Mainsheet June 2011 A4
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Mainsheet Summer Sailing Season Edition June 2011 Chris’s Scribbles Firstly I would like to welcome all those new members that have joined this year many of which I had an opportunity to welcome at our open day. I would particularly like to mention Steve and Gerri Scudder who have kindly agreed to take up the roles of Bar Manager and Social Secretary respectfully. We are going to start a House Committee so that all the bar and social matters can be discussed separately from the Management Meeting, this will initially be led by Darren the Rear Com Seaford so we have all the issues with social, bar and the galley linked in together. I would also like to thank Tom Roper who has volunteered to help with the duty rota. We have had reasonable take up of new memberships over the last couple of months however the number of sailing members is still down on last year, so please encourage new members to join so that we can generate the finances to maintain the facilities we all enjoy. I hope that the sailors amongst us have all had a chance to sail by now, after my absence from the water for most of last year with frozen shoulder it has been very nice to get on the water and the weather has been fairly kind to us so far with most races run to date. Andrew Barnes has been busy organising various sailing and powerboat courses with many people taking up membership after the course and we have also now got over 60 children attending Monday night cadets. If any of the more experienced sailors would like to help out with Cadets or indeed training courses we can very easily run an assistant instructors briefing and I am sure Andrew would be very grateful for the support. So please if you can support Monday nights it would help the cadets immensely, don’t feel you have to be a cadet parent to help, it is good fun and the more experienced sailors we have the more the kids will get out of the night. For all of you that use the rescue boats out of Newhaven please note that the grey rib is the primary one to use. The keys are in the office in the grey storage can that holds the flares, first aid kit etc. Please also be aware that at low tide the silt has built up to the point that the rib can drop another half metre relative to the Ark or Jetty, so do not do the mooring lines up too tight! All users of Newhaven please note that the Harbour Master has been booking people who have gone against the vessel traffic signals, so if you are unsure call in on channel 12. I would like to remind members that we still have committee and officer vacancies, that means some members of the committee have to double up on roles. Particularly the Duties Secretary, which Michael is covering on top of his Treasurer role. So now that we have the duties running smoothly for this year using Duty Man, now is a great time for a volunteer to step forward and learn the role. So please do not hesitate to discuss this or any other role with any of the Directors if you are able to help us. I would also like to thank Met who as berth master for Piddinghoe has again done a great job in following up and unpaid berths and late membership renewals, which takes a lot of time and persistence. So now summer seems to be here I hope to see you down at Seaford or Piddinghoe and enjoy the facilities. Don’t forget Clive and Jane open the Café every day except Monday so you can come down to Seaford clubhouse almost any time for good food! Some Key events coming up are the federation event and sailing week. The fed event is at Bexhill this year so please can we have a good turnout, it will be our turn to host the event next year. Also don’t forget to pencil in Sailing Week, first week of August and you can camp down at Seaford. Finally there is a Midsummer Party social event which we have pencilled in for the Friday the 24 th of June, more details to follow. Chris Recorders Notes Seaford Bay Sailing - New Season Report The weather during April was mainly sunny with breezy and gusty offshore winds. Turnouts were ini- tially good because of the warm weather but the Wednesday Evening series got off to a bad start with cold winds and only 5 boats entering the first two races. Generally the racing has been very close with the new club handicaps being used. The Cats, Fireball, Streaker and the Lasers have all been winning races. The Lasers have had some good turnouts and it is nice to see a new face, Graham Hardy, racing his Laser regularly. The first day of the Seaford Regatta was blown out but the following day although initially misty turned out fine. Unfortunately there was more seaweed than usual so you needed to be very careful to avoid it. Six Hobie cats sailed over with their rescue boat from Brighton, which added to the inter- est and competition. We also had Alex Mills-Barton racing and Rupert with a new impressive set of P&B sails. The result was some very close racing with Rupert and Chris taking the first race, Alex win- ning the second and Darren Field won the third. Overall results were 1 st Rupert (Fireball), 2 nd Alex (Laser), 3 rd Laurence (Streaker). Results so far: - Commodores Cup – 1 st Laurence Venus. Bosun’s Cup – 1 st Laurence Venus. Tufton Beamish Cup - 1 st Laurence Venus. Sussex Express Cup – Rupert Smith & Chris Turner (2 races still to sail) The current position half way through the series is: - Sunday AM Series 1 Overall – Matt Springall Sunday AM Series 1 Lasers – Steve Duncan Sunday AM Series 1 Multihulls – Terry Jones Sunday AM Series 1 Keelboats – ‘Cornet’ Sunday AM Series 1 Menagerie – Laurence Venus Sunday AM Series 2 Overall - Laurence Venus Sunday AM Series 2 Lasers – Matt Springall Sunday AM Series 2 Multihulls – Terry Jones Sunday AM Series 2 Keelboats – ‘Arf ‘n’ Arf’ Wednesday Eve Series 1- Rupert Smith & Chris Turner This season the RO’s should check by radio and note down the names of the keelboat helmsman and crews on the signing on sheets. Keelboats should also ensure the RO’s know who are onboard as this is also a safety issue for the club. Re-sails dates The two remaining races for the Sussex Express Cup will be sailed concurrently with the Sunday AM Series 1 & 2 on 14 th August. Friars Bay race will now be sailed on Sunday 31 st July. This will be a tri- angular race taking in marks at Tidemills, Splashpoint and the new sewerage outfall in Friars Bay which is 3 miles out to sea and just visible from the sailing club. (Compasses required for safety). Laurence Venus. Recorder Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club Alex on Track January kicked off with a bang for NSSC sailor Alex Mills-Barton with the RYA nominating him for the coveted Marlowe Ropes Award, he picked up the award at the the Tullet Prebon London boat show, pat of the award gives free Marlow ropes for a whole year. The following day he was off to compete at the Miami Rolex Sail- ing World Cup regatta in Florida USA, he was on course for his first World Cup points until the last day when a couple of mediocre races dropped him down the order to finish 32nd. The World Cup circuit moved across to Europe for the Princess Sofia event in Palma, Majorca, not his best result and missed out on making the gold fleet finals but posted his first race win in a Sailing World Cup event. Back to the UK for the RYA National Youth Championships held at Hayling Island, Alex won the event with a day to spare posting 5 race wins along the way, and giving him his first UK Championships win. No rest for the wicked and 4 days later it was off to Hyeres in southern France for the second leg of the Sail- ing World Cup in Europe, the Worlds top 150 Laser sailors turned up on mass as the regatta was be- ing used by most countries as part of their Olympic qualification process. Alex made the gold fleet and finished 38th overall and the only youth sailor to make it through the qualifying rounds, not his best Sailing World Cup position but considering the quality of the fleet, it was his best result to date, even reigning Olympic champion Paul Goodison could only make 10th and Team GBR sailor and world number 3 Nick Thompson finishing 21st. Fellow NSSC sailor Ed Thorburn was also competing in the Finn at the regatta alongside Ben Ainslie who showed his true class to win the event with a day to spare. Back to Blighty for a few days before the last of the Laser World and European qualification events in Pwllheli, Alex marked another mile- stone with his first senior regatta win, he was also the first U21 to win a qualifier since 2006. His Pwllheli win pushed him up 4th in the UK senior rankings and along with his triumph at the RYA National Youth Championships he is currently the UK's top youth sailor in the Laser.