February 25th Racing - Dinghy Show Weekend - Winter is Ending - Simpson's moment

13 competitors, a little thin on the ground today, probably due to it being Dinghy Show this weekend – and it was still cold. The ESE breeze was very light and coming from the opposite direction as we arrived, but duly swung around and filled in by the time we started. ‘A’ was too far out of position for the start so we started without any distance mark, relying on the transits, which caused a little confusion and 3 boats over the line had to come back as the pack set off round 1, 6, 10, 11, 0.

Shortened to 2 laps, and with ‘A’ back on station for the finish, 2 boats forgot to round ‘0’ before finishing and one heard a horn and thought they had finished without actually crossing the line.

Dohhhhh.

Race 2 quickly under way with a clear start this time, round the same course for the full 3 laps taking nearly 55 minutes for the leaders.

Today’s results are posted on the Sailrace App and the series summary on Sailwave in the usual place

Thanks this week to Abi for helping in the race office and Paul for the safety cover. Other mentions: Tim LeC, who rinsed the cobwebs off his RS300, Andy trying to break-in another crew in his RS400 and a very big welcome to Sunday racing for Maryn & Alec from UCL in their Firefly.

Laser 1st Sunday next weekend of course, last one of this GMT series.

Have a good week y’all, B4N…...

February 18th Racing - 3rd Sunday of the Month - Pursuit Race

Beautiful day thanks to Mike and Pete on OOD and AOD. I had a wonderful day, sun was out sky was blue the wind was amazing. Some really tricky in parts (upwind couldn't tell if the gust would lift or head), but great gains made, gust spotting downwind. Brilliant course of 2, 4, 9, 5, 0, A - I think there were a few navigational issues afoot, but we all got there in the end. The ILCA 4 lead off the start line with the x2 ILCA 6’s 5 mins after then the ILCA 7’s. I think 14 ILCA’s in total very impressive. 1x Contender and 2x RS400 and an ISO made up the rest. Micky lead the ILCA’s round the windward mark. There were some pretty close racing in groups the ILCA 6’s were battling it out Pete lead the ILCA 7’s for a good hour followed by Matt, then me (Tony). Micky, Alan and Leo were having another tussle. Then I'm not really sure what happened after some really close racing. Matt got in front and built up quite a lead ahead of Pete, then me and we stayed like that. Then Alan and Micky. Gotta thank Andy, Mike and Pete for safety and ROing full results are in the results section of the website. Thanks for an epic days sailing and have a great week.

Cheers Tony

February 11th Racing - Light wind affair and the shire horses pair up

No Tony this week, so you’ve got me again, Results Micky! Well, the predicted light westerly breeze was late on patrol this morning. Still, 8 Lasers, 3 RS400s, a Topper and a Contender turned out for race1, a simple 1 lap crawl round 0,4,1,A.

Pete C led at the windward mark and then headed way out left down the run, picking up enough breeze to hold on to his lead, sneaking in ahead of Colin, me & Ewan at the bottom, just as the R/O shortened to one lap. A quick mention here for Abi coming in a creditable 5th, in her 4.7.👍

2 laps for race 2, as the breeze finally began to show a little enthusiasm. Pete’s penchant for heading left cost him dear up the 1st beat as he sailed into a hole, while all the action was happening further out to the right. Later, on the final beat, Colin and Rodger picked up a huge lift approaching 4 from the right, overhauling the leader and going on to finish nearly 3 minutes ahead by the finish. So cruel!! 😉

Thanks to Ruth, Tuka & Paul on duty.

Check out todays results on the Sailrace app, and the usual summary update on Sailwave

And finally, good to see our fabled Shire Horses hitched together in Andy’s newly acquired RS400. Gary has realised he’ll always cross the line ahead of Andy if he sits in the front. 🐎🐎

3rd Sunday next week – That of course means pursuit race time again. TTFN…………

Laser/ILCA Rigging - Struggling to rig your boat?

Here is a great video from the RYA and Sam Whaley on how to rig your Laser/ILCA.

Recovery Techniques - Back to a beach in all wind directions

Lot's of people are struggling to recover back to the mat’s and I thought it might be worth dropping a video on how to recover back to a beach here, at KGSC.

Key Points

• Approach slowly, releasing the sail so that it flaps.

• Raise the daggerboard and rudder to ensure they do not ground out.

• In an onshore wind, approach on a broad reach.

• In a cross shore wind, approach on a beam reach.

• In a offshore wind, approach on a close hauled course.

• Ensure the boat has stopped, by turning it into the wind, before stepping into the shallow waters.

Check out this video.