Jun 24 2008
Please click on the image on the right or look in the Photo Gallery situated to the left of this article to see some photos taken by Nigel Campling during Saturdays racing.
Thanks Nigel
PS. If anyone has any more please either get them to me via email or cd.
Jun 23 2008
A big thank you to all involved in the Nationals.
The weekend started on Thursday night with race run throughs,cleaning and painting slipway etc, right through to Sunday packing away boats and prize giving.
Well done this type of event would not be as successfull without all of your help.
Congatulations to Dan Henderson & Max Duce who are now the 2008 Pico National Champions
Regards Spratty
Jun 18 2008
Entry Forms have been coming in all week and the current estimate looks like we will have over 50 Pico’s out racing. We have a number of visitors attending the Nationals so please give them a warm and friendly TBYC welcome.
You can enter on the morning but it would be helpful if TBYC sailors could get theirs in beforehand, this will help with results & speed up registration.
There will be a briefing by the Race Officer at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday morning with the first race scheduled for 12.55 p.m. start. If you would like a packed lunch these will be available from the club chef but need to be ordered in advance of Saturday (£3.50 for a sandwich, chocolate bar, crisps and a bottle of water). Visitors please speak to the chef as soon as you arrive.
After sailing on Saturday your entry price includes a free meal and Karaoke. If you need extra meals please either note this on your entry form or speak to the Chef (extra meals coat £5.50 each).
Any other questions please give me a call. Entry forms can be downloaded from this website. Please click on “Pico’s” down the left hand side on the screen.
I look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
Shaun – mobile 07881 501 675
TBYC Cadets – At Cadet Night this week on Thursday 19th June Rupert will be giving a talk on what to expect and how to prepare for the Pico Nationals.
Jun 11 2008
Dear Finn SailorThe J.M.Finn & Co. Finn National Championships is fast approaching and takes place over the 4,5, & 6th of July at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in Essex.
The club would like to extend a warm invitation to you to enter the event that has been generously sponsored by J.M.Finn & Co. stockbrokers. The entry fee includes a free BBQ on the Friday and the Finn Championship Dinner with live music on the Saturday night. Food will be available during the day and on Thursday evening and the club has a great veranda for supporters to watch the racing from. (Handily placed within a short stagger from the bar!)
The club is looking forward to hosting the Finns and has gone to great lengths, re-furbishing the changing rooms, smoothing the beach and laying astro-turf especially to make launching easy for us all!
North Sails and Yachts & Yachting have kindly donated trophies and prizes and our new class sponsor has also provided shirts for every entrant. There will also be trophies for top Junior and each Master’s category so whatever your age group there will be plenty to race for. The Olympic squad have promised to attend so don’t miss your chance to pit your wits against Britain’s finest Finn sailors.
TBYC has ample free car parking and boat storage facilities in the field to the east of the main dinghy park. On arrival you will be given a TBYC car sticker that must be displayed in you car in order to get free car parking.
TBYC is just a couple of miles along the seafront from Southend-On-Sea so has a good selection of hotels and B&B’s. We have listed details of a few local places that are a short distance from the clubhouse.
www.premierinn.com – search for their Thorpe Bay Hotel
If camping facilities are required please contact us. Depending on numbers we can accommodate camping and camper vans at the clubhouse.
If you have any questions regarding the weekend please contact [email protected] or the Club Secretary Lorraine Stevens. The Club Secretary can be contacted between 10am and 2pm Tuesday to Friday.
Email – [email protected]
Entries.
Notice of Race – Finn National Championship
Sailing Instructions – Finn National Championship
Entry Form – Finn National Championship
To avoid the late entry fee, get your entry form and payment in by June 23rd to Allen Burrell.
We are really looking forward to welcoming as many Finns as possible to the event and can guarantee you great racing and a fun social time…make sure you don’t miss it!
Best wishes from the Thorpe Bay Finn fleet,
Allen, John, Sander, Mark, Keith & Laurence.
Jun 10 2008
Have you got your entry form in yet, if not you still have time.
The entry price of £20.00 for two up and £15.00 for single handed pico’s covers racing on both days, plus an evening meal on Saturday followed by karaoke.
Thanks to our sponsors we have some great prizes which includes a NEW PICO to be raffled amongst those that sail in all races over the weekend.
For Entry Forms, Sailing Instructions and some great deals on new sails and spares click on “Pico’s” down the left-hand side on the screen.
If any visitors are arriving on the Friday and need access to the dinghy park or are camping please give me a call and I will be happy to meet you on arrival.
Kind regards
Shaun – mobile 07881 501 675
Sponsors – LaserPerformance, Henri-Lloyd, Yachts & Yachting, wetsuitoutlet.co.uk
Jun 08 2008
With just two weeks to the Pico Nationals it is not to late to get your entry in. The entry price of £20.00 for two up and £15.00 for single handed pico’s covers racing on both days, plus an evening meal on Saturday followed by karaoke.
Thanks to our sponsors we have some great prizes which includes a NEW PICO to be raffled amongst those that sail in all races over the weekend.
For Entry Forms, Sailing Instructions and some great deals on new sails and spares click on “Pico’s” down the left-hand side on the screen.
Any questions please give me a call.
Kind regards
Shaun – mobile 07881 501 675
Sponsors – LaserPerformance, Henri-Lloyd, Yachts & Yachting, wetsuitoutlet.co.uk
Jun 03 2008
What an Adventure! The sandhopper nationals held at RCYC was the largest fleet recorded for several decades; the sight of 26 sandhoppers sailing in the crouch was a fantastic site.
To get there and back added to the occasion, 3 boats went in 40mph winds the Monday before and the rest sailed on the Thursday in pouring rain, on both days despite the weather everybody had a huge smile.
Saturdays race was held in very light fluky conditions and we only managed one race out of 3, local knowledge was the key to the race and sand star took line honors followed by sandstorm in 2nd Zeus 3rd windrush 4th and squiffy 5th .( the rest of the results are on the RCYC web page)
The rest of the day was spent anchored by the windward mark of the second race where the real fun began, the banter was relentless and such a good laugh, upon abandonment late afternoon we headed for the great hospitality at the club bar and waited for the evening meal, over 80 people enjoyed a tremendous 3 course dinner at RCYC where the banter continued, Tony Padbury won the sponsors lonton and gray raffle prize which was a brand new spinnaker,Tony then kindly donated it immediately to be auctioned which raised £450 which once added to the donated mooring fees from rice and coles plus the raffle money raised over £1300 on the night for the RCYC local hospice charity, which for me was the icing on the cake to a brilliant weekend.
Sunday started with a huge good value buffet breakfast for nearly all the entrants at the RCYC followed by the next race, once again light conditions saw 6 finish in 45 minutes who were , satisfaction, sandstar, Apollo, sandstorm, squiffy, windrush and true blue the rest eventually crawled across the line 2 hours later. It looked like the championship would be abandoned but fortunately patience paid off and we managed one more race, the points were so close every place counted .
With the race over and two of the top finishers being ocs ( o dear, o dear, o dear)the final results saw sand star (Thompson and hopper) become the new national champions, worthy champions in everybody’s eyes , I have never met two people who put so much effort into helping others, if they weren’t coaching they were tuning boats, lending sails, blocks , shackles local knowledge etc, they were ensuring everyone’s safe passage to Burnham, both steve and peter did all the journeys with the boats to Burnham.
I would like to thank Steve Hopper and Martin Eyre for using their ribs as support boats, Tony Clarke for seasafe 5 and all his assistance, tony padbury for his fabulous donation, Dave Johnson for the Burnham Idea, RCYC for their hospitality, all fellow sandhopper sailors for their support and fantastic company, Len, Pat, Sally and john for their kind words of encouragement from the support boats, ken Clarke for liaising between all for the event, finally Peter Thompson for getting us all back safely in the dark on Sunday night, flying spinnakers in the pitch black onto the moorings at tbyc was beautiful and a first for some.
I thoroughly enjoyed the nationals and have sailed in many classes over the years, the sandhopper fleet has the nicest most helpful group of sailors I have ever had the pleasure to sail with.
results click here
Jun 03 2008
If you are visiting the TBYC website for details on the Laser Pico Nationals please click on the “Nationals” tab on the left had side of the screen for further details, including Sailing Instructions and Entry Forms. Also see the how you could win a new Pico.
Jun 02 2008
What a weekend, once again thanks to all who made it happen.
Well done Peter and Steve worthy winners.
PS: Sailing in the dark is great fun
May 29 2008
Two days to go and the remainder of the fleet set sail this afternoon for Burnham.
I would just like to thank the following people for all their hard work in getting all our boats ready and organising this event.
Barry Duce (for goading badgering and generally motivating us all)
Peter Thompson (for for his expertise and enthusiasm and tireless work)
Ken Clarke (for setting the whole thing up)
and last but by no means least
Steve Hopper (this list could be endless, for setting up boats,running his rib round in adverse conditions,towing boats round)
This is what TBYC is all about, SUPPORT, ENTHUSIASM. ENCOURAGEMENT.
If I have fogotten anybody sorry.
Good Luck to all
Regards Spratty
