Courage Cock 8th March 2015
See the Club Sailing tab for the report on this Sundays Courage Cock event.
Courage Cock Match Race This Sunday 8th March
Dear All,
The Courage Cock is a match race, where competitors race every other competitor in turn. As in the America’s Cup races, it can be very exciting to evenly match competitors. It also gives the opportunity for everyone to win a race if they get the better of their opposition.
The event is organised with a schedule, so it is important that we know who is going to take part prior to the event. An example of the schedule for 7 boats is attached and shows that 21 races will be sailed, usually in 3 pairs sailing their individual races, with the bye boat recording the result. With 8 boats the number of races jumps to 28 and for 12 boats it is 66 races!
Please let me know if you would like to sail and a good deadline to aim for is no later than Friday midnight.
I look forward to seeing you.
Cheers, Roger
Work Party Saturday 14th March – Volunteers Please
Please come along and join us on Saturday 14th March from 09:00 – 12:00, to carry out a bit of mowing, lakeside tidy up, and hump removals.
We need a Scythe, Spades, Pick Axe, Buckets or a Wheel Barrow would be helpful. I would also like to de-litter the banks of beer cans, so please bring some bin bags and gloves.
With a little effort every now and then our lake will remain a joy to sail in any wind direction, if we allow the maintenance to get on top of us, it becomes unmanageable.
Please come along and help, ‘Your Club Needs You’.
Many Thanks
Mark
Report from Friday’s Workshop – 20th February
This was another successful workshop with 22 attendees from 9 clubs in the M&S District.
As noted in the email during the week, an excellent book on SAIL TRIMMING was recommended and some of the illustrations were used to explain how sails create the forces that drive a boat and the wind flow around them (Eric Twiname’s ‘Start to Win’, available from Amazon). Although describing the forces involved and what to do with the sails on an IOM and his new Marblehead, UPROAR, Roger produced an A4 page with the relevant diagrams on one side and an upgraded SAIL TRIMMING advice sheet on the other, based on the one on the Handbook pages of MYA Knowledge Base. For those that were not able to be at the workshop a PDF is attached for your information, along with a page giving details of a very simply made 1 gram wind indicator.
The workshop included how to test and improve the mast rake to get the best balance from the rig, the effect of both sails on how the boat sails and ‘feels’, sail camber, mast bend, boom angles, mainsail twist, jib twist etc.
At the coffee/tea break there was a great deal of discussion, which was obviously enjoyed by all, as it was almost embarrassing to call the meeting to order to continue the workshop; the answering of questions, how to test the sail trim on the bank before putting it in the water, further information exchange, a little bit on the design philosophy behind UPROAR and the unanswered question about why the lower rig’s mast position is behind the centre line of the fin. Unfortunately time was running out and we did not do the promised critique of 2 IOMs brought to the meeting. If the owners bring them next time Hugh and Roger can do the critique then.
The next Workshop is on Friday 27th of March with the subject:
Friday 27 March – RACING RULES, STRATEGY and TACTICS: this workshop will concentrate the mind and help focus on the new season’s racing. This will cover how to get round the course quickly, situations to avoid and tactics to use to improve your position in the fleet.
We look forward to seeing you!
Cheers, Roger
Friday 20th February Workshop
Dear All,
This workshop will have a message for everyone who sails, whatever the class and so we expect a good turnout, whether you are an IOM , Marblehead, Footy, 8 metre or any other class sailor. As stated below we are hoping that you will be bringing your boat for a critique.
Friday 20 February – SAIL TRIMMING: your rig is your engine and you need to have it developing maximum power, so that not only does your boat handle well and ‘feel’ good, but also sails fast. Sail trimming and techniques for achieving this by both improving standing rigging and running lines will be demonstrated on boats that we hope you will bring for a critique by Hugh and Roger.
On occasion I have recommended a book about the subjects under discussion during the workshop, often about the rules. On this occasion I’m recommending the book before the workshop, because the first 25 pages “Tapping the Power Source” covers this Friday’s talk well, but has the advantage of covering next month’s workshop as well.
Eric Twiname’s ‘Start to Win’ is still available from Amazon, although think it is currently out of print. This is a really good book, a classic, which explains a lot of the theory with brilliant diagrams. As I knew Eric and his dad, Alec, who I sailed against in National 12s on the River Tyne in my student days, I have a few stories to tell.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Cheers, Roger
Three Rivers RM Team Race – Feb 15th 2015 – Report by Rob Vice
Five teams totalling 15 boats were greeted by a light breeze which faded as the day wore on ending in challenging drifting conditions.
3 Rivers A
Tony Guerrier. 50 Quark
Austin Guerrier. 46 Prime Number
John Male. 56 Starkers2
3 Rivers B
Peter Popham. 71 Cream Craker
Keith Allen. 77 Starkers3
John Carter. 9 Starkers2
Guildford A
Martin Crysell. 52 Prime Number
John Shorrock. 26 Quark
Terry Rensch. 92 Quark
Guildford B
Roger Stollery. 17 Uproar
Hugh McAdoo. 16 Prime Number
Dick Grainge 181 Starkers
Clapham
Rob Vice. 41 Mystick
CJ Vice. 89 Crazy Tube Too
Lockie Vice 171 Crazy Tube Too
For those who have never had the pleasure of team racing the concept is a great way to open the season as you can happily give and receive coaching from your teams while also sharpening your race craft by thinking who you can position your yacht to benefit your team mates so some deliberately forcing boats over the start line early, wide buoy rounding and even some deliberate incorrect buoy rounding were seen today which helps spice up the racing! The teams race against each other so 6 boats are on the water at any one time with the aim being to secure a winning combination of the 6 available positions to secure a win for the team. The team with the most wins takes the glory with any ties being split by the result of the race between those tied teams.
Roger Stollery was launching his new UpRoar which to my eyes looked like a Roar Edge style moulding to a Crazy Tube dimensions but no doubt there is much more to that story that will be better coming from Roger than me! And a re-launch of Rob’s 25 year old Mystick after a winter diet and refit which removed over 200g from the hull and some updating of the rigs, fin and for today’s light airs a 1m bulb.
Race 1 saw Guildford A against Guilford B with John Shorrock winning from Roger, Hugh and Terry. Meaning that the result relied on the last two boats which Martin tipped in favour of Guildford A by beating Dick to 5th place, after Dick had missed a mark and had to go back.
Race 2 Pitched the Guildford A with Three Rivers A which Guildford took with 1st 3rd and 5th positions from Martin, John and Terry respectively from Austin (2nd) Tony (4th) and John (6th)
Race 3 Brought a change of course and Three Rivers A going up against Clapham Three Rivers took an early domination with 1st ,2nd and 4th but with the first 4 boats sailing the leeward mark in the wrong direction caused a turning of the tables and saw Clapham leading much of the race with a 1st and 2nd before superior boat speed grinding down the gap and forcing an error on the last leg to for Tony to win from Austin then Rob and CJ with John beating Lockie.
During this race Roger got some news from home and saw him leave for the day so further evaluation of his new RM will have to wait for a bit more breeze.
Race 4 Gave us the home club rivalry battle with Three Rivers A taking on Three Rivers B which saw the A team win with the decisive 1st and 2nd places by Tony and John Male.
Race 5 Saw Clapham sail against Three Rivers B where another dominant performance saw Three Rivers win with Peter and John Carter being the first two boats over the line.
Race 6 What little wind we had had started to fade and despite the good progress it was obvious that only 1 round was going to be possible with a further 5 races still to go so the course was shortened and tweaked to retain something of a beat in a fading breeze. Guildford B against Three Rivers B meant that with Roger missing, Martin sailed in his place to good effect helping Hugh and Dick getting 1st and 3rd for a winning combination.
Race 7 Saw another win for Guildford B against Clapham with a dominant result after a close race with Martin winning from Hugh.
So with 3 races to go the overall scores were:
Guildford A 2 from 2
Guildford B 2 from 3
3 Rivers A 2 from 3
3 Rivers B 1 from 3
Clapham 0 from 3
Race 8 Two of the leading teams sail their last and Guildford B beat Three Rivers A by the closest of scores being 1st 4th and 5th after Hugh won from Tony.
Race 9 Guildford A got back into action against 3 Rivers B and after the positions changed dramatically within 5 meters of the finish line when a faint breeze filled from the north side of the course and brought a 1st and 2nd for Terry and John. This maintained their 100% record and took them onto the same score as Guildford B with 1 race to go.
Final race 10 paired bottom team Clapham and Guildford A in the lightest of the breezes. Rob with the 25 year old boat worked into an early lead which despite some delaying tactics he carried to the finish line ahead of Terry and Martin so once again the race went to the wire in the effort to avoid the fatal 6th place. Brothers CJ and Lockie played a savvy team effort to slow John and get the decisive 4th and 5th places and a win for the under dogs!
The count back system settled the day’s result to..
Guildford A 3 from 4
Guildford B 3 from 4
3 Rivers A 2 from 4
3 Rivers B 1 from 4
Clapham 1 from 4
The prizes were handed to the victorious Guilford A team and thanks were given to the host club and their organising team without whom we could not have had such a challenging but fun day’s racing.
Report by Rob Vice
2015 Fred’s Big Toephy, 8th February 2015
The opening event of the 2015 Footy Traveller’s series was sailed at Abbey Meads Lake, Chertsey and hosted by Guildford Model Yacht Club in glorious sunshine. 12 competitors from 6 clubs enjoyed 12 races in very variable wind conditions, from the lightest of breezes to a steady wind from the North requiring a change from the biggest rigs to 2 rigs smaller just before the break for lunch.
PRO, Hugh McAdoo, set a long windward/leeward course and because there was very little wind to start with, this took over a quarter of an hour, requiring a lot of concentration to get the best performance. Peter Shepherd crossed the finishing line first, sailing his home-made wooden FAT BOY followed by Roger Stollery and his corrugated plastic chine SUPABUG design. The latter turned the tables in Race 2 and this was to become a familiar pattern as between them they won 9 of the 12 races. This was interrupted just before lunch, when Alan Viney sailing his moulded plastic ICE won Race 6 in the increasing wind. Top of the leaderboard at lunch was Peter, just one point ahead of Roger.
The wind seemed to have peaked at lunch and from then on the wind came a bit more from the west and gradually decreased towards the end of the racing. After Roger won Race 7, Peter won the next 2, when the Vice children arrived to join in the fun. They immediately had an impact on the results because 16-year-old CJ Vice showed his mettle to win Race 10 with his brother 11-year-old Gabriel finishing 5th sailing their ICE boats. The next race required a lot of concentration as there were many holes in the wind and once again CJ came to the front after struggling a bit at the beginning of the race. This time 14-year-old Lockie Vice backed up the ‘family‘ performance with a 6th. However, it was the narrow designs, FAT BOY and FAT BOY SLIM sailed by the Peters Shepherd and Jackson that took the honours in these light conditions with CJ 3rd and Gabriel 4th.
At the prizegiving, Hugh McAdoo thanked the competitors for their sportsmanlike behaviour, as there were no protests and penalties were carried out without needing to be hailed by the observers. As well as awarding Fred’s Big Toephy to Peter Shepherd and the prizes for the event including the junior prizes, the prize for the best novice (never having finished in the top 3 in these events) was presented to Alan Viney.
Also, as is traditional at the first event of the series, the 2014 Traveller’s Trophy was presented to David Wilkinson, who had travelled the most miles competing in all but one of the 9 Open events in the series.
The next event in the 2015 Footy Traveller’s Series is the Mad March Hare at Cotswold Model Yacht Club on 19th of March where we are expecting to welcome more juniors to sail these super little boats. Details can be found on the really excellent website www.sailfootyuk.com.
Results:
1st Peter Shepherd Abington Park FAT BOY 18, 2nd Roger Stollery Guildford SUPABUG 22, 3rd Peter Jackson Abington Park FAT BOY SLIM 30, 4th Mike Ewart 2 Islands ICE 34, 5th Alan Viney Guildford ICE 46, 6th David Wilkinson Cotswold IAMBUS 47, 7th Keith Parrott Frensham Pond ICE 61, 8th Sid Sims Birmingham ICE 67, 9th Peter Dunne Guildford SUPABUG 78.
As the Vice squad arrived later than expected their scores were not incorporated into the main results but made up a separate junior competition.
1st CJ 4, 2nd Gabriel 10, 3rd Lockie 10.
Work Party Saturday 31st January
7 club members turned out in not ideal conditions raising the initial sleet/snow and did a fantastic job of clearing the whole of the South bank vegetation and burning it on 3 bonfires. Many thanks to Alan Viney for hiring the brush cutter and to those who did the raking, including Mark who kindly donated a rather fine rake to the club.
Alan believes that we should shortly use our mower to get these soft stubs cut lower, as you can only cut down to about 3 inches above the ground. So if there is a volunteer Alan would be pleased to hear from you.
Cheers, Roger
February 20th Friday Evening Workshop
Friday 20 February – SAIL TRIMMING: your rig is your engine and you need to have it developing maximum power, so that not only does your boat handle well and ‘feel’ good, but also sails fast. Sail trimming and techniques for achieving this by both improving standing rigging and running lines will be demonstrated on boats that we hope you will bring for a critique by Hugh and Roger.
We look forward to seeing you!
January’s Friday Evening Workshop
This was another successful workshop with 20 attendees from 6 clubs in the M&S District. We were pleased to welcome two lady members. Although Hugh was unable to bring along his beautifully restored 1930s 6 m, there was plenty of detail in re-rigging older boats that were brought to demonstrate improvements that can be made in adjusting ‘rigging’, from a simple method of making an adjustable Dyneema mast ring to close the gap between mast and sail, to basic adjustments of mast shape to enhance downwind performance.
Always the formal talk by Roger Stollery generates questions and after the coffee break he explained the reasons why in strong winds, rigs often perform better when moved further aft or with the mast in the same place, but with smaller jibs. As well as the rigging adjustments for going downwind, the alternative suggested for the conventionally Marblehead was to change the geometry to a swing rig, against which this boat usually competes. As there is already a swing rig mast position to change would not be difficult.
Another question about where the mast should be placed on an 8 metre that that has 3 different mast positions was answered by imagining the mast right at the bow or right at the stern and the effect that this has on the balance of the boat with the downforce the sail either immersing the bow and making the boat luff or the reverse. In the end it comes down to doing trials with the mast in the the existing forward and aft positions and testing which makes the boat go better.
What is good about these workshops is not necessarily the formal talk but the informal exchange of ideas and questions that has the meeting buzzing. Indeed sometimes Roger felt embarrassed to restart the talk when there was already lively debate in the Victoria Hall.
The next workshop is on Friday 20th of February