Testy day, gusting cubic whammies in Maylandsea Bay

A testy day was to be had by the gathering fleet, with bright blue skies and a westerly wind hacking down Lawling Creek producing the close standing wave that was to surrender the fleet to white knuckle sailing and a tightening of the bike clips.
It is said that when the going gets tough, the tough get going and for Jacko and Lorna going was gone before the first mark rounding with the pulling of a ‘sick note’.
The first start was a stunning affair with Andrew and James’ Xenon’s first outing in the series clearly over the line and Dean and Rob, Hornet without a moments hesitation returning to restart. Malcolm and Tony with excellent boat handling won the start and rounding the first two marks outside the clubhouse sped across the bay and out into the thrills and spills of Lawling Creek. The deep running legs down to mark 6 could only be said to contain all that you would need for extreme sailing with the wind now gusting cubic whammies of 20 to 25 knots over the incoming tide.

By the time what was left of the fleet returned to the bay to round mark 3 there were only three boats left racing and it is testament to the courage and un-shifting determination of Anne Dyson sailing a Pico that put her in 3rd place and a splendid show of sailing skills.
For Dean and Rob having joined in following the start it was down to business. Sailing through the upturned boats with wide eye sailors hanging on to centre boards and masts looking at Oz, it was game on. They slowly wound in the time on the fireball, but time run out as the boats appeared tied together for some time as they approached the finish line, only to finish 22 seconds adrift on corrected time and in 2nd place.
Malcolm and Tony put down a master class of heavy weather sailboat racing and never looked edgy or not in control and took the bullet in a very worthy way.
By the time race two was under way the wind had eased down and the sun was low in the sky. The fleet had been reduced to single figures but there was a grim look for determination on the faces as the fleet hit the start line.

Malcolm and Tony making a good start worked hard in the dying breeze, but could not hang on to the Hornet’s transom and although the down hill bucket and chuck it spinnaker work was fast it was not enough. Malcolm and Tony finished in 3rd place.

Dean and Rob put on a good show with a better than norm start and getting the edge on the Fireball seemed well sorted, but alas could only finish 2nd

Martin Tarling ‘Laser’ and submarine driver having also made an entry in to the Splat the Duck completion and removing all evidence (mud) from his sail and mast, put together an error free race starting well and rounding all the marks in a well mannered way to take his first bullet of the series.
For the fist time in many years, first place overall is not going down to the last windward leg of the last race. It is known that the Maylandsea race box is sending in the results weekly to the RYA PYS Internet link. But details of the advisory PY’s have not been disclosed and the Merlin sailors have not been whingeing on about the Phantoms telephone number, which is used as a PY. or which class is used as the scratch class. But it may well be the fore coming Christmas post series is sailed on adjusted PY numbers.

The battle for second place overall is full on with only one point in it between Malcolm and Tony, Dean and Rob and Martin. We look forward to the next race day and wish them good sailing conditions.

The Battle For the Splat The Duck Trophy is also I feel stitched up, with Peter Playle counting 8 ducks. This again is no mean deal for Peter can still walk and smile at the horrendous misfortune that put him on the wrong side of wind backing and wave hopping. However great attempts are being made to catch up but sadly the boat roll with no one in it only counts as one capsize. The appeal lodged by a nameless Fireball sailor that he has dug a submarine fall out shelter off of Mundon spit also was lobbed as no real proof and a straight mast was offered as proof. Hopefully all entries have been made.

Thanks to Philip Spillane and Peter Freshwater for the splendid photographs.
And a special thanks to the support boat members
Next Race 20th December at 13:00 followed by the prize giving
Full results
Overall after race 7
1st    Alan Jackson and Lorna Laval         Merlin    4 points
2nd   Malcolm Cross and Tony Everitt     Fireball    9 points
3rd   Dean Saxton and Rob Smith            Hornet     9 points
4th   Martin Tarling                                  Laser       10 points

Maylandsea Bay Winter races 7&8 Postponed to a later day

As the Mayland fleet looked at the rain chucking it down and the rigging rattled as the wind 20 knots gusting 30 the race box pulled the plug and racing was postponed, to be sailed on the 20th December. But as is the way of sailing within thirty minutes the sun came out and a 10-knot breeze settled, but it was all too late. Long faces and a sense of being cheated out of a sail were abound.
However the tabletop sailboat race game was set up and reps from each class sought, the dice rolled and it was race on.
For the reader who might have forgotten the delights of this form of torment, it is where racing sailors can demonstrate their racing skills without getting wet. All the rules of racing apply with the knowledge that once you have removed your fingers from your boat it is the next persons turn to roll the dice and speed of the hand does not over ride the rules of racing. (I have seen the N12 class having to be restrained from heated verbal abuse in the ‘speed of the hand against the racing rules’)

Rob ‘Hornet rep’ won the start and putting in an early tack headed NE reaching the deep water and strong tide first with Kate, ‘GP rep’, heading NW staying out of the tide for as long as possible. By the time Kate rounded the Windward mark she had a 6 boat lengths lead from Kevin ‘Fireball rep’ with Rob and Dean also ‘Hornet rep’ having got involved in a race to pass through a narrow gap between an island and a large rock just off shore, sailing against the tidal flow and losing a lot of boat lengths with the additional tacks required. The race moves continued without change until the rounding of the last mark with the following short windward leg to the finish where Kate was robed with only a boat length to the finish by Kevin pulling the slippery Sam card move to take the bullet on his last move.
Rob having dropped behind Dean on rounding the jibe mark stayed calm and in a Hoover-manoeuvre slid past Dean to finish 3rd. The race was conducted in the best of possible taste giving the disappointment of not sailing. However the wind had now returned and was ripping cats paws across the bay.

As a Merlin sailor owners said “it is better to be in the clubhouse wishing to be out on the water than to be out on the water wishing to be in the clubhouse.

Notables: That the 20th December has been added to the race schedule.

Peter Playle still leads the Splat the Duck Competition by four mast drippings


Next Race 6th December at 13:30
Full results
Overall
1st    Alan Jackson and Lorna Laval        Merlin      3 points
2nd   Malcolm Cross and Tony Everitt    Fireball     8 points
3rd   Martin Tarling                                Laser       9 points

Rainbow ending in Maldon creek but no gold for Dean & Rob

Gloom, doom and wetness greeted the Mayland feet for a 9:45 start. The previous days high winds had up turned the rubbish bins, boats and put the pampas grass over the hedge. With the skies filled with rain leaden cloud and a bright rainbow ending in Maldon creek, one might have thought that it may not be the best of sailing days.
The race Box posted a mid creek course with two rounds with hopes that the 7 knots of SW breeze would build before the tide (which was rushing in at a goodly pace) ebbed way.
The start was gamely affair with the bulk of the fleet at the windward end of the line in the wind shadow of the shoreline and clubhouse. The winners of the start were Dave and Keith ‘Fireball’ sailing out of the middle of the line at full speed, closely followed by Jacko and Lorna ‘Merlin’. A fearful bulge of overlapped boats and an astonishingly verbal free event followed them with Mark and Barry ‘505’ Kevin and Philip ‘Fireball’ buried in the midst.Dave and Keith sadly could not hold the lead for long for Dave is a canny racer but in the older Fireball appears to lack down hill boat speed and finished 5th.

Malcolm and Tony pushed the corners and with good boat handling lead the Fireball race on a course notbest suited to the chuck it out the bag spinnaker process, to finish 4th.

Dean and Rob ‘Hornet’ making their second appearance made little error and now they have sorted the buoys from the port bottles, appear to be getting to grips with multiple kite hoisting and short legs, to finish 3rd.
Martin ‘Laser’ suffering the misery that the faster boats with bigger sails reeked all over him at the start, battled on keeping to max boat speed and finished in front of many higher rated boats in 2nd place.
Lorna sailing with Jam pot Jacko in the Merlin is a crew not to be messed with and when her hat comes off she is about to kick butt. This week Jacko’s enthusiasm almost got lippy, but L quickly thrashed out any verbal encouragement that might have been about to be uttered from the back end of the boat with the total female crew ate dude. It could be said that boat speed is a result of silent compliance, for the spinnaker pole/centre board/ auto rig string thing! just fill the spaces between the gunwales. The real business end of boat speed is the crew and less said is more boat speed.

The Jacko, Lorna pairing sailed a well-sorted race with good tactics and had heads out of the boat on a brilliant Merlin day to take the bullet.

By the time the second race of the day started the wind had moved into the Fireball dream day at 14 knots with a long legged course out to navigation mark, Doctor, off of Osea Island.


Dean and Rob won the start and lead the way across the bay, headed towards the north side closely followed by Malcolm and Tony. There then followed a boat for boat battle around the course ending in Dean unable to pull out sufficient time on Malcolm to finish 4th by five seconds to Mark and Barry in the 505.
Mark and Barry having failed to start in the front row made hard work of the downhill legs and eventually passed the Merlin at the bottom of the course, off of Osea Island. But ever dogged stuck to the task to finish 3rd.
Malcolm and Tony having passed the Hornet and stayed clear of the 505s erratic jibing sequence sailed on. By the time the fleet had returned to Lawling Creek the tide was flooding out with the submerged mud banks beckoning the brave who pushed the edges. Malcolm and Tony missed most of the hidden mud and pushed hard to keep it touch with the Hornet to finish 2nd.
Jacko and Lorna having made a good start and taking up the lead in crossing the bay worked well to stay in touch with the 505 and with Lorna’s kite handing skills and Jacko not trying to find his hat, lost in a whoopsie last year, the pairing took the second bullet of the day.

This series is now half way through with wind from 0 to 25 knots, blue skies to dark with stair rods of rain to splendid sunshine. But can Jacko and Lorna continue their winning ways? Will Ron and Laura return? Is Peter ‘Laser’ to take to Splat the Duck Trophy?

Thanks to Richard Lytheer for more splendid photographs.
And a special thanks to Geoffrey for stepping up to be race officer for the second week in a row.

Next race Sun.22nd at 13:30 start
Full results:

1st   Alan Jackson and Lorna Laval        Merlin     3 points
2nd  Malcolm Cross and Tony Everitt     Fireball    8 points
3rd  Martin Tarling                               Laser      9 points

Maylandsea Bay ying’s and yang’s a tremble

A late tide and a dying breeze set the ying’s and yang’s a tremble as the wading birds lifted off the mud banks keeping the mystery and enchantment of a unique Essex sailing venue.

The gathering fleet quickly upped the pace and busied themselves checking their sail setting and rig tensions, rolling boats on their edges to sounds of gentle unfolding sail cloth and mounting pressure in the galley.

For the race box this was a stressed day with the sun already low in the sky and the wind due to drop as the day ended. The fleet was lucky enough to have Geoffrey Walkey, a Race Officer not to be messed with. With the wind in the east at 14 knots a course was posted this week only with seventeen marks to be rounded not including spit which must be rounded on the correct side going out and coming in, the fleet were blessed that due to the lateness of day there was only one lap.

The start was a well-mannered affair with Malcolm and Tony ‘Fireball’ popping out in front, closely followed by Dave and Keith ‘Fireball’, Jacko and Lorna ‘Merlin’. The battle for lead Fireball was a twitchy affair with the wind shifts being slight but often. With the leaders well up Lawling creek disaster struck for Dave and Keith as on a lifting port tack, heading south, gaining a hold on the lead they rounded mark 6 to be confronted by the sight of Jacko and Lorna, Malcolm and Tony correctly rounding mark 5 with the rest of the fleet following on.

 Dave knew that is was not going to be a good day at the office. It appears that some error had occurred as Mark and Barry, trailing in a 505, just by luck had passed mark 5 to the right side. Jacko and Lorna now with a good lead worked their way around the macramé handbag of a course, round Mundon spit race mark and heading back up the creek for home, the course having been shortened, to win by a small margin and soft PY number from Martin Tarlin ‘Laser’ who had been sailing above his PY finishing in front of many faster boats, with Malcolm and Tony finishing 3rd.

Race 3 was quickly under way and with all the boats sailing the same course was a close friendly affair. But as the sunset and the wind started to drop to a drift the faster boats pulled away with Mark and Barry taking line honours finishing 3rd overall from Jacko and Lorna 1st, Malcolm and Tony 2nd.

Notables: Steve and Gordon are leading the Lark race by 3 points from Paul and Alex. There are 4 Larks entered in the series. Malcolm and Tony lead the Fireball race from Kevin and Phil (Sandhopper escapees) by 5 points in a fleet of 4 boats entered.
Ron and Laura ‘Merlin have been the first boat to be DSQ for failing to observe SI 8.1 Spit Channel Buoy.
The race marks continued to be battered by the competitors but no names will be mentioned, Mr. Williams.

With the fleet sailing so close together and so much polite verbal being heard! How long till the first outing of the toys and a protest hearing we wonder.

Thanks to Richard Lytheer for the splendid photographs.

And a special thank you to Geoffrey and the support boat team who gave the fleet one of the best day racing on a day that could have easily gone very sad.

Next race Sun.15th 9:45 start

Full results:

Overall:

1st     Alan Jackson and Lorna Laval        Merlin     2 points

2nd    Malcolm Cross and Tony Everitt    Fireball    6 points

3rd     Mark Batt and Barry Sadler           505         9 points

A wicked weather forecast decimated dinghy fleet at Maylandsea Bay

Winter sailing in Maylandsea Bay

A wicked weather forecast of high winds and stair rods of rain decimated the dinghy fleet at the first outing of the winter series regatta.
This annual event has been gathering visitors from around the Blackwater River in increasing numbers for the last couple for years, but sadly this was not the best of starts with a 9:45 off and the BBC gloom and doom white arrows blotting out most of Essex.
It was a goodly sight to see Mrs Evelyn Darby in the front line sorting the sailing sec and collecting the entries. Sadly Billy the galley was missing presumed “partied out” or “sleeping in” but the ladies of the club quickly rallied and the galley came to life.
The notice board sported a new course card and once again contained every mark to be rounded in every direction. This year Geoffrey (Hon. Treasurer) has authorized the repainting of some race marks has removed the errors from said course card that led to so much mark damage in 2008.
With an hour to race start time it was clear that the fleet was showing wisdom and had already sorted the best seats to view the desperate sailors looking for a low count in the score line.
The water was flat and showing cats paws clapping away to the north and increasing grey cloud travelling at high speed, which set a mood of anxiety in the race box. The race committee had already set a short length course taking the fleet no further than the race mark North Shore but containing 13 legs.
Dean and Rob, sailing a Hornet, won the start and were a very welcome return to the bay. The short broad reaching leg, in the now quite squally wind conditions, to the first rounding mark saw the overlapped boats showing great keenness, with Dean and Rob pulling away from Jacko and Lorna, sailing the Merlin and Steve and Gordon, sailing a Lark, close behind. The fleet passing the club and bearing away at race mark 2 onto a dead run showing good boat handling skills as they sped past the marina pontoons were interrupted with a hearty row and cheer as the first victim in the Splat the Duck competition was Jacko and Lorna having been pushed towards Australia to pop upwards in a totally out of control panic, hit the wet stuff big time. The words “oh gosh” were heard faintly as Jacko headed slowly towards the approaching centreboard. Lorna who had played paper, stone, scissors, before upping the kite went in to child bearing mode at high speed rescuing what was left of Jacko’s humour, the spinnaker and poles all without a single cross word (and here are the winning lotto numbers).
By this time Dean and Rob, having upped the kite, had done a horizon job on what was left of the fleet round Bay and Jetty and on the next run again kite up and showing great boat skills. Steve and Gordon and Peter Playle, also a welcome return to the bay, were looking pretty steady as the first really heavy squall set in with lashings of rain flattening the water. At this point half the fleet turned for home leaving Jacko and Lorna doing a 360o having lumped race mark 4 and Peter gritting his teeth on the windward leg to mark 3.
It is the way of sailboat racing that it is never over till it’s over and Jacko and Lorna got stuck in for the return legs to the club line. Peter sailing the Laser took a number of bad shifty squalls leading to much lying with the fishes and Dean and Rob having found themselves out in front in wicked squalls and blatted by horizontal rain, lost the plot and race mark Bay. This was a disappointing end to a fierce sail but Bay was located and rounded and taking on the last windward leg to the finish had sadly lost too much time losing the lead on corrected time to Jacko and Lorna.

This leads us the ask the questions:
Is Jacko’s jam pot open?
Will the fleet fathom out the new course card?
Who will win the Splat the Duck Trophy?
Will Keith Fedi return?
Who will be the first to be lobbed for not rounding the Spit Mark on the right side (which is not written in to the course)
All will be answered as the series unfolds now read on dit dit dit

Next race Sun.8th 14:25
Full results:

1st Alan Jackson and Lorna Laval     Merlin
2nd Dean Saxon and Rob Smith        Hornet
3rd Peter Playle                               Laser

Merlin Magic Essex

Race team Brightlingsea took on the travelling Merlin top cookies as the Sliver Tiller fleet put in at the home of one of the most keen and talented Eastern Merlin fleets of this decade.
For the first time in years it was not blowing old boots and to the delight of all the sun shone and the tide came in and went out.
22 boats hit the start line in a most gentlemanly way with an assortment of first beat strategy being assigned. Boat handling seemed to play a big part in the out come of this 5 race series and it was noted just how nippy the fleet was at executing the 360o turns following the thwacking of the windward turning mark all in close company.
Race team Brightlingsea this year has been joined by Andy Bines and Derick Gentry, with the paring putting some impressive results together in the BSC club spring series. But when push came to shove it was Dave and Celia that set the pace for the home team with all results in the top ten, finishing 7th overall.
For Dave and Derick it was a baptism of fire and an eye opener as to why a Merlin Rocket is so much better than a Fireball! The paring faired well and finished 9th overall.
As we know life at the back of the fleet puts one in touch with your inner self, with physical and emotional tests. For Craig and Jayne the word testing has a new and deep meaningful, if not emotional meaning. All beneficial and life enhancing, but for an overall result 17th just a tad disappointing.
Ozzie and Melissa had a total catch of two dabs, a smaller sea bass and something that looked like an old wellygogg inner sole. But for pure enjoyment and endurance and an ever-lasting smile Ozzie and Mel are out standing winners.
For the rest of Essex mainly Charles and Elaine, Jacko and Lorna! The words of “get your discard over quick” and “one more lap and we would have got ya” all seamed much better having had a beer.

All in all it was a successful weekend with the race management doing an out sanding job turning the races around neatly with the windward mark in the middle, splendidly set reaches all done in shifty wind conditions with half the industrial shipping serving a new wind farm being build at Gunfleet.

There is nothing left this year in the Merlin Magic Essex series! But there has been a request to run the Two Islands Race at the top of the River Blackwater in 2010. This could be arranged if enough support comes forward.

Thanks to Chris Jordan for the time spent sending the photos

Full results ?
Alternative report
Overall
1st Chris Lewns Tom Pygall 6 Points
2nd Glen Truswell Olly Turner 7 points
3rd Alex Jackson Ben Hollis 11 points

1st Brightlingsea Boat Dave and Celia Carlton
If there had been a team prize it would have been
Whitstable YC 20 points
Brightlingsea SC 33 points