Report and Result 17th Sept

Never listening to the weather reports! Light winds and rain by lunchtime… er nope…..the select few who ventured down enjoyed sunshine and a northerly F3. The ebbing tide assisted the upwind legs resulting in more fun time downwind with some small rollers to practice your surfing.
Race 1 saw a three way battle front between Keith and Anna (500, 1st) , Phil and Lorna (400, 2nd) and Ed and guest crew (Hobie), with all three crossing the line within a few seconds of each other.
Tom and Stuart (505) set the pace in the second race, with Simon and Bruce (400) from WOBYC next closely followed by Phil and Lorna. After the first lap these three rounded the leeward mark together with Tom just getting his bow in front to get water round the mark.  By the end of the Race Tom had edged away to take the win and Simon just getting the better of Phil and Lorna to take 2nd
By the start of the final race the wind had eased slightly. Tom and Stuart led Simon and son followed by Phil and Lorna round the windward mark.  Mainsheet problems caused Phil and Lorna to retire leaving Simon chasing Tom to the finish.  In the previous races the 505 had been cautious hoisting their spinnaker, leaving it until after the gybe but this time it went up. This saw them stretch out their lead each lap crossing the line well ahead to take the win.
All in all a most pleasant days sailing, followed by lunch enjoyed outside the clubhouse in what easily could have been a mid summers day.

Dave.

Results Can be found here…………….

Thanks to Dave and John for a great days sailing.

Thursday Report + Results

Last night 7 boats (6 racing, Ed and Holly sunning themselves) managed to get in 3 races in some surprisingly very light winds. Dave in the Rs300 had the race 1 to himself winning by a margin of 6 mins and nearly lapping the lasers. Keith just pipping Tamsin to the line after late Gybe and heading to the other end of the line.  Race 2 saw Tamsin (and the rest of the fleet) Leave Keith behind, Dave not having it all his own way as Tamsin kept close to the finish, Dave just beating Tamsin by a single second on corrected time, with Steve Gray finishing 3rd.  Race 3 saw Dave take the honours again with another close laser battle,  Tamsin just getting away on the last leg to take second with Keith 3rd.   We then returned to shore for pasties in the club house, many thanks to Richard for running the racing.

Thursday and Britania pier results now available on results page.

 

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Ed Cat

Ed & Hollys new Hobbie.

Thursday 13th Report

Seven boats launched on a warm sunny evening. With the wind blowing from the south one would expect a fairly steady breeze but there were plenty of shifts to concentrate the minds.  Despite the predication that low water would be around 18.30 there was still quite a ebb tide at the start the first race. Richard Brown sailing a Laser won the start and quickly headed inshore….followed by the rest of the fleet. By the windward mark there were two separate fleets, the four Lasers having a close battle and well ahead were the ‘others’, comprising of a 300, 400 and D-One. Richard Fryer in his 300 slowly sailed away from the others to finished first over the line. Richard Brown held onto his lead ahead of the other Lasers.

Richard Fryer lead the way in race two opening up quite a lead. Steve, D-One and Phil and Lorna, 400 were neck and neck throughout the race with Steve leading at the finish. The battle of the Lasers continued with Richard, Tamsin and Keith all leading at some point during the race, however at the finish Keith claimed Laser honours with Richard and Tamsin only a few seconds behind.

Latest thursday Evening Results here……….

Rgds

Dave

 

 

D-One Nationals Report & Video

Report by Ben Falat

When witnessing a masterclass in championship fleet sailing one can either simply ‘Wow !’ or look for those very few fleeting moments which might be criticised;  Nick Craig discarded a ‘first’ in the three-day, seven-race series run at Gorleston this last weekend.

Poetry in motion during Race-7 with the championship already secured, he found it quite unnecessary to cover the fleet downwind, went his own way in search of a massive gust and trebled his already substantial lead during a single leg of this race.  During race-4 he crossed the start-line a surprising 8-seconds late …. but this was against a considerable tidal current and he was nevertheless first boat across this start.  Nothing else to report here apart from cracking power-gybes to most other sailors’ survival techniques, conservative but consistent starting, upwind sailing in what looked like a comfortable and relaxed style, while second-place onwards all strained legs, backs and torsos in general, trying to winkle any additional performance from their craft. Interesting though that Craig seemed to carry more mast-bend than most, hence probably holding up greater leech tension, and the mainsail just evidencing some starvation creases from clew to half-height on the luff.

Friday’s sailing was delayed by some 2-hours waiting for any wind to develop.  Saturday’s sailing was delayed by some 3-hours waiting for over-strong wind to reduce;  indeed the Committee Boat having gone out early to monitor conditions experienced such turbulent sea conditions that it could not find any holding ground consistent enough for the anchor to bite and stay in. Sunday turned into an interesting medium, both extremely shifty and varying in strength.

Race-1 was sailed to a light NE wind which backed too much during the second round and was therefore shortened.  Race-2 was sailed in that now stable northerly for a full three rounds; local man Chris Sallis revelled and offered an early challenge to the lead.  Having already experienced postponement, the afternoon’s racing was curtailed.  Saturday evening ended with a hotel dinner then retiring to much ‘free’ ale at the clubhouse next door.

Once Saturday’s early gale had subsided there was not enough time to catch up Friday’s lost race. The problem here was a legacy of massive swell breaking onto the beach making for extremely hard work for the beach party who launched each boat in turn, wading when in control and swimming when caught out;  once out beyond the surf-boarders most boats managed well; races 3 & 4 proved fair into a northerly, but during the start of race-5 a large veer to NE was experienced;  with only seconds to go, the start was postponed, course re-laid and a second attempt worked, though in latter stages of the race there was a sudden further veer to E, considerable drop in pressure (local wind farm appeared simply to switch off !) and the Committee Boat charged across the course to shorten, failing to get there in time and the last leg eventually became a long slow and stressful haul over an increasing tide. Humphrey Carter from Gurnard and Giles Chipperfield had by now stamped a clear desire for 2nd place overall. Despite the wind abating to merest zephyr from south, requiring some boats to be towed toward the shore, the breakers were still there and the recovery-team had a particularly tough time; one sailor ended up in hospital being checked for concussion but gladly was released later that same evening.  The day ended with in-house cooked Paella, prepared over an enormous 4ft pan in the clubhouse by local sailor Martin Browne;  more ‘free’ beer and a generally happy evening.

Sunday’ racing was possibly the most interesting with some huge shifts and variations of strength. While some wallowed in lulls to one side, others were at full stretch elsewhere; some ladders and many snakes !

Congratulations to the home club for obvious huge effort put into a fantastic event with some sailors reporting afterwards being soooo pumped-up(!) with some of the most exciting sailing ever experienced;  especial mention of two Class newcomers James Nield (Windermere) and Howard Farbrother (Queen Mary) who both proved themselves front-runners on several occasions.. Huge thanks to Sponsors Noble Marine Insurance. Most of all, well-done to the 20-competitors who came from as far apart as Windermere, South Shields, Shoreham and Isle of Wight.

Full Results

Photos (Flickr)

Video of starts from day 2(youtube)

Very Short Video after start of race 4(youtube)

‘Gorleston at its best’ !

Great Yarmouth and Gorleston SC hosted their annual Beach Regatta over the weekend.  Competitors were treated to two days of sunshine and following an hour’s postponement for conditions to settle (120º veer) near perfect winds as the sea breeze developed and stabilised from the SE.  Race Officer Ben Falat with assistance from the D-One fleet set a large windward leeward course for the 16 boats with 10 different classes ranging from Lasers to a high speed Shadow X catamaran.  Phil Highfield sailing an RS700 dominated the racing on Saturday securing two race wins.  Richard Smith sailing a Laser improved in each race, as tidal current turned to emphasise offwind legs, to win the final race of the day.

The wind on Sunday had increased slightly providing some exciting downwind legs for the predominately asymmetric kited dinghies.  Phil Highfield started the day well with a win in the first race over an enormous course.  Chris Sallis and Martin Browne, both sailing D-One’s enjoyed very close racing over the final two slightly condensed courses with both leading at some point during the racing and pushing each other very hard.  Chris finishing a matter of seconds ahead of Martin in each race and securing the top two places in each race.  This bodes well for their build up to the D-One Nationals being hosted by GYGSC at the end of this month.

With no capsizes and only one retirement over the whole weekend, there was a great feeling of,  ‘Gorleston at its best’ !
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GYGSC Beach Regatta

Saturday:
Race One: 1 RS700 (P Highfield), 2 D-One (S Gray), 3 Laser (R Smith)
Race Two: 1 RS700 (P Highfield), 2 Laser (R Smith), 3 D-One (N Crickmore)
Race Three: 1 Laser (R Smith), 2 Shadow X (D Brief), 3 RS700 (P Highfield)

Sunday:
Race Four: 1 RS700 (P Highfield), 2 D-One (C Sallis), 3 Laser (R Smith)
Race Five: 1 D-One (C Sallis), 2 D-One (M Browne), 3 Laser (R Smith)
Race Six: 1 D-One (C Sallis), 2 D-One (M Browne), 3 RS700 (P Highfield)

Overall Results

1: RS700 (P Highfield) GYGSC 9pts,
2 Laser (R Smith) WOBYC 12pts,
3 RS500 (A Zmura/K Sykes) GYGSC 28pts,
4 D-One (N Crickmore) WOBYC 29pts

Thur Regatta Results

Congratulatiion to Dave on John for they victory in the Thursday Evening Regatta,  With Phillow Harlow OOD managing to squeeze 3 very close races, Dave (Rs400) taking the First 2 comfortably and Keith (Laser) finishing 2nd in both, Dave already had it in the bag.  The 3rd. race was tougher for Dave with Keith winning  (mainly due to the number of laps and dying breeze),. John and Dave found it impossible to shake Richard and Lorna (RS400) with it neck and neck as they headed upwind for the last lap,   With absolutly nothing in it as they approcaed the finish, Dave just pipping Richard by 2 seconds at the line to take the overall victory.  We then sailed in to a glorious sunset and finished the evening with a beer and hotdogs.  A huge thanks to Phil for running the racing.

 

Full Results Here …………….

May 28th

4th June Results

Sailing Report

Second instalment of the sprint series. (think first one was abandoned).

Splendid sailing conditions, sunshine, flat sea, an easing Ebb tide and a warm, mainly Westerly F2-4, but with some big shifts varying from WNW and WSW

In race one conditions seemed to suit David (Shadow X) who powered away from the chasing pack of dinghies. Phil and Lorna (400) worked the first half of the beat well to lead Richard and guest crew Will (400). Apart from David who was almost a lap ahead, the fleet remained closely packed with Richard and Will crossing the line just ahead of Steve (D-One) .

David continued his good form in the second, race but this time Jamie and Tamsin (800)were in close pursuit. In the shifty conditions Richard and Will managed to break free of the following pack who remained closely packed with less than 20 seconds between them after the first lap and all crossing the finishing line within 50 seconds of each other.

The final race of the day saw David get close and personal with the committee boat allowing the others to lead. Nick (Phantom) with perhaps a some divine guidance giving the shifty conditions, worked the shifts just right to lead for most of the race crossing the line just behind the 800 but ahead the rest of the fleet.

Results Can be found here………..

Regards

Dave

SOS Results

David Brief takes the spoils on the First day of  the season and the “Start of Season Trophy”.  11 boats took to the water with a southerly F3/4 allowing the trapeze boats to get planning upwind.  With a good tide running a few were caught out at the windward mark, including Phil in his contender in race 1 and that probably cost him a third.  The Shadow or David and Rs800 of Jamie and Tamsin comfortably took 1st and 2nd in both races.  The next 4 places in both races were much closer with Chris edging out the rest for 3rd in both races.  The fleet decided that 2 races were enough and headed back in for a well earned rest.  Thanks to Richard, Doug and Chris for a great days racing….

Please see results here…
Congratulations goes to David.
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