Sailing Club News 02-Aug-22

Welcome to another club news – there has been loads going at the club, and further afield, so please read on for this month’s bumper news round up.

But first – an important reminder…

Club Duties

Please can I remind every member that it is a condition of membership that you complete some voluntary duties  each membership year. Duties are managed in duty man and full details can be found here. If after reading that you are still unsure how the system works or how to access your assigned duties please contact Tom at duties@chewvalleysailing.org.uk

If you are assigned a duty that you are unable to fulfil you must first try to arrange a swap  – this can be done in duty man. If you are unable to arrange a swap please ensure you contact Tom in good time ahead of your duty, as he may be able to switch someone in.

Do not simply ignore an assigned duty if you cannot fulfil it – this puts stress on the duty team and relies unfairly on others to step in at the last moment to enable sailing to continue.

OODs – you can also help by please phoning around your duty teams in advance of the day to check they will all be able to turn up, and alerting Tom if there are likely to be any gaps

Championship and Open meeting successes

There have been lots of notable championship successes over the last month, with podium places in at least 3 National championships (I was amused to see the Rob Higgins had dressed in full sailing gear in anticipation of his podium drenching….good move Rob!

It’s great to see so many people travelling and flying the chew flag high, helping to keep us on the map as the first choice for sailors in the South West.

Here’e a round up of all the various events:

• 3 Chew sailors attended the ILCA Masters Nationals at Stokes Bay. Pete Sherwin in the ILCA7 fleet (report), Sarah Harding and Christi Brasher in the ILCA6 fleet (report).
• Derian and Andy Scott have been on the road with the Fireball, finishing 3^rd at the 60^th Celebration Regatta at HISC (report) and 1^st Fireball (2^nd overall) at the Weymouth Dinghy Regatta (report).
• Also at the Weymouth dinghy Regatta were Dave Bennett and Martyn Tuohy-Smith in the Scorpion (report), ahead of their nationals at Looe and Paul Croote finishing 2^nd in the Cherub’s with Andrew Whapshot (report).
• Oliver Allen-Wilcox and Ed Baker travelled to Greece, making the Silver and Bronze fleet at the ILCA Youth European Championships at Thessaloniki (report).
• Oliver Houseman continued his dominance of the National 18 fleet by winning the English Championships at Bosham with Jeremy Vines and Alison Hindley (report).
• A few members have turned their hands to big boats (we won’t hold it against them). Adrian (and Ella) Cudmore in the crew finishing 3^rd at the Impala Nationals at Plymouth (report) and James Williams in the 3^rd place crew at the Ajax Nationals at Harwich (report).
• Chew members were in four boats at the RS200 / RS400 Southern Champs at Parkstone YC. In the 200 fleet Ed Harris sailed with James Bennett, Callum Farnden crewed for Alex Smallwood in a consistent set of results to finish 11^th in a fleet of 40, and James Williams sailed with Sarah Tuppen, making the most of the lighter breeze at the start of the weekend to finish 7^th overall (report). Paul Smalley and Anna Kerslake in the first event in the 400 finished a very creditable             7^th in a fleet of 15 (report)
• Our regular Flying Fifteen travellers Ian Cadwallader (crewing for Ian Pinnell) and Bill Chard / Josh Preater attended the Nationals at Hayling Island, with the Ian’s finishing 2^nd overall in a fleet of 42 (report).
• The following week Sarah Harding and Dru Townsend sailed in the ILCA 6 Nationals (report), with Ed Baker and Peter Sherwin in the ICLA 7’s (report), also at Hayling Island.
• This was immediately followed by an extremely encouraging 4 Chew boats at the Mirror Nationals at the same HISC venue, with Karen & Harrison, Vice-Commodore Paul & Gabriel and Adam & Arabella all enjoying some very fresh conditions. Paul & Peter Smalley finished the event in 4^th overall, including 2 seconds and a third place in the 6 race series (report) – and you can read more below.
• Chris Meredith and John Ellis represented the club in the Solo fleet at the Dittisham open meeting. Chris reports on the event as follows: ‘there were 39 entries with boats from Essex, Berkshire and all points south west. The forecast was mixed with race 1 in a variable and irregular F3. Lunch of pasties, cake and home made sandwiches threatened to dull the action but a building F4 to perhaps gusting F6 had different ideas. R2 woke the fleet up and R3 severely tested hiking and gybing skills – only 15 were to finish R3!  Chris Meredith finished 7th and John Ellis 26th both with agenda items for skills improvement.'(Y & Y report).
• Continuing the Nationals’ attendances, Chew was well represented at the Scorpion Nationals at Looe, with David Bennett & Martyn Tuohy-Smith, Ian Cadwallader & Ellie Devereux and John (& Peter) Rose. Top Chew boat was Tom & Penny Jeffcoate in 8^th overall in a fleet of 70 (report).
• Further afield, Oliver Allen-Willcox made it in to the Gold Fleet of the ILCA 6 Youth World Championships all the way over at Houston Yacht Club (report).
• A number of RS classes held major events at Weymouth over a 2 week period, forming the RS Games:
  • Paul Smalley & Anna Kerslake and Jason Rickards & Liz Penney sailed the RS400 Celebration Regatta, with Paul & Anna having a 3^rd place in one race in a fleet of 29 (no report at time of writing).
  • Chew were very well represented at the RS100 Nationals with 5 boats (Andy Jones, Steve Jones, David Smart, Jon Elmes and Gavin Thompson), taking 2^ndand 3^rd in the overall with Andy and David with three race wins between them (report).
  • 3 boats also took part in the RS700 National and European Championships (Rob Higgins, James Clarke and Elliot Booley). James managed two 3^rd places on the way to 5^th overall, and Rob won the first race and was rarely outside the top two in finishing 2^nd overall (report).

Team Racing by Nigel Carson

Seven teams took up Clifton College’s challenge at their inaugural “Team Racing
Championship” based at Chew. This was scheduled for six evenings from 5^th May till the “Finals” on 16^thJune with one evening lost due to ultra-windy weather.

Our own “Chewtors” team comprised nine members with six racing on any particular night and was led heroically by Tom Jeffcote. Despite not having much recent team racing experience we managed a respectable 3rd place finish. The series was won
by “Don’t kill my gybe” which won all but two of their matches giving them an unassailable 31 points victory. In one race they even managed a formation finish
with all three of their boats crossing the line simultaneously.

It became clear during the event that CVLSC has many expert Team Racers, who weren’t able to participate, so it would be useful to know anyone who would be interested in competing next year when it is already expected more teams will enter. I’ve spoken to James Williams our Sailing Secretary, who is himself an accomplished Team Racing helm, who as agreed to be a point of contact. We think Chew could probably raise two teams so anyone who would like to get involved please contact James at the Club, the website or by email sailing@chewvalleysailing.org.uk.

Overall this was a fabulous event drawing many sailors to the club and it is hoped this will grow in the future to become a regular fixture in the club calendar and attract an increasing number of teams.

Nigel Carson

Start Racing

The Thursday night Start Racing sessions were a great success this year with over 12 boats (ranging from Picos to RS400s!) taking part at one time or another. The sessions covered a broad range of tips and techniques to provide a “leg-up” to joining in the club racing at Chew.
We finished off with a mini-regatta and BBQ undertaken in the same sociable environment seen throughout. There were prizes all round but top spot went to Will Raffety in his Solo with an impressive performance of three 1^st places.

Nick, Derian and Andy

Lake and Cake Sat 06-Aug-22

Sadly the last Lake and Cake and the Ladies Trophy Race was abandoned due to lack of wind😞 However Helen and I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the lake with some home made icecream!
Our Next Lake and Cake is this Saturday and the forecast is currently perfect! Sunshine and a gentle breeze followed by tea and cake! What could be better!
I hope to see you all at 13:45 outside the training room!
Anyone feeling unable to sail but who would like cake and company then come along around 4:30

Team GBR Video

If you haven’t already seen the recently released 90 min documentary from the RYA showing behind the scenes footage of our Olympic sailors as they build up for the Olympics, I can thoroughly recommend it, revealing the highs, and lows of their campaigns….click the image below to have a watch

Safety Matters

Please take great care on the slipways – they are presently extremely slippy and, as I recently found out to my cost, a fall can have painful consequences.

On another matter our Health and Safety Officer Damian Gardner-Thorpe recently visited the lake with 11 year old daughter Lily, who made this great video about the hazards of Blue Green Algae – check it out by clicking the image below:

Finally, as sailors we spend a lot of time around, on and in water. While we always wear a buoyancy aid when sailing and on pontoons, the national “Float to live’ initiative is worth highlighting should you find yourself unexpectedly in the water.

Dinghy Cruising

Sailing SKISMO adventures continued last month with a long overdue sail to the Isle of Wight. An 04:30 start was well worth it now knowing what was to follow. Setting off from Lymington public slipway bang on high tide at 08:30 SKISMO and I bimbled about in very light winds out into the Solent avoiding a rather busy stream of IOW ferries. Out past the shallows and then into the sheltered waters of Keyhaven marina. Already the sun was beating down hard, extremely glad I remembered to pack the suncream and take extra water with me.
Sailing out of Keyhaven down towards Hurst Castle and then stopped for a convenience break at the North tip of Hurst Spit. The water was crystal clear, warm enough to swim in and increasing in speed as the ebb tide picked up pace.

Next stop was at the end of a beat straight across to Totland Bay on the Isle of Wight. Another convenience stop (that’s all that extra water!) a banana and a coffee and then on to Alum Bay in sight of the Needles. Lunch at Alun Bay was lazy and relaxed as the last of the ebb tide subsided. Then another beat to the Needles and beyond (just to have a quick look at the South shores) before catching the flood tide back to Lymington via ‘The Trap’.

The Trap was a first for me, a weird rough state of sea in an isolated area followed by a sudden state of flat calm, quite eerie and intimidating for a first-timer. Eight hours after launching SKISMO and I arrived back in the sheltered haven of Lymington Marina. A swift de-rig and a swift cordial at the “Mayflower” P.H. rounded off a most excellent day’s dinghy cruising.

Lunch on the Lake – 06-Aug-22

Lunch on the Lake is scheduled for this Saturday 6th, but like last time – I will not be present as yet another adventure is underway. If any of the regulars would like to take the helm that would be very much appreciated.

Mirror nationals  – report by Paul Nichols

4 Chew boats all enjoyed the splendid sailing conditions at Hayling Island to perform very well across the 40 strong fleet.

Paul And Péter Smalley was highest placed with 4th overall with Péter winning the youngest crew cup. Adam and Bella Broughton came a very well deserved 14th with Paul And Gabe Nichols in 20th and Karen Macintosh  and Harry Smalley 21st.

The conditions were heavy on Sunday with 3 b2b races out in the bay with. Sturdy force 4 gusting 5 and a choppy sea to keep everyone on their toes. Paul and Péter grabbed a 3rd place in the second race, Sister Karen returning to Mirrors showing all her skills upwind, Adam & Bella consistent just outside the top 10. Paul and Gabe getting to grips with the waves!
Overnight the conditions strengthened and the fleet headed for the harbour in force 5/6 taking the toll on the fleet. Chew battles battled hard with Paul leading race 6 only to lose out on the last run. Adam and Bella sailed fantastically to grab an 8th and 10th and Paul and Gabe hauled in an 13th +16th as their best place in fantastic conditions for the red sails.
Monday saw the wind disappear and the endeavours of the race team achieve one race from 6 hours before teams headed back for the end of the championship. Paul and Péter grabbed another 2nd whilst Adam also demonstrated ability to compete in all conditions with another 8th.
Overall winner Ben McGraw  retained his title in a very strong field of world and National sailors from a host of classes.

Mirrors continue to grow at Chew with the possibility of hosting the Inland’s in 2023.

PB2 Course

The next PB2 course is on the 13th and 20th August. We have managed to secure an additional Instructor so  so currently we have 3 additional places available – please book via your Webcollect account or contact me by email jeffstratford@btinternet.com if you have any questions or problems booking.

Andy Jones

Commodore