Dear Solo Sailors,
A fabulous days racing on the lake today, an update on our current series, details of the Parade of Sail on September 3rd and a new Facebook Group for the Solo Western Area:
Today’s Admiral’s Chase
The Solo Fleet tends to baulk at the prospect of all in handicap racing – and not surprising when our Class racing is so competitive and such fun. However handicap racing offers it’s own challenges all of which are to be mastered for general club racing – not least the start when we have a large number of very different classes to compete with: the Laser which can happily sit on the line and requires little time to accelerate; the Flying 15 which requires a long run up to hit the line at maximum speed; the assymetrics which are changing their angle of sailing throughout the countdown; and the Finns, which seem to point higher than anyone else.
Today’s conditions were perfect for a pin end start, if one could time it right and if one was lucky in respect of managing none Solo traffic. The wind was bouncing up and down between 5 and 12 knots and swing backwards and forwards between about 230 and 260 degrees. I was lucky and managed to secure a space with clear air however Simon Chapman also made a good start followed by a good turn out of other Solos including Nigel, Appleton, Dave Oakey, Steve Turner, Chris Deane and Alex Dick. It was also great to see Dot Macklin’s old Solo back on the water. Although the wind was too strong to favour the Solos on handicap – a lot of the other boats get onto the plane before we do, it will be interesting to see how we faired overall once the results are published.
Update on the current Series
I am over the moon to be in contention for the above series and am currently in second behind Martin Jeremy and his Laser. Rob Mitchell is currently leading the Summer Series – but just by a point from myself. Whilst there is a real ding dong going on between Rob and Dave Oakey in the Wednesday Evening Series: with just two races to go, Dave is currently leading Rob by just two points. Many congratulations.
Parade of Sail Sunday 3rd September
It would be great if we can break some records in terms of turnout for this Golden Anniversary event. The idea is to stage a sail past our Commodores (past and present) immediately after the morning’s racing. Please bring along some bunting to dress you boat. It would be fantastic if we can be the biggest fleet on the lake – especially with Rob our current Commodore one of our leading Solo sailors.
New Facebook Group
John Steels our esteemed Western Area Rep has set up a new Facebook Group for the Solo Western Area. It would be great if you can join and post lots of news / pictures / chat about Solo sailing at Chew. Dave Oakey is currently featured amongst others of you as the lead photograph. Sadly I am not that Facebook savvy and if someone wants to volunteer to upload all our info as and when they can that would be much appreciated. Any takers?
Next Sunday is the final racing in both the Admiral’s Chase and the Summer Series and look forward to seeing you then. In the meantime I’ll miss you all on Wednesday – but good luck!
Alexx
Solo 4336
P.S. No more alligators spotted today – although Simon was certainly snapping at my heels in the morning race.