Thorpe Bay Yacht Club

Tel: 01702 587 563

Hello all,

i have just been notified of a brand new laser available ready to give RFT a bit of competition in the winter series!!

sail number 193193 GXD , trolley, cover….

£3600   07966648107

A number of TBYC Laser sailers have expressed an interest to compete in the above championships at Calella de Palafrugell in Catalunya, Spain. ‘Master’ is defined as 45+ but you can enter as an apprentice master at 35. Racing is from 20 – 26th April 2009 and having checked out the venue during the summer I’m sure that it will be a great week.

The drive down is 1400km and we do have a 6 boat trailer at our disposal, however, with Ryan Air flying into Girona, which is only an hour away from Calella, getting someone else to take the strain makes much more sense. I’ve been quoted £250 return per boat but the trailer is limited to 9 boats.

Would everyone interested in securing a place on the trailer please email me: [email protected].

Robin

PS The event is outside school holidays and it is unlikely that anyone competing will be accompanied by partners or familes. This is a serious event and there will be no time for sociallising or sight seeing.

We will meet on Thursday 18th Sept to look at entries to the Autumn Series.  Come along and register you interest even if you have no-one to sail with at present.  We may have people interested in taking a crew as the Autumn series is traditionally fairly breezy and it is always more fun with two anyway.

Make sure you are there to register even if you are an old hand, but if for some reason you can’t make it it will be possible to sign-on as usual in the Bosun’s hut on Saturday 20th for a race start time of 2.45pm  (try to get ready in plenty of time please), briefing at the top of the slip at 2.20pm.

On Thursday, at 7.15pm we will look at various aspects of the start sequence and mark rounding to familiarise those who may well be taking their first steps into racing following a successful cadet week.  Turn up even if you are a seasoned pro and ensure i mention everything needed, in order to help newcommers get aquainted with the way we run the series at TBYC.

On a seperate note, please could we get a list of willing volunteers to help run the race box with Lisa and Linda (needed for this Sat as Linda is on rescue duty, and on Sat 27th Sept and Sat 4th Oct).  It would be great to confirm who can help asap.  Please give me or one of the aformentioned ladies a ring if you can.

Cheers,

See you on the water!

Rupert

As previously announced we are pleased to have replaced the 3 club pico’s with new ones. We are still waiting for the boat covers which should be with us early next week. Until we get these and in order to keep the boats secure the pico’s will not be available for use this weekend. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause if you were planning to use a club pico this weekend.

30 Finns gathered at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club for this years’ National Championship and were greeted by sunshine and a light 6 knot breeze for Fridays first race.

The line up included some of the world’s top young Finn sailors in Giles Scott the current World Junior Champion, Jonathan Lobert the French Olympic reserve, recent European Junior Champion Mark Andrews and Mark Andrews from the Skandia Team GBR squad.

Scott soon mastered the fitful breeze, beating against the tide to secure the first win after Jonathan Lobert ( FRA) had lead for most of the race before making an error at the bottom leeward gate and had to unwind himself before re-rounding correctly.

Mark Andrews recovered from a slow start to finish in the top 10 but was ‘persuaded’ by the race officer that it might be better to retire when he was spotted without a lifejacket aboard.

Club sailor Simon Hoult from Weston SC was the first of the non-Olympic sailors with a very impressive 4^th, followed by local ace Allen Burrell in 5^th. Just to prove that you can just jump in a modern Finn and be fast, Martin Binnendijk from the host club came 6^th in a borrowed boat and showed good speed upwind. Continue Reading »

A big thank you to all those who assisted with the Finn Nationals this weekend. 

A number of people took a day’s holiday on Friday to ensure things ran smoothly.  Yesterday we had the added ingredient of a particularly strong onshore breeze making launching and recovery a tricky affair for boats with fixed rudders. 

Particular heroes were Samantha Husk, Robin Foster-Taylor, Barry Duce, Paul Farrell, Keith Persin, Kevin & Lesley Iles, Theresa Ryall, Martyn Ellis and Glen Ratcliffe, all of whom at times were neck-deep assisting Finns launching or catching them before they hit the beach.  Many others helped with trolleys and hauling boats over the shingle.

I would also like to pay tribute to all those who responded to our emergency with slick efficiency.  I’m pleased to say I saw him later in the day looking much better than he was when he was brought ashore.

A big thank-you to all involved in the running of the Finn Nationals,without your support we couldnt run this type of event.

Thank you

Spratty

We are pleased to have renewed the 3 club pico’s and are now looking to sell the old ones.

We would like to keep these in the club if possible and are therefore offering them at a very attractive of £1,000 each.

If you are interested please speak to either Shaun Christian or Mike Thomason. 

Please either go to youtube.com and type “pico nationals 2008” into the search box or click on the link below and you should find 25 short videos that I took during Saturday’s racing. The videos are in sequence, so the best place to start is shot 1.

Hope you enjoy.

Martyn

Video link to Pico Nationals 2008 at TBYC

Pico Nationals 2008 Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.

By Mike Thomason 23 June 2008

Thorpe Bay Yacht Club hosted the 2008 Laser Pico Nationals over the weekend of 21^st and 22^nd June with varied conditions for the 46 entrants from around the UK with an age range of 7 – 54.

The event attracted sponsors from The Laser Centre, Wet Suit Outlet, Yachts & Yachting and Henry Lloyd.

This is the third year the Pico Nationals have been hosted (2007 Gurnard) and already the fleet turnouts are exceeding all expectations for this amazingly versatile dinghy equally suitable for children and adults. This year the Nationals were sailed as a single fleet with handicapping for different sail and crew arrangements.

Fresh winds and a lumpy sea greeted the starters for this year’s Championships and although the conditions were not idyllic – there was an abundance of enthusiasm and competitiveness from the younger crews.Three races were scheduled for each day in the broad uncluttered expanse of the Thames Estuary overseen by professional race officer Alan Willis and equally supported by Sally, Linda and Lisa.

Race 1 started cleanly in a steady force 4 on the flood tide. James French (Gurnard) made a clean break from the pack and was first round the top mark followed by Dan Henderson with new crew Max Duce (TBYC), then Natalya Eyre and Ben Warrington (TBYC) and Alex Farrell (TBYC). After much jostling with the top four James French pulled back into the lead to take the win by 16 seconds on this traditional triangle sausage course.

Race 2 saw the bulk of the fleet right on the line at the start with 2 crews being OCS and pulled back by the race officers. Racing was tight all the way to the top mark with few rule infringements. James French had a comfortable lead on the top mark from Mark Harrison, Andrew Paterson, Natalya Eyre and Dan Henderson when James capsized on to the mark whilst bearing away. Despite a rapid recovery and taking a penalty turn, James was overhauled by the top pack on the reach to the gybe mark. On the next upwind leg and with a freshening breeze, Dan Henderson changed up a gear, got into his stride and pulled into the lead to take the gun by 14 seconds from Andrew Paterson.

Race 3 with the Thames Spring Ebb in full flow saw some interesting tactical changes on the start. To start at the committee boat end or the pin down tide was the question. The fleet was divided as this is where all up weight became critical on the Pico with the heavier crews opting for the up tide end and tacking straight off onto port. The lighter crews on the pin made excellent progress to reach the top mark in a tight bunch with the opposing group. 10 boats rounded in quick succession led by James, Dan, Andrew and Natalya. Shifting wind saw the top 5 fighting all the way down wind to the leeward mark with Dan inches behind James at the turn. On the final beat to the finish Dan and Max took the win by 2 seconds on corrected time from James.

The overnight positions gave Dan and Max a 2,1,1, with James 1,4,2, so all to play for on Sunday.

Sunday with 3 races scheduled – bright, sunny and a constant 30mph on the TBYC on line weather station gave Alan Willis no choice but to cancel the second day racing much to the relief of the competitors and safety boat crews.

Dan Henderson and Max Duce were crowned as the Pico 2008 National Champions, with James French runner up followed by Natalya Eyre / Ben Warrington in third, Ben Green in fourth and Mark Harrison who scored a consistent 5,5,5 in fifth.

The Wight Cable Cadet Cup (first under 15) was won by James French and the Designers Cup was won by Peter and Rupert Snow.

The Isle of Wight Trophy for first youngest with a combined age of 18 was won by Finlay Cullender and Alex Thomason.

Generous equipment prizes were awarded to the top 8 by Wet Suit Outlet, Henry Lloyd and Laser performance.

Prize giving culminated with Simon Ogden from Laser Performance pulling out the winning raffle ticket and presenting a brand new race sport Pico to an amazed Tom Harrison.

The weekend again proved the Pico to be an exceptional racing boat – great for learning tactics and capable of being raced in varied wind strengths by light and heavy weight crews for competitive racing.

A fantastic time was had by all on and off the water. The Pico class are a very friendly bunch – noted by not a single protest being made for infringements which made the protest committee redundant.

Our thanks to Shaun Christian for his fantastic skills in organising and running the Nationals. Thorpe Bay Yacht Club which excels at hosting these events, the race officers and spotters, Tony Clarke and his support crews, Howard Hawkes for acting as beach master, our sponsors and never forgetting of course the cadet mums for supplying us with home made cakes and hot chocolate.

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