Category: News

Latest News

Shearwater Sailing Club Comet Open

Shearwater Comet Open 9th April 2016
Nine visitors joined two home boats for the Shearwater Open. As the current Commodore I welcomed the guests and confidently said the westerly wind we were experiencing was a good wind direction for Shearwater but the lake was always a challenging one. What I didn’t expect was that four seasons would visit us during the day.
Nic Cross the Race Officer set a course with five marks enabling all points of sailing to be experienced.
Race one a fluctuating breeze with the odd shower saw Henry Jaggers C800 of to a good start with Chris Hatton C48 chasing him who eventually overtook him on the second lap, and was to hold this position to the finish. Henry held off the challenge of Eddie Pope C804 who in turn kept in front of Chris Robertson C867. John Sturgeon sailing C400X came in fifth.
Race two saw Eddie get off to a good start in a dying breeze. As the race progressed the wind died almost completely. Being in the right place at the right time saw little zephyrs’ give some boats an advantage while others languished. Chris Hatton chased Eddie all the way to the line. Both sailors were excellent light wind sailors. John Coppenhall C532 made up four places on the last lap and came in third ahead of Henry Jaggers and Chris Robertson. With only three laps sailed it was in doubt whether a third race should be started but it was agreed to try.
Race three started again in a variable wind. The reason for the extreme lull in the wind in race two became apparent as squall after squall hit the race. Torrential rain; sleet and hail greeted the helms and a lively 40 minutes has had by all. Chris Hatton went into the lead followed by Henry and Ben Palmer C597. As the weather churned the lake up so the positions changed. The heavy weather specialists Ben Palmer and Chris Robertson came to the fore. Ben taking first place being chased by Chris Robertson and then Chris Hatton came in third with Eddie coming in fourth.
An excellent tea was followed by the prize giving. My thanks go to the Race Committee and the Safety crew, and to the galley for all their excellent work.
Ist Chris Hatton Severn SC
2nd Eddie Pope Ogston SC
3rd Chris Robertson Burfield SC
4th Henry Jaggers Beer SC
5th Ben Palmer Baltic Wharf SC
6th John Coppenhall Hunts SC
7th John Sturgeon Hawley Lake SC
8th Steve Gregory Frensham SC
9th James Welburn Shearwater SC
10th Clive Chapman Shearwater SC
11th Mike Parnell Bristol and Avon SC

Clive Chapman
Commodore Shearwater SC

Shearwater Sailing Club – Early Season Update

The skittles evening
This was a great success with over 20 people demonstrating their expertise in the skittle alley. If you were to ask me how I got on, the reply would be my position was similar to that achieved by Great Britain in the Eurovision song contest. My best bowls expertly passed through the skittles without troubling them. My sincere thanks go to Lois for organising it. Fun was had by all.

Duties for the year.
My thanks also go to Juley Simmonds for updating the duties list on the club website. There are still some slots to fill so please take a look and volunteer before we have it delegate a duty for you.

On the water.
We have had three sailing sessions. One first thrash and two race days. Some helms are naturally a little rusty. I failed to read and sail the correct course so I had to retire. Other helms who will be nameless tacked inside the yellow buoys and were duly disqualified by the ever watchful race committee. Racing is never dull!

All In Series.
For those of you who have not read the clubs article on this series I have reproduced some of the important bits here:-
Last year we were unable to award some trophies because there weren’t enough participants to have a series winner. So this year we are introducing The All In series. This occurs on 7 occasions throughout the year. It is planned to have four short races in a day. Each race will last around 30mins. There will two back to back in the morning and two back to back in the afternoon. This will give the committee 28 races to extract results so that the following trophies can then be awarded: 1st Lady Helm, 1st Double Hander Helm (& crew), 1st Single Hander Helm, 1st Youth, 1st Master, 1st Grand Master and ‘Best Improver’ from the ‘slow’ category (the Novices’ Cup). You don’t have to sail in all the races. If you want you could sail one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Or just the morning races etc. The club is aware that sailing for over an hour in a pursuit is not everybody’s cup of tea. You sail the races that suit you!
Some definitions have been modified to accommodate the trophy winners.
Veterans (currently over 45) and Juniors (under 16) will be replaced by the following 3 groups :- Youth: under 18, Master 18 to 55, Grand Master over 55 years. (These apply from the start of the year and to racing only – not to membership)
Novices are currently defined as those who have not won a trophy. This cup will now be awarded to the Best Improver from those with a ‘Slow’ rating. The computer program gives a % slow or % fast rating for everyone as result of all races sailed. (Roughly the bottom 1/3rd of finishers is ‘slow’ as they are sailing below their handicap) The person who improves their rating most, from this group, by the end of this series will be awarded the trophy.

The first All In Series day is this Sunday 27th March. First race is 11am. How many races can you fit in?

Comet and Topper Open Saturday 9th April.
The racing side of this regular event is organised. However the catering side is not. I need some volunteers to man the Galley at lunch time and serve hot dogs and hamburgers to 25 hungry helms. I also need some members with cake making skills to produce food for afternoon tea for ravenous sailors. If you can help out for an hour or two or are able to demonstrate your Mary Berry skills please will you let me know. Details are at the end of this letter.

Val Cross
It is with great sadness that I have to report that Val Cross passed away last weekend. I’m sure the Club would wish me to pass on to Nic and his family our heartfelt condolences.
Regards

Clive Chapman
Commodore

New ‘All In’ Racing Series

This has been devised in response to a request for some shorter races and to solve the problem of several series that, in the past few years, have not attracted enough support. The series will feature approximately once a month and will consist of four ‘points’ races each lasting about 25 to 30 minutes. The morning, starting as usual at 11.00am, will be two races back to back, so please stay on the water at the end of the first race as the second race will start as soon as possible after the first race has finished. The afternoon’s two races will follow a similar pattern. Trophies will be awarded to The 1st Double Hander, 1st Single hander, 1st Lady Helm, 1st Youth, 1st Master, 1st Grand Master, and the Best Improver. It is hoped that the maximum number of sailors will be eligible for each category.

Definitions : Youth: under 18, Master 18 to 55, Grand Master over 55 . (at the start of the season) Novices had been defined as those who have not won a trophy. This cup will now be awarded to the Best Improver from those with a ‘Slow’ rating. (The computer program gives a % slow or % fast rating for everyone as result of all races sailed . Roughly the bottom 1/3rd of finishers are ‘slow’ as they are sailing below their handicap) The person, from this group, who improves their rating most by the end of the series will be awarded the trophy – I can explain more!
The sailing committee will review any problems that may arise with this experimental series.

Chris Barlow and the sailing committee