Thorpe Bay Yacht Club

Tel: 01702 587 563

Are there any cat sailer’s wanting a lift to Carnac 2008, unfortunately Pete Sherwin has family commitments and has had to bail out. Even if you just want a jolly there’s room in the camper with Wayne and myself. Regards Struan.

The weekend racing saw some difficult conditions however the racing was exciting, it was very gusty and challenging however Saturdays race was won by Satisfaction, 2nd Windrush, 3rd Sandstar ( new boats can be beaten), 4th Apollo, and very very far back in last place was Squiffy.

Sundays Benfleet shield had very mixed conditions, Thompson/Hopper (Sandstar) were top in the Sandhopper fleet coming 2nd overall, well done boys, Satisfaction was second and Sandpiper was third, Apollo had her third collision of the year ( out of four races) and Windrush had 25 foot of plastic wrapped around the keel to help slow things down, pearl threw away a great 3rd place to finish 21st ??? and Squiffy made a better show finishing 4th.

The Sandhopper Nationals are not far away so i’m sure the current racing fleet circa. 12 at the moment will swell over the coming weeks as 22 are booked from TBYC to attend at the moment, many thanks to those who have lent their Sandhoppers to others to help make the event such a success.

So far we have 22 Sandhoppers from TBYC going to the Nationals on the 31st may, with the other boats from MBSC and a few more from us we could get 30.

Sandstar (Thompson/hopper) has been dominating the number one spot in the first few races this year with the rest of us fighting for the other positions, Sunday saw 11 of us start in mixed conditions, mike and Shaun had their maiden voyage in 153

Dear Hurricane sailers, Just a reminder that our Nationals are held at Stokes bay on the last bank holiday in May. Racing over three days which should be great fun. At the moment, Wayne & myself on 272 plus Pete Sherwin & Chris on 307 are representing TBYC. It would be great to get at least another two boats from the club to join in. Take a look at the web link for more details, http://www.hurricane59.com/nationals/entry.htm. A full list of open events are posted in the Fast cat section in the club. Regards, Struan.

P.S. Why not join us at Eurocat 2008 at Carnac, all fast cats welcome: http://www.yccarnac.com/

We finally got to race for the first time on Monday, althought not to many turned out, the one’s that did had a great race. We re ran the Spencer Cup which was eventually won by Nick Elmore and Kyle Stoneman, special mention to these two who stood by a stricken competitor untill help arrived.

I would like to say the race got underway after an uneventful start, but i cant as it was my fault we managed to wack into Peter and Steves brand new sandhopper, in the process of making the whole fleet tack “sorry”still it give’s Mr H new ammo for this year, anyway once started the fleet sailed of into the distance in a nice 3-4 enjoying the 1st race of the season.

We are proud to be holding three major National Championships
this year for the following classes:

21st – 22nd June 2008

Laser Pico National Championships

5th – 6th July 2008

Finn National Championships

16th – 18th August 2008

Sprint National Championships

More details to follow, watch this space!

The Sandhoppers will be holding the ‘first breath’ race on Saturday 22nd March.

The Wetsuit Outlet has sponsored a meal in the clubhouse straight after the race for all sandhopper entrants. The course will run along the shore to enable all those walking along the front to enjoy the spectacle, please make the effort to enter and lets kick the season off with a bang.

The race will also count for the 1st Spring Series Race – we managed 22 boats for the last gasp, so it would be nice to beat it.

Don’t forget the Winter Prizegiving, which takes place after the last Icicle Series race o­n Sunday. Can Chris Boshier topple Paul Beasley in the Monohulls? Is Paul Clarke at risk from Rick Paxman in the Lasers? Can the Lion King & Queen (the Goodmans) see off the Young Cubs (Dan Henderson and Spratty Jnr) in the Fast Asymetrics? And what can the Sailing Sec do to stop Messrs Wallace & Miller in the Multihulls?

For this and other nail-biting scenes, make sure you’re there o­n Sunday!

Howard Hawkes

Paul Weeden (Burt) has finished 27th in a 100 boat fleet at the Laser master worlds in Australia.

He was the first GBR boat. Well done Burt!

It must have been the winter training that you got at TBYC.

The Icicle Series is nearing its conlusion, with the penultimate race this Sunday 24th at 12.30 and the final tussle o­n Sunday 9th March at 11.30.

Don’t forget the Winter Prizegiving which will follow the racing o­n March 9th.

Howard Hawkes(Sailing Secretary).