Our intrepid bar tender writes:

Please receive the latest, hot off the press results, such as they are.

12.7
3171   Richard Wall-Budden
4647   Mike Lipscombe
2713   Andy Ford  [ club boat ]

Yes, just 3 boats. A very pleasant day, warm, sowesterly wind , a gentle force 3.   I can only assume that the rest of fleet had had enough sailing on Saturday so all decided to go to the last day of the Hampton Court flower show - bless them. You would have thought that with only 3 Solos on the water would have led to a rather dull race.  Not so.  Mike, approaching the F mark, with a Topper ahead and rounding was forced the wrong side of the mark when the said Topper  rounded up to cut close onto a fine beat, as one does.  There was some verbal but with all our ears straining we were unable to understand the words.  There's never a dull moment on the water.

Of course I have to say something about the Open Meeting. Despite missing a few of our regulars we still managed a respectable 11 local boats (which includes our two Wed members Tom Wilson and Peter Halliday).

The write-up heading for the Solo newsletter etc.

Island Barn welcomed visitors 14 visitors from 8 different clubs complementing the 11 home sailors for the annual Open Meeting  in the Thames Valley circuit.

The race officer set a square course trying hard to keep the alignment in a medium south westerly that had a surprising number of shifts but enough strength for the solos to plane down some quite shy reaches.. The first race saw a port end bias that caught a few boats out but the fleet got away on the first attempt with initial leader Mike Hobin (4927) from Oxford doggedly pursued by local sailor Gareth Griffiths (4859) and Vanda Jowett (4620) from Littleton. By the third lap Gareth had slipped through on the run and the first three then kept positions with Daniel Goodman (4735) coming through to take forth.

After lunch races two and three were run back to back in slightly lighter winds. In race two Vanda was clear at the first mark chased by Richard Williams (5017) and Dan Goodman. As the race progressed Dan managed to squeeze past Vanda to take the win, with Mike Hobin third and Gareth fourth to give a four way tie going into the last race.  This time Mike Hobin got the best first beat chased by Simon Corper (5024) and Dan Goodman. The leading positions kept changing, on lap two Dan had got the lead from Mike Hobin and Mike Wilke (4772). The shifts on the beats were clearly causing problems and it was all change again on lap three with Mike regaining the lead from Simon and Dan with Vanda getting back in the mix before a final twist saw Simon Corper get the final beat right to lead round the last lap closely followed by Mike Hobin, Dan Goodman and Mike Wilkie.

Overall results couldn't have been much tighter with one point separating the first four places. Dan Goodman from Kingsmead taking the trophy by virtue of his win in race two from Mike Hobin, with Gareth Griffiths taking third (tied on points with Vanda Jowett) by virtue of his race one win, and Mike Wilkie from Littleton took the veterans (over 60) prize.

...

Arthur was 10th, Tom 15th  with Peter Halliday, Hugh, Malcolm, Dave S, Dave C, Dave L, Graeme Stevens (in a club boat) and Alec.  Although as always happens at Opens the club fleet filled the back half in the results I don't think the gaps were very large with Arthur and Tom giving some of the travelling race jockeys some surprises.  Graeme - well done for persevering in the club boat hopefully you'll join us on a regular basis and we'll help you get closer to the fleet. Keep practicing and keep asking us - it takes a few sails to get used to a new class and those guys on the Open Meeting circuit are pretty hot!

Here's how it panned out from my side.

From my perspective the starts were key - get away well and you could be well placed at the top mark. Hard to get much place changing on the reaches - at most one or two places - the only other chance to overtake was on the run.  In the first race the line was obviously biased to the outer end and I expected a pile up to develop there so I aimed to start most of the way down but not right near the pin. I was able to keep a little gap below me to accelerate into and so I was able to start cleanly at speed and then tack.  With the wind just nicely in my comfort zone (hiking although not at all overpowered) I was pleased to find that I had enough boat speed to be third at the windward mark and second shortly after.  I sailed two laps chasing Mike Hobin consolidating second as the two of us pulled clear before I finally got a chance on the run to split gybes on a small shift and get alongside on the inside. We traded gybes a few times but I just made sure I stayed on the inside to the mark and then I tried to loosely cover Mike much as he had done to me for  the first laps. Neither of us wanted to engage in too much of a dual in case Vanda caught us so I had a fairly clean race. I have to say that some of the recent races where I've had you guys right on my tail have given me much more confidence that I can keep sailing cleanly under pressure, but I can tell you it's pretty nerve wracking.

Second race I didn't get as clean a start and had to fight to get clear air so although I was in the mix,  I wasn't right at the front. I think I did get to third at one point but I sailed a bad windward leg tacking too often trying to catch a killer shift instead of sailing more smoothly and I twice got rolled over on the reach by the same boat. The wind was also a bit lighter which I find harder. It became that in-between wind when you aren't trying to coax a breath of air from the middle of the boat but aren't sitting out either. I still have some work to do there but I hung in and despite a lot of place changes the results show I ended the laps 6th, 5th and 4th so in hindsight I must have been going better than it felt. That in-between wind is tricky because in really light conditions boat speed is everything. Once I get fully hiked I aim to point as high as I can without losing speed, but in between it is very tricky, one moment speed, one moment pointing.

Race three I knew I had a decent two results so I tried to hit the corner on the first beat after a nice clean start. I went hard right to get towards the bank hoping for that lift along the bank back to the windward mark (near eight). I think it probably paid to go the other way as Mike Hobin came flying in from the left but my clear air and the eventual lift to the mark had me forth at the windward mark. I got rolled over again on the reach this time by Mike Wilkie who just seemed to have a fraction of extra speed downwind. Clearly I'm going to have to work on reaching. I was still in the hunt for the next couple of laps but I wasn't able to really get right up there. Then on lap three my tiller extension which had been hanging on a thread of rubber  finally parted. (I had noticed it before the start and tied some string to it so all was not lost but fine control was a bit harder). I think that must have been preying on my mind because I misjudged the last tack to the windward mark and just failed to squeeze round touching the mark with the last few inches of the boat. The 360 pushed me out of the leading group and down into front of the pack where I stayed for the last lap.

We needed to check the rules for tie breaking when we came to the results. One point separating the top four positions. (You break by number of highest positions - so 1 + 4 beats 2 + 3 because of the number of firsts.)  

I am away on business this week and vacation next week so probably won't see you for a couple of weeks.  Eddie I'm sure will keep the results flowing.

Happy sailing everyone - see you in a couple of weeks

Regards
Gareth

Starting with the familiar results and comments from Eddie: - I've added the Pursuit position in parentheses.

5.7
4859    Gareth Griffiths (2)
4048    Arthur Philips (4)
3385    Tom Wilson (5)
4071    Peter Halliday (7)
3457    Mervyn Cinnamond (8)
4073    Peter Cottrell (11)
3649    Robin Pryke (25)
3142    Malcolm Barnes (26)
3861    Dave Clark (29)
4173    Dave Lawton (31)
2701    Glen Cole (34)
4252    Alec Adams  [  Disqualified - missed out a mark ]

Turnout 12 - nearly not enough space to write you all down.  A great turnout on a special occasion with the wind putting in a timely appearance at last. Gareth , shadowed by Arthur, showed the way round and I believe lapping some boats in the process. Nice to see Tom back in the  fleet and up with leaders showing what a good sailor he is in a somewhat elderly boat. (Editor's note - I trained that boat but I didn't mean it to keep following me quite as closely - Gareth)  Dave Lawton chose today to run in his new steed and what a little beauty it is, all new varnish and paint. Glen ended up water logged when his club boat sprung a large leak in the centre case.  Glen as always leaving nothing undone was seen ready to take it home for repair. A splendid day was had by all.  Well done everybody.Of course I also want to add a few ‘words of wisdom' on the day. The turnout was great, and the Pursuit style mean that no start was too overcrowded even with a quite short line.  Lovely to see some of my race training graduates there, and from what I saw having good racing - keep working on those mark rounding and reacting to wind shifts.  I hope to get the videos from the training up via the web somewhere (maybe directly club site, maybe elsewhere).  From the Solo fleet a pretty good result in what I didn't think was particularly Solo friendly conditions. As Eddie says 12 boats - that meant that there were good races within the race, I was having to watch Arthur and Tom. Arthur only just kept Tom at bay, but Tom was having to watch Peter H who wasn't that far ahead of Mervyn and Peter C, then we had another set a bit further back with Robin, Dave C, Dave L, Glen and Alec. Do you think we can get to 15 Island Barn boats for our Open. We've had over 10 boats several times, so we just all need to turn up the same day - if we include our Wednesday members 15 should be no problem because none of us will be on duty dare I suggest that 20 would be possible if we include the club boats and Wed members...As to the actual race, from my side it was a mixture of defence and attack. I reckoned it was a port end start and I think I hit the line right at the end dead on time. That gave me a chance to cross the fleet on the first shift. With a shifting wind I tried to stay in the favourable shifts (attacking), but also avoid getting too far to either side, keeping a close eye on where the Graduate (who started with us) and Arthur were going (defensive).  Once the fleets spread out there were nearly always some boats further up the beat to help show the next shift. There were also a lot of patches of wind so trying to keep in stronger winds sometimes overrode just looking for the shift. I have to be careful to not tack too quickly on headers (when the wind makes me bear away) because often the wind comes back after just a few seconds. If it is not a huge shift generally bear away a little and wait a few seconds to see if it comes straight back. If you tack too soon you end up going nowhere fast. Being able to tack without losing too much speed is really helpful in shifty conditions, but a bit of patience also helps (I'm not good at that part). Downwind reach and run was all about sail trim and watching for gusts and shifts. Try to stay in the gust by running deeper, bear away a bit once at speed on a reach and then round up again as you come out of the gust, try to run deep on the run in a gust and watch out for shifts to gybe on. My ‘thought for the day' - when we get a wind shift beating we can usually tell - easier to see a header than a lift but I'm sure we all noticed lots of shifts.  How many times up the beat did you alter course because of a wind shift? Did you alter your sail setting the same number of times crosswind, or your course (or gybe on the shift) the same number of times downwind.  Sail trim matters cross wind, and the boat's course (or gybe) matters more on the run - watch for wind becoming slightly by the lee (beyond dead downwind) so that a gybe (or change of course) is needed. Generally on the run it pays to gybe the lifts the same way it pays to tack the headers upwind. Wed is the last chance to practice before the Solo Open. Forecast looks good. At this early stage it looks like light weather for the Open so we'd better watch out for Frank and his private wind supply.  Malcolm is hoping to organize a ‘Solo' night later in the Tues training when a few of us will let some of the new sailors try our great class. Sunday afternoon we did some boat swapping and letting people try boats out. More on that when we know the dates. As a class I think we are well placed to encourage new members of all ages.  Trying to fit an adult into a topper can be difficult, so for the single hander our two main classes are Solo and Laser and we all know which is more comfortable to sail! Let's encourage our next generation.

I'm told the latest new Solo numbers are now in the 5040's so recession or not there are still lots of new boats hitting the water.  Perhaps not quite last year's rate but pretty close. I wonder what the latest number will be at our Open? 

Regards
Gareth
4859

Slightly wider audience this week as I am including my ‘Learning to race' students as well as the Solo Fleet not because I'm trying to persuade anyone to change class, but some of the points in my blog section speak to things we were practicing or will be covering this week.

Great turnout from the fleet for the Anniversary race - I made it eleven Solos (compared to eight lasers). It's great to get these numbers out and I could see lots of good racing - certainly Arthur and Mike were having a great dual with Dave Strachen, Peter Cottrell  and Frank not far away. Behind them another close battle between Malcolm, Glen and Dave Lawton with Dave Clark a bit further back - looked to me as if the wind wasn't very kind to Dave on the first beat - he seemed to be stuck in a private hole. Don't worry Dave - read on and see the back to back races - it happens to all us sometimes. Great to see Eddie on the water again, and nice of him to retire early so the bar was open when the rest of us finishedJ Solo results extracted (Anniversary scratch/personal in parentheses):

1  4859 Gareth Griffiths (2/19)
2  4048 Arthur Phillips (3/11)
3  4647 Micheal Lipscome (5/12)
4  4073 Peter Cottrell (7/14)
5  3604 Dave Strachen (10/6)
6  3365 Frank Beanland (12/9)
7  3142 Malcolm Barnes (18/16)
8  xxxx Glen Cole (19/17)   I think using Merv's boat this week
9    978  David Lawton (20/10)
10 3861 Dave Clark (22/21)
DNF 3996 Eddie Holland (25/25)

The first beat for me was one of making a decent start and then trying to go up the middle but biasing towards the next patch of wind and watching the other boats ahead (fast fleet) for ideas on the next shift.  Right near the end of the beat I made a strategic tack left because there was a big dark patch on the water showing some wind which let me get away.  Downwind the strategy was get in a  puff and then ride it deep - going well below the mark at times to try and stay in the wind lane, then round up to keep speed and look for the next gust - particularly on mark 8 to 1 and also to a lesser extent on 1 to 4.  I could have used the course being one lap less as I struggled up the last beat. I ran into a light unfavourable shifty patch going from 6 to 8 and I thought it would come back to favour port tack with the wind coming from the bank - basically that meant I had to put in a starboard hitch in the old wind to get towards the bank , then when the wind came I ended up tacking back onto port and reaching to the mark. I can't see what else I could have done - if I'd stayed further from the bank it would have taken longer for the wind to reach me, but those behind of course just romped up on the new wind easily making the mark with a lot less tacking. Sometimes the best you can do is make sure you stay ahead and try to reduce the loss.  That beat brought Arthur and Michael back worryingly close, but fortunately I was able to sail cleanly down the last two legs while they had a private battle with each other and I think a stray laser.Overall I was surprised and pleased to be second on handicap with Arthur third because the dropping wind on the last lap had exaggerated the gaps ahead. Then we came to the back to back races.  First start - over the line at the gun so started I suppose 20 yards back. Now it is hard to find clear wind and I probably tried too hard to catch shifts - dead end result last at the windward mark except for a couple of toppers and it didn't get much better. I did close the gap a bit towards the end (only one lap race) but Arthur flew away - good start, clear air and sailing well I think he was actually first on the water with Dave Strachen in close attendance. I know I normally have reasonable boat speed but when you fall into a hole in the wind sometimes the fleet just sails away. You start off just a few boat lengths back, but if the wind switches off the fleet can sometimes sail away on the last of the old wind and you are suddenly half a leg behind.

Second back to back I was a bit more cautious off the line and didn't get the best start.  Arthur was again really in the zone, while I was fighting with lasers he was zooming off into the distance. Now I have to try and figure out if that was just my poor start - first race definitely was just my bad sailing, or whether the rigging changes I made (stern sheeting) contributed. In the morning race they seemed to help but the back to backs showed just how much a clear start means. When you are in what is suppose to be a slower boat getting clear air off the start can launch you ahead of slightly faster boats and in a short race make a huge difference. In theory the Solo has handicap 1152 to laser 1078 so they should gain about a minute and quarter in a twenty minute race.  That is not a massive amount - a good start, good tacks  and mark roundings can almost make up for that.

Just because there was no fleet race on Sunday you didn't think I wouldn't write did you ...

The Mid-Summer special was well attended - I think around 35 entrants ranging from age 5 to 82. This was the first masters I've been able to attend for many years - in fact I think the first masters since I've qualified as a veteran!

I think we had at least nine solos out - including the club boats.  As usual we were well represented in the masters and veterans but this year Frank's handicap wasn't quite enough - in the over 70's John Magrath just pipped him.  Still an impressive result by Frank in the light weather showing a clean pair of heels to a lot people even in the scratch results.

From my side the racing was ‘interesting' to say the least - my forestay came off on the first beat so I had to sail very gently upwind - fortunately light winds - and then I spent a lot of the first downwind leg re-fastening it. I know you are supposed to sit forward in light weather, but leaning over the foredeck might be regarded as a bit extreme.  I experimented with light weather settings again - mast heel back two holes, shrouds and forestay altered to the usual just tight at front and back of the gate and chocks in front, and my experimental stern sheeting.  I'm taking the mainsheet from the centre of the transom (small loop attached with the top rudder bolts) up to pulley at the end of the boom, along the boom top usual mid take-off and then down to my hand, with a thin tail led through the jammer in case it gets windier. This means I have to play with the kicker a lot more as that is providing the down force on the boom - you can watch the leech change shape as kicker is applied.  You can easily get the main in very close, with the stern sheet but I still think the biggest benefit is keeping the centre of the boat clear so you can sit where you want to without the mainsheet being in the way.  I plan to keep experimenting - it will be interesting the first time I do a light weather open meeting.

I don't think I can take very much from the results on Sunday because in the first race the wind was so helpful bringing the fleet back together after the fast boats got away and ran out of wind - not content with doing it once, it did it again near the finish putting Peter Curtis out of the overall reckoning down in ninth - not a very fair reflection on the way he sailed but I'm not going to complain when it helps us. We've had enough times when a the race has finished in a light patch and magnified all the time gaps.

Race two I thought I'd got the bugs out of the sheeting system when my back mainsheet block on the boom worked loose and slid back to the middle. Fortunately I had the screw driver in my pocket so I could shove it back and tighten the bolt without losing more than a couple of lengths.  That's the only problem with having so many strings on the boat - more to go wrong!

The results were of course calculated as scratch (standard club class handicaps) and Veterans  - Age related personal handicaps not the Anniversary style. Two extra handicap points for each year over 50. Both races counting.

Solo results: Scratch
1   Gareth
9   Frank
13 Andy Ford
16 D Shewan
17 Glen
18 Dave Clark...
25 Peter C (only one race)
27 Dave Strachen (Only one race I think - forgot to write it down)
32 Alec Adams (only one race) 

Veterans (adjusted handicaps)
1 Gareth
3 Frank
8 Glen
9 Andy
11 Dave C

Mike Curtis won the masters (over 40) and John Magrath the over 70.

If anyone else wants to join in my race training Sunday afternoon please let me know - I have a few places left. If you just want to join the shore part I have less problem with numbers - I will start (2 pm) with a rules clinic and a few general points to work on, followed by (weather permitting) using my boat to show the sail controls and how I set them for each point of sailing and wind strength. (Can't easily do that if there's a lot of wind).

Wednesday had a smaller turnout than usual, just myself and Arthur in a gusty rather shifty wind. It again showed how small the gaps are on handicap - first three (RS600, RS400, Solo) separated by less than 30 seconds on handicap, and 2nd/3rd by only 2 seconds. 2 seconds - that's one bad tack... 2 seconds late at the start.. one bad mark rounding  etc. Making each manoeuvre just that fraction smoother and more efficient really adds up over the race. 

I hope everyone is planning to come to our Open Meeting on 11 July - note that we have a reduced entrance fee for advance entries - form's on the web site. (£8 rather than £10). I'm sure it will help catering if I can give an estimate of numbers. 

Regards
Gareth