Thrills and spills on Maylandsea Bay

Fifteen boats hit the start line on a day that saw waves and cubic whammies sorting the men from the men.
The start was won by Mickey Wright sailing a Laser. This was a short hop to the Spit nav can, a jibe and a long down hill run out to Mundon spit which was a joy to see as many of the fleet had not seen a squall or had a knee tremble for weeks.
A measure of care was required as the fleet speed outwards, passed Lawling point and into the full thwack of the incoming tide. As the leg, somewhat sailed by the lee to this point eventually led to jibe on. Roger and Edward, in a Fireball, opened up the entries to the Splat The Duck completion (and a very worthy, well executed Splat it was).
. . . . . . picture right: Kevin "I capsized to get out of the rain"

The fleet now turning Mundon mark and into the wind was well spread out and despite the horizontal wind driven rain sorted a well bang on the nose beat to Lawling mark. Jacko and Lorna lost ground to Kevin and? (Fireball) and Keith Fedi, sailing a Finn, as the fleet took on the shifty squalls and rare to see, the Maylandsea wave. (Jacko was seen to be waving at Roger, who was still with the fishes, but Rogers joyful response cannot be divulged). Race ended Jacko and Lorna, Kevin and? With Keith 3rd. Tea and sausages were consumed, mud removed and the full fleet took off down the slip like nobody knew it was windy. Jacko and Lorna won the start, hung to the marina side and popped in an elegant jibe, followed by upping the kite and were not seen again. Roger and Edward, much encouraged with being less wet, took up the challenge. Sadly being slatted on the nasty headers bounding out of the marina pontoons at the end of the first lap. Ron and Laura having put a good solid performance together in race one went for the “wish I don’t wish” could have been! Wet mascara “is that a fish you’re holding” splat jibe. But recovered better than Jacko would have, stayed the course and finished 4th.
Keith (who it must be said was not having the best of days) got a good start, travelled the down hill well and made a good gain on Jacko on rounding Mundon Spit catching a good lift, lost the race by the narrowest of margins to be second. picture left: Keith loving his return to Maylandsea Bay Unfortunately the rumour has it that a slight wrong order of mark rounding has ended a tough day at the office. It is my view that we need finishers, all the marks were rounded and no short measure was gained. Kevin in the Fireball (who had been hiding away in the Sandhopper fleet) made light of the first race and handed out loads of stick to Lorna’s plea for “just one lap please” spent time with the fishes, along with a number of welcome returning visitors. Of which I would like to thank, on behalf of MBSC, for their support in filling the water and adding joy to the occasion only out done by the laughter from the Sandhopper gentry as they summed up the sailing capabilities of the club dinghy fleet. I would add, “you have seen nothing yet, chaps” now read on dit dit dit

picture below: Peter reefed, and staying in the boat

Next race 11/11/07 at 11:00 Full results to follow

Lets go sailing (its the winter series at MBSC)

This weekend sees the sailing move to the Maylandsea Bay start line for the start of the Winter Series. The Sandhopper fleet, now tucked up neatly behind the club bar and with the water furniture tonnage being humped out of the river having been swinging about on their mooring all summer, things are looking up and the best time to be out sailing has arrived.
It is unclear just who the runners and riders will be and if the MBSC race box is to split the fleet. We do know that the Ballers are in the most part out on a sicky with wonky knees, etc. But there is a rumour that Keith Fedi will be returning to defend the Trophy in his Finn. Keith, a race winner, is sadly missed having left the MBSC at the start of the year.
Martin Tarlin, Laser, also a race winner will be a welcome sight on the line although we believe he’s been hard pushed by Martin Cockersole, Laser. However Paul Weedon (a real hard nut Laser sailor) and always on the pace and never out the race is the Laser to watch.
The Merlin fleet is in a state of chaos. Malcolm Cross swapped his Merlin for a leaky Enter box! Laurence threatened to sell (but wisely, at a price no one would pay) and now has it parked safely under going cosmetic restoration. Simon and Pies, who it must be said have shown good boat speed at times, but are a tad hampered with Simon wishing to helm and crew at the same time (even we hear moving the crews cleats to aft of the thwart) is moving up the pecking order. Chris and Paul H! sadly have not been seen for a long time (far too long) having fallen victim to Batty’s alterative version of the racing rules (well as seen in the Telly Tubbies) and has punished himself by removing the deck varnish and storing the boat away. This is bad news for the Merlin fleet as Chris has much to offer in sailing skills and dynamic humour. The Ronet’s! Well… and well. Laura crew (and Matron) has her work cut out. Much work had been carried out on the boat in the spring but has not convinced Ron that sitting out equals boat speed and Ron with the new version of shorter toe straps can keep entirely dry in all but the heaviest of seas, and with the threat of spending more time on restringing the rig and Simon and Pies looking more speedy, the error factor is on the up. Jacko and Lorna at long last appear a tad more settled in the new ship and having spent time with the fishes and pondering how to set a sail the right way up, some times look like they could do something useful. However Jacko’s desire to film racing with a head cam is not going down well with Lorna who will not smile facing Jacko and makes noises that have to be edited out not leaving much to view. Jacko as hear to say “I take sailboat racing very seriously”, but looking at the teams’ starts there is room for improvement.
Racing starts on 28th at 11:30 and I wish all well

Blackwater Travellers Trophy 2007

Blackwater Travellers Trophy 2007 summed up.

The Dyer Cup, sailed from the Blackwater S. C. got a pass on account of 0-1.2 knots on a very still autumn day. This was a dull end to the re launch of the Blackwater Travellers Trophy 2007. The dates taken from the ten clubs surrounding the rivers Blackwater/Colne published programs had the good fortune not to have any clashes of dates. Each club has its own unique piece of sailing water, club characters and ambience, which brims over making sailing so special on the east coast.
The idea of a travellers’ series around the Blackwater has been given much encouragement and support from club members and club sailing secretaries.
It has not been possible to complete the full calendar or make good contact with all the clubs or the required persons, and the weather conditions on some dates simply blue the events out of the water (there is still much more to be achieved).
It is hoped that newcomers to sailing will find the thought of travelling to near by clubs to experience new soundings/courses and sailing against new sailors as a way to improve sailing skills, for we know that we learn so much more at an open meeting than sailing in the same pecking order at the home club.
The 2007 series winner regrettably turns out to be no less than Jacko and Laura (Merlin) MBSC with the runners up being Ron and Lorna (Merlin) H(B)SC and I personally feel that a much better challenge should be sought for the 2008 series.
I would like to thank all the competitors and club officials for their help in supplying the info and results that has made this small, but encouraging start, to an enjoyable sailing experience.
Info on 2008 series calendar and will be posted as soon as possible.
2007 results to follow

Sights and Sounds from the Maldon Town Regatta 2007

I heard this weekend that H(B)SC is to run the 2008 warm up series.

Lorna Legs (bimbo) and I joined Jim and John (505) and the Ronet’s (Merlin) in a sail round the cans in Lawling Creek. It was a lovely day to be on the water but not a race – more about sail practice. Sad to say two boats split off from the main race of Solos and Lasers. But hey ho “a day in a life”.
And now for the reader here is a nobbling of pixels from the Maldon Regatta. I am still working on the Two Islands and the head cam pictures from 2006. This coming weekend is the Dyers Cup at the Blackwater SC, which sees Lorna’s first return to her previous stomping grounds.

Well as you can see that didn’t work too well and after week of trying I need to sort more brain cell