Category: News

The second instalment of the summer didn’t quite live up to the previous one in terms of weather. The sky was full of white and very grey clouds, the wind a F3-4 SSW’erly but the sea was reasonably flat, well it was when we first arrived !
Five boats prepared to launch although one opted to stayed ashore as by that time the sea had stated to ‘liven up’.

Phil, who had swapped his RS700 to guest helm Keith in the RS500 where first across the line in race one. However, they were also the first to capsize only 100 metres into the beat when they caught a  header resulting in Keith being ‘tea bagged’. This left the two RS400’s to take over the lead although a fast recovery meant the RS500 was only a short distance behind. Pawel, sailing his Sprint 15 made up the fleet following a little way behind

With the tide now started to ebb everyone opted to go inshore with Phil & Keith taking over the lead buy the windward mark closely followed by Simon & Bruce (RS400). Downwind these two opted to go offshore with Richard and guest crew for the day David (RS400) choosing to go inshore hoping to find a flatter sea as by this time it was getting ‘big’.

The offshore route proved to be the faster with leading two boats opening up a good lead which they held to the finish with Phil & Keith taking line honours.
With a few white horses now showing their heads only two boats stayed for race two. Simon & Bruce were motoring up the beat, with some impressive hiking from Bruce obviously assisting in this as they lead at the windward mark and the leeward gate.

However a capsize near the windward mark on lap two allowed Phil & Keith into the lead which they held to the finish.
With the combination of grey skies, a wind now F4 gusting 5 and a big sea we decided to head for shore for an early lunch. This proved a good decision as just as we finished packing the boats away and retreated to the clubhouse for lunch it started raining.  Thanks to Anna for preparing lunch so it was ready when we come back ashore.
Note that it’s the Thursday Evening Regatta next week with 2-3 races planned and it’s the Beach Regatta next weekend. The forecast for both is looking good.

Full results here…

After the strong winds and rain of Saturday competitors enjoyed sunshine and a manageable F3 for the Britannia Pier race. With the wind coming from the south it was a long downwind leg to the Britannia Pier mark. The Catamarans led the fleet with Ed Andersons Spitfire just ahead of David Brief in his Shadow-X at the mark. These two led over the line with visitors Will Pank and Seb Gotto sailing a 29’er very close behind and winning on corrected time. The flood tide made the long beat back to Gorleston easier for the hiking boats with the Wayfarer of visitors Phil & Dennis Manning claiming second on corrected time.

Full results here…

This week saw the start of the summer series and the weather matched the season with a warm F3-4 SE’erly breeze. 12 boats launched with two electing to spent the day blasting around. Race one started just as the tide started to ebb and with the sea relatively flat. The race team set a slightly port bias line with Dave & John (RS400) nearly succeeding doing a port hand flyer only to be thwarted by Richard & Carol (RS400). Everyone elected to stick inshore up the beat with Chris (D-One) first round the windward mark closely followed by the rest of the pack. On gybing Chris managed to get a perfectly formed hour glass in his spinnaker which he was unable to remove so headed inshore. After two laps Richard & Carol and Dave & John rounded the gate together closely followed by Phil (Contender) with Phil & Lorna (RS400) and Steve (D-One) just a few seconds apart. Just three seconds separated the first three boats as they crossed the line with Richard & Carol claiming line honours with Phil next but first on corrected time. Anna & Keith (RS500) suffered a ‘Gnav’ failure on the final lap which also damaged their mast causing them to head for shore.
By now the tide had picked up a bit and with it the sea state, making it more challenging. The cauldron was now living up to it’s name, what a difference a day makes !  Several boats headed for shore which soon become the popular move and so we headed in for an early lunch in the sun on the prom. Thanks for the race team for a great days sailing.

Full results here…

The race team ran a packed racing programme on Thursday evening fitting in three races. Very close racing all evening with Keith (Laser) in good form winning all three, presumably hyped up with the thought of escaping an evening with Take That !! Richard Brown
(Solution) a little unlucky being only a few seconds behind Keith in every race. Richard Foster (Laser) putting in a good performance in race one to finish third but was observed testing the water on occasions, apparently it wasn’t too cold. Phil, having now completed the ‘rebuild’ of his RS700 quickly got up to speed to take third in the last two races. Afterwards it was pie and beans on the prom as it was such a lovely evening, Phil’s cooking becoming so famous some of our SUP members joined the feast.
Thanks to Richard the third, aka Mr Fryer and Des for their slick race management providing a very busy evening.

Full results here…

The race team opted to set a straightforward windward leeward course for the days sailing.
The day started with a warm F3-4 wind from the SW and low water at the start of racing with flood tide kicking in shortly after. Eleven boats ventured out onto the water with Tom and Will, having rigged the 505 deciding to stay ashore.
Race 1 got underway with the sea quite flat. The 29’er of visitors Sam & Chris quickly opened up a gap over the rest of the fleet which they consolidated over the remaining laps. Richard & Kristof (RS400) led the chasing pack after the first lap. Nick (D-One) overhauled them to lead after the second lap and Ed (Spitfire), recovering from a slow start led the pack at the finish.

There were a few retirements with Dave & John (RS400) and Chris (D-One) experiencing spinnaker problems.
On corrected time Sam & Chris winning by over five minutes, Phil (Contender) having remained close to the chasing pack claimed second over Nick.
Race two turned into a capsize fest! The wind was still F3-4 but the sea state now ‘slight.
Once again Sam & Chris lead the pack after lap one followed by Dave & John and Ed
Lap two proved to be a challenging lap for some with by Sam & Chris and Dave & John capsizing on the gybe to the gate and Richard & Robyn having problems when dropping their spinnaker.

On lap three Nick took a swim on the gybe with Phil doing likewise just before reaching the gate. Richard & Kristof proved staying upright is always quicker and took the race win by nearly two minutes. Despite the antics only 18 seconds separated the next four boats with Richard & Robyn just beating Phil.

Race three saw a reduced number on the start line, just three to be precise. The wind had increased a tad to F4 and the sea state approaching moderate. Sam & Chris had a delayed start, leaving the two RS400’s of Dave & John and Richard & Kristof to fight it out enjoying a close tussle over two laps with the downwind legs providing some of the best sailing this year. Dave & John crossing the line just ahead of Richard & Kristof.

Thanks to the race team of Anna, Keith and Steve for an ‘entertaining’ days sailing.

Full results here…

There were five classes of dinghy represented on Thursday evening, RS400, D-One, Contender, RS300 & Laser. With low water at around the start of racing the ebb tide was easing which was just as well as the warm Southerly F3 wind eventually turned to the SE and decreasing to a F1 by the end of race two.
Race one – Dave (RS300) and Adrian (D-One) led at the windward mark. After one lap Dave led Ed (Contender) and Phil & Lorna (RS400). A shift in the wind to the SE on the next lap resulted in Dave the biggest benefactor ending the ‘beat’ on a fetch to the mark and taking the race win. Phil & Lorna eased past Ed on the second lap with Keith (Laser) staying in contention to take second on corrected time and Ed pipping Phil & Lorna to third

With the wind now from the SE the race team moved the windward mark for race two. Dave tried a port end flyer only to have the duck most of the fleet. However, a couple of boats had a somewhat hampered start as they snagged the warp on the start line mark. Dave led after lap one with Phil & Lorna a few seconds ahead of Adrian. The wind now dropped to about F1. Despite the decreased wind the tide was now negligible the second lap was actually quicker. Dave taking line honours, Keith repeating his second place and Phil & Lorna claiming third spot.
Thanks to Richard and Des for running the racing and providing us with a very pleasant evening sailing.

Full results here…