Tom Partington James Peters (DNC) DNC DNC 1 2 3 3 3 46

6th Think Pink 1566 Andy FitzGerald Rich Dobson 4 3 3 5 9 6 (DNC) DNC 47

7th 1548 Julian Pearson 6 6 4 8 7 ‑9 8 9 48

8th Tartan Fraulein 1523 Kimball Morrison Harry Kennedy 9 11 8 (DNF) 10 7 9 7 61

9th Synchronicity 1567 Martin Jones Ian Lodder (OCS) 4 DNF DNF 6 10 4 4 62

10th Booby 1570 Geroge Yeoman Jack Yeoman 5 (DNC) 6 DNC DNC DNC 5

ABP accused of "pricing people out of the water" by raising charges for sailors

 THE company that runs the Port of Southampton has been accused of “pricing people out of the water” by more than tripling charges for some hobby sailors.

The rises have prompted a retired Royal Navy admiral to table a question in the House of Lords, accusing Associated British Ports (ABP) of introducing swingeing price hikes “without consultation”.

Retired admiral and Labour peer Lord West of Spithead said he “couldn’t believe” the rises.

“It occurs to me they’re saying ‘We can make some cash, let’s get on with it’,” he said.

What if they decided to put it up 500 per cent? It seems they’ve got the ability to charge as much as they like and people have got no comeback.”

Invoices seen by the Daily Echo show a private owner with a boat from 8.1 metres to 12 metres in length faces a rise in their mooring licence from £225 last year to £675 this year.

Above 15 metres, the price rise is from £517 to £1,551.

Bob Gardner, honorary secretary with Southampton Water Sailing Association, said: “Everybody’s trepidatious that, having seen individual mooring holders’ costs increase by a factor of three, there’s a similar plan for the clubs.

“For the individual mooring holders, it’s just been declared with no form of consultation. Some of them have been on these moorings for 30 years or more and these aren’t rich people.

“It’s just pricing people out of the water without consultation. It feels completely against government policy on encouraging participation in sport and getting people active.”

John Hodgins, membership secretary of Marchwood Yacht Club, said: “We’ve had an invoice for mooring charges this year but we are aware that private mooring holders have seen an exponential rise this year and we're pretty sure that that sort of rise is heading in our direction as well.”

He said such rises would “threaten the viability of our clubs”.

“Marchwood Yacht Club was founded in 1963 by local people to enable the average working man to get afloat. Our members are not at the elitist end of yachting,” he said.

Terry Welsh, commodore of Cracknore Hard Sailing Club, said: “The majority of leisure users on Southampton Water are not oligarchs with multi-million pound yachts but ordinary families and individuals to whom a 200 per cent increase means they will have to vacate their moorings.”

John Bigg, who has a 27ft trimaran at Ower Lake, Calshot, will see his mooring licence go up from £225 to £675.

“I won’t be keeping this mooring if the price is going up,” he said.

ABP said in a statement: “We kept mooring fees as low as possible for as long as we could, but to mitigate increased operational and infrastructure costs, and after a number of years with little change in fees, we are unable to delay the rise in fees any longer.

“We delayed January’s fee increase by three months, giving mooring holders time to decide if they wanted to continue with their mooring. We also introduced a quarterly payment plan to spread payments, and rates remain very competitive with other local providers.

2022 Brewin Dolphin RS Elite International Grand Prix

 Entries are now flowing in for the 2022 Brewin Dolphin RS Elite International Grand Prix, to be held at the Royal Yacht Squadron on 9th to 12th June, as competitors take advantage of the early the bird discount on the entry fee. At the time of writing there are entries from the UK mainland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Norway, the United States and Antigua.

Racing will take place in the Central Solent over windward-leeward courses, with three races per day on 9th, 10th and 11th of June and a single race on the 12th. On one of the first three days, to be nominated by the race committee, there will be a charity Race to the Start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line to the main committee boat start line, allowing spectators ashore to see a competitive RS Elite start at close quarters. The day chosen will depend on weather conditions.

The Brewin Dolphin RS Elite International Grand Prix will provide four days of close, competitive racing. There is a glittering array of trophies and prizes for winners of the international event and the national championship. The social events promise to be the best ever. Early bird entry discount is available until April 30th. Enter now to take advantage. Full details, including Notice of Race and entry form can be found at www.rys.org.uk/events/regattas/rs-elite-international-grand-prix/rs-elite-international-grand-prix-2020.