Dinghy Racing Report

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Spring Series Presentation


The presentation for the current Spring Series will take place on Sunday 6th June at Cardiff Yacht Club.
The presentation will take place after the normal Sunday Morning racing.

CYC have kindly offered to run a BBQ as part of the presentation, so please make every effort to attend and support both clubs at the presentation.


Andrew
On behalf of the dinghy Committee

15-November

Only 7 boats started the first race of the day in a stiff F3/4 SW breeze that proved to be shifty during the morning. Not only was it shifty, bu thte southerly in it produced some unexpected 'holes', usually just as you didn't want them! During Race 1, Idris Dibble in his FF was having a close race with Helen Phillips in her L2K. During the upwind legs, both were vitually speed for speed, but during the down wind legs the extra speed of the Asymmetric in these conditions proved too much for the FF to compete with. Of the 7 boats that started, 2 failed to finish, mainly due to capsizes.

Race 2 was pretty much the same as race 1, although the wind did start to drop a bit half way through, which was bad news to the L2K when going down wind. During the last beat, Idris and Steve were tacking every time Helen and Andrew tacked, just to cover them. Helen and Andrew found this a bit funny as most of the FF are adverse to wanting to tack, so they decided to play Idris at his own gane and have a bit of fun at his expense, by tacking back every time Idris tacked to cover, creating a tacking competition. This went on for a minute or two, until Steve finally got his way and got Idris to stop!

16 August

Only 10 boats turned out the racing this morning. The wind was a nice F3 - 4 from the west, but it did swing about quite a bit! The start of race 1 was delayed firstly for allowing the wind to settle, and then because some of Idris’s knots (or was it knitting?) on the Safety Boat having came undone, allowing the Safety Boat to drift away from the Committee Boat, meaning Idris had to come along side the drifting boat to allow Steve to return it to the Committee Boat! In the first race Idris and Steve (FF) just managed to get to the windward mark first ahead of Helen and Andrew (L2K) with Richard and Toby (RS200) close behind. However, due to the reaches on the course suiting the Asymmetrics, Idris’s lead lasted all of about 30 seconds as both Asymmetrics came powering over the top of him! Helen and Richard continued to have a close run battle for a few laps, before Helen managed to pull away and take the race. The end of the first race had an unusual finish to it, with the Laser 2 from CYC having capsized just before the finish, causing it to drift over the finish line on its side!

Race 2 saw Helen and Andrew take a commanding lead up the first beat, a lead they never relinquished. Further back though, Phil Straw and Chris (L2K) were having a good close battle with Richard and Toby, who eventually managed to pull away on the last beat. Mean while Idris and Steve were also keeping them company and managed to pull away form Richard and Toby on the last run.

Wed 5th Aug

Last night, a smallish turnout of 11 then 12 boats took to the water (which looked like the tide had gone out, as the level of the Bay was probably 1m lower than normal)in a light westerly breeze which was constantly on the move the whole evening. There was a good turn out of Laser 2000s, with twice as many of them as there were of FFs. Ben Greenwood jumped ship from his Contender to a Laser for the evening due to the light winds as there was no likelihood of trapezing!. Ian Horton was first to the windward mark in Race 1 having gone well left up the first beat, a lead he never relinquished. It was noticeable that those boats that went right on the beat during the first part of the evening lost out to those boats that stayed left. The start of race 2 was noticeable by the lack boats at the start line when the class flag came down! Yet again it was Ian Horton that lead the way around the course, but this time Ben showed that it had not taken him long to get the hang of sailing a Laser, by finishing second behind Ian on the water and overall, with Jim Aktinson in his Wanderer coming in third on handicap.

For anybody interested, Alex Edwards took some photos on the evening, and these can be found at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/edwards.alex/CBYC_dinghyRacing_50809?feat=directlink


02-Aug

11 boats started the first race (of which 7 were Flying Fifteens) in a lightish 6-8 knots from the NW (not that it stayed there for all the race!). Steve Copner was an early leader round the windward mark on the first lap, closely followed by Idria Dibble (who’d tried a port end flyer at the start!) and Dave Holden. However, Ian Horton managed to work his way up through the fleet to take the race.
With the wind having moved during the first race, the Committee boat was repositioned before the start of the seconded race for the now freshening Westerly wind. With the line having a slight port bias on it, a pile up ensued on the port end with boats on Starboard and Port causing a general recall!! At the next start, all 13 boats got away cleanly, with Paul Thomas in his Laser 2000 leading the way up the first beat on the right hand side, until Ian Horton caught him up as he came in deep on port from the left hand side to round the top mark first. Ian then continued to stretch out his lead to take the race. However, the rest of the fleet continued to have close racing between the FFs, with the two Laser 2000s also mixing it with them, especially at the leeward mark.

19-Jul

9 boats (4 FFs & 5 L2Ks) went out and braved the F4+ conditions on a non too pleasant morning given the forecast. The first beat say Ian Horton in his Flying Fifteen get to the windward mark first, closely followed by Helen and Andrew Phillips in a borrowed L2K. With a tight reach on the top reach of the triangle, the conditions favoured a white sail reach for most of the leg, with the Helen only managing to carry the spinnaker for the last half of the leg, by which time she gained on Ian. Following the gybe mark, the angle was perfect for the L2K on a spinnaker reach, which seem them race ahead of Ian for the next lap or so until an un-timed capsize let the lead slip. After several big gusts had come through, some boats had to retire which equipment failure (Helen – Main Halyard failure, and Dave Holdham – Kicker failure), and with one other retiree only 6 finished the race. During the time between races a nasty storm sweep through the start line dropping visibility to nearly zero for a few minutes.
Race 2 got under way in slightly better conditions that the end of the previous race. By this time the number of boats was down to 5 starters (3 FFs & 2 L2Ks). Ian Horton managed to pull out and maintain a large lead over Idris Dibble in his FF, with the other boats struggling to stay up right in the conditions with some of the L2Ks taking dips for one reason or another!

Wed 24th Jun


Well, what another good evenings racing we had!

About 25 boats turned out on what were excellent sailing conditions with a good F3 / F4 North Easterly breeze to keep everybody happy. As the wind was swinging a bit at the start, the shortish start line became port biased just as the hooter went, which caught a few people out, but there was enough people pushing the line for several boats to be over the line at the start, forcing the race officer to do a general recall, which is un-heard of during club racing!! The following restart was much cleaner, which saw Ian Horton in his FF and Will Coles in his RS600, along the Lasers, leading the way to the top mark. There were several good battles for positions through out the fleet, but none more so than the four Lasers at the front of the main fleet. Even though the race time was fairly short, it did not stop Ian running away with the race. It just goes to show how much difference new sails can make!!

With the first race being over fairly quickly, the race officer made good use of the lap boards to extend race 2 out to 3 laps. With the wind still swinging around on the start line, the line turned port biased again just as the hooter was about to go. However, by the time the boats got to the windward mark, the order was beginning to look the same as the first race, with the same people battling it out with each other. With two extra Laser 2000’s starting the second race, there was now a good battle going on between the Asymmetric boats, as well as the Lasers, who were continuing to swap places with each other, whilst pulling away from the main bunch of the fleet behind.

All in all, a thoroughly good evening racing was had by all.

Wed 17th Jun

With the wind swinging around like a pair of saloon bar doors, ten boats ventured out in the F4 gusty conditions to do battle with the elements, and each other!
With a fairly port biased line, race 1 got under way with some coming togethers on the line with some boats unsuccessfully trying to start on port and suffering the consequences. Dave Cann in a Laser 2000 took advantage of the chaos on the start line to make good progress up the beat without any challengers. Of the ten boats that started 4 failed to finish for one reason or another.
Race 2 started in much the same way as the first race but the Lasers of Andrew Preece and Andrew Phillips managed to get through the start line problems to lead up the first beat, with the others then playing catch up, which the two Laser 2000 were able to do towards the end of the race. During the race the wind did drop a bit, but still had some largish gusts come through. This time all the boats that started the race managed to finish, and stay the right way up!

Wed 10th Jun

This evening around 20 boats took to the water in fairly light Northly winds. CYC as race officers this week, set a fairly large course for the conditions. The first beat was lead by the Lasers, along with Helen Phillips in a Laser 2000, with the rest of the fleet slowly starting to drift behind in the ever decreasing wind. As time ent on the wind virtually dropped completely, but started to turn East, meaning the beat now became a close reach. The race officer eventually shortened the course on the next triangle after about anhours slow sailing, in which time the wind tuned further south, meaning the last leg of hte triangle was now a beat.

Wed 3rd June


With the wind being slightly higher than forecast (F3+), 26 boats started the first race on what was a shortish line with a slight port bias for race 1. The conditions certainly favoured the Lasers, with Barnie Procotor, Andrew Phillips, Rob Savage and Andrew Preece (8.1) battling it out at the front of the pack, with Ian Horton catching up in his FF towards the end of the race. Further down the fleet, others were battling with the conditions, some of which resulted in capsizes.

During the first race, it was apparent that the Committee boat was slowly drifting down wind away from the leeward mark, which meant that the start of race 2 was extremely port biased, causing all kinds of confusion along the start line, with the odd capsize on the line just to make this worse!
With the wind picking up further at the start of the race (F4), again it was the same suspects up the front of the fleet with the Lasers pulling away on the reaches as they quickly got up on the plane. As the conditions had picked up, some felt the best thing to do was head ashore rather then struggle with the conditions. Never the less, everybody appeared to have enjoyed the evening racing, which can only be a good thing!


Wed 13-May-09


19 boats were brave enough (or mad enough) to race in extremely light air, probably F0.5 (if it existed!)
Due to the lack of wind, there was a bit of a pile up at the committee boat end with plenty of shouting going on. Whilst this was going on behind him Alex in his Finn drifted over the start line and had to go back after the start, although this did not affect him to much. As the race went on the wind kept dropping, making things difficult for virtually everybody, although some people seemed to find wind to allow themselves to pull ahead of the main fleet . With the wind becoming non existent, the second race was abandoned.

Sun 17-May-09


11 brave soles started in the General Handicap fleet, with a further 5 boats in the Asymmetric Series, in what turned out to be some shifty and sometimes nasty conditions. With the a strong F4 wind coming from the south, and thus over Penarth head, everybody was going in for an interesting experience.

General Handicap
In race 1, Nathan Bailey having to turn back after being over the line at the start. As the race progressed, Nathan and Freddy Jones (both in Laser Radials) were battling it out between them, whilst further ahead of them on the water, Ian Hortan appeared to be running away with the race.

In race 2, the start was even more competitive, with 2 Laser radials and the Finn of Chris Banner having to go back and restart after being over the line. Despite the conditions, there was close racing between several pairs of boats on the water. The long reaches on the triangle provided some excellent opportunities to get the boats up and going when the gusts kicked in.

Asymmetric Fleet.
Despite the low number of boats out, there was some good racing to be had, with some screaming reaches with the spinnakers, especially when the gusts came through.
For the second race, the RS200 and the Laser 4000 did some swapping of helms with John Warburton leaving the 4K to sail the 200, whilst 4K crew became the helm of the 4K. Again some close racing appeared to be on the cards, until some boats had troubles dropping the spinnaker, and one or two others deciding to capsize.

All in all, everybody enjoyed their morning sail.

Sun 10-May-09


With a nice steadily F3 from the East, and plenty of sun, 14 boats made it to the start line for an enjoyable mornings sailing. CYC were in charge of OOD duties this week and got us off the start line virtually bang on time. Race 1 was dominated up front by the Lasers of Rob Savage and Andrew Preece (8.1) who were having a good battle between them, with the larger 8.1 sail telling, on the water at least, by just pulling away towards the end. Mean while just behind, Idris Dibble and Ian Horton were battling it out between them, with Helen Phillips in her Laser 2000 keeping up with them on the water. Further down the fleet, the various other Laser rigs were battling between them, and Jim Atkinson in his Wanderer was seen flying a red spinnaker! (where did that come from?).

Racec 2 was again dominated by Rob and Andrew in there respective Lasers, but this time the 8.1 lead from an earlier stage and went on to take the race. Not far behind the Lasers was Helen in a Laser 2000, who this time was able to pull out a largish lead over Ian and Idris in their Flying Fifteens.

When all was done, CYC went off for a BBQ and more sailing, whilst CBYC went to clear the FF compound of boats!

Wed 06-May-09


Nine boats ventured out in a good F4-5 with the odd F6 gust.
At the start of the first race, Jayson Harrison in his FF, was squeezed out at the committee boat end, meaning he was behind the main pack up the first beat. With strongish winds and bigger gusts, it was inevitable that there would be capsizes, and this proved to be the case, with Ben Greenwood in (and sometimes out of) his Contender leading the way with Andrew Preece in his Laser 8.1 not far behind!
Race 1 gave some very close racing between Ian Horton in his FF and Dave Cann in his Laser 2000, with Dave taking the honours at the end of the race. Although the race officer shortened the number of laps in the race, the competitors still sailed a fair distance given that the leeward mark kept drifting towards the barrage!

The wind dropped off a bit for race 2, which saw Ian Horton pull out a good lead on the water over everybody else, but Dave Cann was close enough at the end to take the race on handicap.

Sun 03-May09


Asymmetric Series

Only 2 Laser 2000's made it out this this week, where conditions very tricky with big gusts and 60 degree shifts making getting downwind very tricky at times. Both 2k's hit the start
line at speed but on oppite tacks. It was noticeable that the handicap fleet
still hadn’t crossed the line 2 min’s after the start. Steff Clarke in 2442 got the better
of the first beat while Paul Taylor and his new crew Christos, (RYA Level 2 newby) sailing in
shorts and a tee shirt were still trying to sort out which ropes to pull !
Steff held on to win a close race.
Second race again saw 2 flying starts, this time we got to the mark on the
first lap of 6, Christos showed his potential with some good kite drops
getting better and better leading to a big win for 2986. The fluky
conditions eventually took their toll as Steff got blown over, however
smiles all round for all back on the slipway. All in all good sailing
enjoyed by both teams.

Sun 26-Apr-09


This morning 12 boats ventured out for race one, where the windward mark was layed just off the barrage the Easterly breeze. During the race there was some close racing between the the 420 and the Finn, with some closing racing going on between two Flying Fifteens, as well as the Laser 200 and the Contender.

At the start of race two, the wind dropped off, causing problems for boats stuck just back from the line. Even though the Finn had a bad start during this time, though Alex soon recovered to lead by the end of lap one, only to lose out to the 420 on handicap by the end of the race.

19-Apr-09


Some 15 boats came to the start line on Sunday to be greeted by some of the best sailing conditions the fleet has seen in recent weeks. The start is one of the most important parts of the race, and most crews now recognise that if you try and barge in at the line at the committee boat end you will not get a good start. And I must say that Ian Horton sailing ff15 No Ffriction knows how to get a good start and lead both races from start to finish. However there was some very close racing further down the fleet particularly in the ff15 fleet with some intense racing between Bill Turton and Idris Dibble. All in all a very good days racing was had by all.

12-Apr-09


Yet again we were met with glorious sunshine and very little wind, which unfortunately might had lead to there only being 11 boats out. I guess the rest all stayed ay home eating their Easter Eggs instead!
Race officer Ian Horton set a reasonable sized course in the light South-easterly breeze. As this week was an Asymmetric weekend, the general handicap went off first as usual, it what looked like a good start for Idris Dibble in his Flying Fifteen, only to find that he was going to be over the line if he carried on, so some ducking and diving around the line seen him lose ground to the rest of the fleet at the start.
He was joined at the back of the fleet going up the first beat by David Moore in his F15, who unfortunately had his Jib halyard come down not long after the start.
The following start for the Asymmetrics was less eventful, but as the race progressed, the lead changed hands a few times between Helen Phillips and David Cann.
Helen thought she had pulled out a bit of a lead of David, but after doing a 360 for touching the leeward mark, the gap was soon reduced, but not sufficient for David to overtake.

At the start of Race 2, the general handicap fleet ended up in two distinct groups approaching the line, with 3 boats close to the line at the go and the rest of the bunch quite a way back in the light winds, which was to be their downfall.
This gap from the race start was to remain as the fleet went around the course, with boats finding it very difficult to catch up in the light conditions.
The Asymmetrics had a fairly quite start, and soon got into a bit of a precession which remained throughout the race, but the light winds did give an opportunity to practice the roll tacks and gybes!

05-April-09


The turnout today was a little disappointing with only 9 boats venturing out in the light winds but glorious sunshine. Race officer Bob Holden set a suitably sized course for the light South-easterly winds. At the start, Idirs Dibble was forced to tack off on his approach to the start line at the committee boat end for trying to get into a gap that wasn’t there for the taking, which then put him well down the field and little chance of gaining places easily. With Howard Massie in his Laser pulling out a good lead over virtually everybody except Jim Atkinson in his single handed Wanderer, the race became a bit of a follow my leader by the end of the race.

The second race of the day was held on the same course, with no alterations being required, as the winds were coming from a steady direction for a change. The racing in race 2 was a little closer than it had been in the first race, but this did not stop Howard and Jim pulling away from most of the pack. Ian Horton was protested and required to do a 360 for tacking from Port onto Starboard within the 3 boats lengths zone at the windward mark, forcing Helen Phillips to have to alter course in her Laser 2000. There were a few occasions in this race, mainly on the runs, where the wind just disappeared for short periods of times, but nothing to cause any real worries to those out on the water.

29-Mar-09

Well the wind was at it again today!

This week CYC were our race officers, and they had as much difficulty in laying a course as every one else has for the last two weeks. The first race of the day set off in a light North-westerly wind for the General Handicap fleet, followed 5 minutes later by the Asymmetric fleet, who this week were joined by a fleet of Buzz’s who were in town doing some training at CYC. As the General Handicap fleet were being lead across their first reach of the triangle, Ian Horton who was leading at this point, drifted to a halt in the dying winds and had to watch in vain as half the fleet started to drift past him. However they were not alone, with the Asymmetrics also starting to drift. I was at this point that the wind then decided to fill in from the west instead, giving every one a close hauled reach from the leeward mark to the windward mark, and a nice tight spinnaker reach back for the Asymmetrics. However, the wind wasn’t finished yet, as confused everyone by filling in from the South East instead.

The second race of the day was delayed as the course was moved around to accommodate the new South Easterly that had filled in. Every thing got of without any issues for the General Handicap race, but seen an interesting fight for the committee boat end during the start of the Asymmetric race. Two of the visiting Buzz’s decided they wanted a committee boat end start, Dave Cann in his Laser 2000 hasn’t going to let them into his space! This resulted in one of the Buzz’s capsizing to leeward on to the Laser 2000 as the race started. As it turned out, this was not the only Buzz to go over during this race, as one decided to make the top mark somewhat larger by capsizing on it. However the Buzz’s didn’t have it all their own way when it came to capsizing during he race, as Will Coles in his RS600 also took a few dips into the cold water. As you have probably now come to expect, the wind swang around a bit between SE and SW during the race, but with a good 10 knots blowing, some good racing and fun was had by both fleets, especially some of the visiting Buzz’s who were yee-haring down wind!

22-Mar-09

Funnily enough, this week was much the same as last week!

There was a good turn out of boats, with a few only doing one race as they ‘had promised’ to be home for lunch as it was Mothering Sunday!

The first race had the wind coming from the NW in fits and starts, but sufficient to get the racing under way. Once the first beat was complete, the order of the boats remained stable with few places being swapped as the wind came and went, sometimes it was on the right side of the course, sometimes it was on the left. As the first race drew to a close the wind went lighter and lighter, at which point it started to fill in from the SE instead. So the Committee boat upped anchor to reposition itself at the old windward mark, which meant that the old leeward mark now became the new windward mark. Just after the second race got under way the wind decided to change yet again, this time filling in from the West, and with a but more oomph, probably about 8-10 knots, which now gave some closer racing, with the asymmetric’s taking advantage of the fact that the beat was now a good spinnaker reach! Careful placing of the wing mark before the start of the second race also allowed for a beat to the leeward mark when the wind shifted!

15-Mar-09

This week we were greeted by light and variable winds, mainly filling in from the South East. Two starts were in operation this week, as the first race in the Asymmetric Series got under way, with both fleets having a testing time in the light and un-predictable winds in the first race.

The second race was much the same, but with the winds getting lighter at the start of the second race and not improving, the somewhat predictable happened – most of us started bobbing and drifting in the breathless air as we tried in vain to get to the windward mark.

The a little voice piped up from somewhere saying ‘They’ve got their spinnaker up!’, just as the wind started to fill in from behind us as we were going up the beat. Yes the wind was now coming from the NW, not the SE which it was at the start of the race.

08-Mar-2009

No racing today due to high winds.

Gusts of up to 45 mph reported!

01-Mar-2009 Race 1 & 2

Very light and variable winds greeted competitors in the first race of the season. However after a slightly delayed start the fleet got away to an increasing south westerly breeze and some early spring sunshine. All of the fleet finished within 30 minutes with some very close racing, especially in the Flying Fifteens with all 4 boats finishing within seconds of each other.



It was decided to extend the second race using the new lap number boards to good effect. The breeze by now had increased to about 8-10 knots which gave some excellent sailing conditions for the second race. The fleet was a little line shy at the start; however some notable sailing was witnessed from the committee boat, predominantly the two Finn’s and the Laser 1 were a joy to watch.