President's Blog

My thanks to Simon Chapman for providing the guest blog this week and also to Andy Pinkham for the report on the BUSA Qualifiers we hosted over the weekend.

For the club racers on Sunday the morning the wind was very light and unstable, changing direction by 180deg at least three times. We therefore took an early lunch and had two back to back short races in the afternoon once the wind settled. The wind was a force2 from the SSW - although the forecast was for a N/NW! With the BUSA fleets occupying the area in front of Woodford Lodge, the club sailors had a reaching start to 0, gybe for a run to 3 and a beat back to 9. 2 laps for each race was enough for the light conditions, but at least we had a decent turnout of Solos, a few lasers and 3 in each of the FF and H'cap fleets.

BUSA Western Qualifier Report
A frozen lake and no wind greeted the 17 teams at the BUSA Western Qualifier. Attempts to break up the ice hit problems as the broken ice almost instantly refroze. Eventually, the wind picked up and the ice pack broke apart enough to lay a course and get racing going.
Racing eventually got underway and on Saturday the Qualifier completed 54 races. The wind was initially good, but soon the snow and rain came and the pressure dropped away. A damaged Firefly saw one of the flights drop out while a spare boat was rigged and these races were re-sailed on Sunday morning. Racing was also hampered by the capsize of the finish boat, leaving two very cold finish officers (who were both fine after a warm shower)!
Sunday dawned to no wind (but no ice!). After three hours, there was a stable light wind to begin racing and another 16 races were completed before it died away. With every team having raced at least half of their races, the decision was made to end the event and rank teams on percentage wins.
Congratulations go to Bristol, Swansea, Bath and Exeter who qualify direct to the Finals (two teams in Bristol’s case). Plymouth, Exeter, UWE and Cardiff will need to head off to Scotland for the Playoffs in a month’s time to try and win a place at the Finals.
A massive thank you to Chew Valley SC and UWE for hosting the event, all the helpers on the start boat, finish boat and on shore, and to Bristol and Bath for loaning their boats for the event. Special thanks go to Andy Pinkham for organising the event and to Richard, Penny, Alan and Tricia for umpiring.'

Now for some announcements about forthcoming events:

SW Topper Winter Championships - 18th February. One of the first events in the 2012 calendar. The club looks forward to welcoming youngsters from both afar and the club for this one day event.

Asymmetric Open - 25th/26th February. One of the highlights of the club open meeting calendar. The club is looking forward to hosting this prestigious event for the 29er (Winter Championships), RS800 and Skiff classes for what will no doubt be a great weekend of top class racing. For more details please see the Notice section. Please note that there will be NO club sailing that weekend but don't let that stop you coming down as a spectator.

That is all from me, hope you enjoyed my blog and I look forward to seeing you at the lake soon.

Last Updated (Monday, 06 February 2012 19:26)