Dinghy Racing: April 15th

It’s looking like with the forecast for tomorrow’s dinghy racing (Thursday) and Sundays, we are going to have to cancel.

Especially as it is going to be wind against tide !

So next race is going to be Thursday evening 29th April and then some race training on the Sunday 2nd.

If any one can help with safety boats on any of these days or for other races please contact me.

Cheers Duncan 07817875706

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Regatta  Sunday 30th June   Westerly 2-4  PY Fleet Trapezoid,   Fevas Windward Leeward

Regatta Success

50 Sailors throughout Cornwall gathered for a 9am race briefing on Sunday for Helford’s annual dinghy regatta.   Two no shows debilitated by pillow Feva & lack of Enterprise did release crew for Anton Chamberlain in his Comet and David Blanning in safety.

Captain Dinghies Andy Biggs and his family of race stewards could not have hoped for more favourable conditions in a series of 4 races – 3 to count.  A Westerly force 2-4 suited the tiny little Optimist of Jack Lawrence to the blistering 20+mph downwind pace of Bob Warren’s RS400.

The renowned & sprightly Stephens family of Penzance SC sailing Mirror dinghies swept the board with Gold, Silver and 1st female in the PY Fleet.

Fevas are the modern junior introduction to fast spinnaker sailing.  First under starters orders were 9 RS Fevas competing in the RYA OnBoard traveller’s series slogging their way in to the upriver wind before launching spinnakers on the exhilarating downwind.  Young helms Charlie Pursall and Rachel Thomas swapped the lead back and forth all day snaffling 1st & 2nd

Showing her stamina and agility HRSC Rebekah Hosking in her second regatta of the weekend partnered Lauren Weaver for the first time in a brand new club Feva achieving a creditable 6th.  Their fathers Andrew and Garth, not wanting to be left onshore, took the opportunity to discover the finer points of Laser 2 sailing – rising up the fleet as the wind built in the afternoon.

Oliver Chamberlain in Pico committed sailing parricide on his father as did Sam Philpott in Opi beating his parents Graduate.  Amongst the PY Lasers Josh Redgrave (4th) in not colliding with marker buoys or RYA OnBoard officer Mark Belshaw’s pristine Classic Finn (5th) showed how to get the best from a Radial rig over Emily Broad and Sam Hubbard’s battering 4.7’s.

Thrills – but no (obvious) spills came from the RS400s with team Berryman & Bolitho besting McDonald’s and Philpott’s challenge.  Despite physical superiority on the beat B&B were unable to match the eloquence of Bob Warren & Vicky Bridger downwind.

Commodore Julian Samuel with Guest photographer Nick Glossop made the best of poor trade in safety with a record 150 snaps.  Julian was pleased to welcome tired but elated sailors to the prize giving and thanking Andy & Karen Biggs for their magnificent efforts in organising the day.

Results:

Feva Travellers:  1st Charlie Pursall & Alistair Ross,  2nd Rachel Thomas & Ruth Smith,  3rd James Dowrick & Luke Bilbey.
PY Fleet:  1st Rebecca Stephens & Niamh O’Neil, 2nd Jeremy Stephens, & daughter Lauren, 3rd Bob Warren & Vicky Bridger.  1st Female: Rebecca Stephens.

Captain Dinghies Andy Biggs thanks all those supporting the Fleet on the day,

Race Stewards: Karen Biggs and daughter Harriet,  Lisa Chamberlain
Safety Boats:  Julian Samuel & Nick Glossop photography,  David Blanning & Fran Dungavel

Clubhouse: Tom Pinch & Julia Whitbread

Helford Regatta PY Overall
 
30-Jun-13

W2-4

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Helm
Crew
Class

Sail No.

PN

H/cap

4 Races 3 to Count

Points

POS

 

 

2013

status

1

2

3

4

Summer Weekend Series Saturday 9th August WSW2-4 Average Lap CBGT

Bertha sets Blaze alight

It was with some trepidation that Adult and Junior sections of HRSC set out to race in darkening clouds 3pm Saturday. With the centre of a depression, that was the former Hurricane Bertha, between Iceland and Scotland whipping up air dripping with moisture from the Azores – when would she arrive, and what would she do were the questions uppermost in race organisers minds. A lunchtime Met Office WSW 8-14knot forecast proved accurate – perfect for racing. Perfect for Phil Philpott who blazed a trail at the front of the fleet for four laps to take Ist. Snapping at his heels were Andy & Karen Biggs in the N12 and Andrew Hosking in Laser – but to no avail as Phil’s Blaze flew further ahead on the reach between Gew and Toll.
Leading a trio of Laser 4.7’s Beccy Kestin planked her way on the beats but was just 10 seconds shy of a podium finish. It was Beks Hosking and crew Ben Johns who masterfully dealt with the 90 degree wind shifts to lead a trio of Feva XLs for a first in the Junior section. Watched over in the safety boat by parents: the Broad’s and Foreman’s, Harry Broad and Ollie Foreman did them & their Feva proud. There was a battle royal between the 4.7s of Ollie Chamberlain and Matt Broad – swapping positions throughout the entire race with 2nd place only decided in the final leg from Toll in Ollie’s favour.

A plucky Finley Walsh-Newton showed his courage, and great skill navigating a sprightly Byte upright around all 3 laps just behind the leaders. Wolfe Scrimshaw kept his wife Clare dry on their first serious race together and a couple of cuffings of race marks showed restraint upon the mark cuddlings seen at an earlier informal outing. Cuffings however performed without the required 360 penalty (760 if it’s a boat) as advised by Chris Hosken in the safety Zodiac are met with a DQ. Suggestions for the novice: follow the boats in front, gently round marks, don’t hit anyone or thing- protests written on the back of a £50 note. Anton Chamberlain usually a Comet Trio soloist hoping for 15kts plus in a Pico was impeccably behaved at the rear of the fleet shadowing the Byte – hit nothing, and came last.

Results:
Adult Fleet: 1st PJ Philpott, 2nd A&K Biggs 3rd A Hosking
Juniors: 1st R Hosking & B Johns, 2nd O Chamberlain, 3rd M Broad
Captain Dinghies Andy Biggs thanks all those in support of the fleet on the day, Stephen Brooks Committee Boat, Chris Broad & Chris Hosken in Safety Boats.

Andy & Karen Biggs cross the line with a 2nd

A camera shy Andrew Hosking finishes 3rd at the Pin end

Anton Chamberlain chases Wolfe & Clare Scrimshaw

Duellists OllieC & Matt Juniors 2nd & 3rd

Chris Hosken inspects Scrimshaw mark carving

24 hours before Ben Ainslie was confirmed as the greatest Olympic sailor of all time, a quadruplet of the brave and cautious did honest battle in a Pursuit race in the mouth of the Helford.

The Biggs’ in their National 12 were first of the quarry to be coughed out of the Narrows followed belatedly by Brooks under dressed with Radial.  9 minutes later the predatory RS400s were unleashed in pursuit.  Insufficient  width of runway for two kites to fly down the moorings caused Berryman and Bolitho on full afterburners to swerve behind McD & Beccy, narrowly missing a T Bone collision with some very expensive pieces of fibreglass impeding their trajectory.  Conveniently in view of the Ferry Boat Inn & HRSC Clubhouse, the Narrows delivered an immaculately timed blast of air whilst McD and Beccy attempted a gybe.   With no further custom Sammy and Jack in Loveboat  moved to more discrete waters whilst the fleet searched for themselves  the missing Committee mark in the mouth of the Helford.  Deciding on the Gew as an alternative on the dog leg from Central to Toll,  racers reached on the run and ran on the reach as  planning gusts  to 25 knots shifted variously West & South.  Having devoured their prey in the allotted time pursuers returned with their prey on the long beat home aided by a flooding spring and complete calm under the clubhouse.

Saturday 4th August
HRSC Pursuit
SW Course
SW 4 gusting 5-6

Helm
Crew
Class
Name-No.
PY

Start Time

Pos

Min
Sec

Ollie Berryman
Ed Bolitho
RS400
588
948

34
32

1

Roger McDonald
Beccy Kestin
RS400
958
948

34
32

2

Andy Biggs
Karen Biggs
Nat 12
3326
1104

25
36

3

Stephen Brooks

Laser R
179651
1110

25
15

4

Sammy Hubbard

Laser R
7746
1110

Duty
Ave Points

We are heading for a really exciting sailing season this year! Olympics at Weymouth to watch, our Sail for Gold Dinghy Regatta on 15th July when we’ll be awarding our own medals,and Helford dinghy racing kicking off on 1st April with average lap racing. Steve Kestin and Margaret Statham plan to run two races of about 45 minutes each on five successive weekends. The average lap format is great for all types of handicap dinghies racing together, from Optibats to RS 400s. It’s a very fair method of working out handicaps and anyone can have a go so why not come along and give it a try.

On 12th April the Thursday evening series will begin. This year we are running two starts, one for experienced racers and one for novice racers. In fact all series this year will have prizes for both experienced and novice racers and the Nairn Cup is to be awarded to the sailor with the best results in a variety of six races over the season. We’ve already had a very popular and productive training evening when plenty of juniors and novices turned out to learn about racing so I am hoping to see a lot of new racers on the start line for the first race on 1st April at 11.00 hrs.

All entry forms, sailing instructions and events are on the website so please come along and get involved in dinghy sailing this year.

Beccy Kestin – Captain Dinghies

Thursday 1st August   Summer Evening Series   SSW 8Kts  Pursuit South Ds Bp Ts Qs (Dp Cp Tp)

Blow the wind southerly

Low Clouds zipping south to north in an orderly fashion suggests chaotic conditions on the Helford Ria as the wind stumbles over its immovable contours.  Culdrose recorded 10-25kts on Thursday evening, modified by the river to a humid 18C when becalmed in the Narrows or of Bosahan to the odd refreshing 20kt gust mid river.

First of by Bar Buoy in Feva XL young farmers Ed Hosken & Beks Hosking had a fun evening out despite a prolonged entrapment along with the rest of the fleet at Bosahan.

A trio of Laser II’s creaking as noisily as their helms, bravely sailed without crew.  Andrew Hosking who knew what he was doing with an asymmetric spinnaker, left behind the older conventional rigs of Chris Hosken and Brook’s shedding their trail of rivets and boat parts.

McDonald and Beccy (2nd)  in RS400 starting 13 minutes behind E&B’s Feva, avoided most of the debris and delay at Bosahan ultimately to eventually devour Andy & Karen’s National 12 (3rd)  – passing the older Laser II’s twice in the process.

Adam Mason returning to the fold for his first race with HRSC this season wasted none of his 60 minutes racing time to sail his impeccable Solo seemingly without effort clear of the fleet to first.

Results:
1st Adam Mason, 2nd Roger McDonald, 3rd Andy Biggs

Thursday 1st August        Summer Evening Series    SSW 8Kts              Pursuit South

Ds Bp Ts Qs (Dp Cp Tp)

Helm
Crew
Class

Name-No.

PY

HRSC Pursuit Time

Pos

After Hooter

Adam Mason

Solo

4099

1148

22.36

1

Roger McDonald
Beccy Kestin
RS400

958

947

32.39

2

Andy Biggs
Karen Biggs
Nat 12

3326

1104

24.48

3

Andrew Hosking

Laser II

180

1035

28.15

4

Stephen Brooks

Laser II

7666

1035

28.15

5

Chris Hosken

Laser II

9482

1035

28.15

6

Ed Hosken
Beks Hosking
RS Feva

Club

1210

19.30

7

Captain Dinghies Andy Biggs thanks all those supporting the fleet on the day
Safety: Dom Brandreth