New Year, A New Dawn and a Fresh Start to this years Sailing season

Apologies for my Absence from the blog for the last three months, Started my A-Levels in September and time has been of the essence. New sailing season, so this year i really plan to organize sailing times and Crew, as you may or may not be aware, I own a 420 sailing which unfortunately, due to repairs and time... again, it has spent all year on my front driveway, so this year i have two options, I can either sell it and go on the boat market which I have been thinking about for some time or I can find a reliable crew and take to the seas once more in it. Luckily, I still have three months before the season actually begins so plenty of Time( Maybe not plenty!) to make a decision.

Just a Brief account of what happened in the three months I was absent from the blog, I did 3 series on Farr Out on a Sunday, so here are the results for the Sunday Series Tandem 

1. Foxed 2

2. Scoline

3. Rocket

4. Farr Out (us!)

5. Wildfire

6. Draig O'r Mor

This series was 5 races long but unfortunately the fourth race was canned due to weather.

The real Keel boat racing then Began with the Autumn Series with 6 races and and 9 Boats racing, Unfortunately we didn't do as well in this one due to problems with the Mast, after mooring up on a pontoon and performing a scary manual drop of the mast, the repair was done and we were ready for the upcoming Winter series, the Results for the Autumn series were as follows:

1. Foxed 2

2. Wildfire

3. Draig O'r mor

4. Excalibur

5. Farr out ( the little laser)

6. Snow Goose

7. Rocket

8. Crazeology

9. Scoline

The Winter Series unfortunately was a short one with only 4 out of 6 races taking place due to bad weather but with Nick Sharp at the helm we were able to come a good place, we had an interesting few races with high winds one day with a lovely pinned down Chinese Jibe which seem to last about 2 mins After which i said " I didn't know my Leg could bend that way." Here are the results of the complete series:

1. Crazeology

2. Draig O'r mor

3. Foxed 2

4. Farr Out

5. Excalibur

6. Snow Goose

7. Scoline

8. Rocket

And Finally, The Boxing day race, also known as the Frostbite Trophy, was a thrilling race for all, of which involved doing two laps of the course and at the end of the second lap to head down the harbour to cross line outside the sailing club with the canon to signal you crossing the line, on our trip down the harbour we had a tacking battle with effusion and with the size of the harbour, nerves were high with getting the timing right.

And with that, it was the end of the sailing season with a good finish, the results of the race are as follows:

1. Flair II

2. Farr Out (the Lazer)

3. Tumbarumba

4. Draig O'r mor

5. Effusion

6. Rumrunner

7. Scoline

8. Prime Time

9. La Salmo

All of the point scores can be seen on the Weymouth Sailing Website at http://www.wsc.org.uk/results

As I have been writing this blog post, I have noticed I have talked a lot about time, A problem with time is that when you want time to go slow it always seems to speed up and when you want time to speed up it always goes slow, which is definitely something I need to keep an eye on so I can have time for my studies and have time to get out there and do some sailing!! 

Woman Overboard! My version of what happened

I do believe the title of this post is self explanatory, on Sunday 9th of September, We were doing our regular sunday morning autumn series race and everything was going well, we had a great start and we had a successful beat to I and gone round the mark and hoisted the spongebob, and jez had passed me the spinnaker sheet to trim the kite, so using the technique i had been shown by Darren and Steve, i placed one foot on top of the hatch cover and bent my knees to use my weight to trim the kite instead my arms so i wouldnt get tired too quickly. For those of you who dont read the farr out blog here is a link to Jeremy Rees' version of events, Sunday Series Race 2- Girl Overboard! Here is my play by play of what in my own opinion happened, the kite collapsed a tiny bit so i went to pull it in but a smidge of a second before i pulled it in the ( as dictated in his blog post) "Impatient bloke in the pit" pulled it in, so then i was pulling on a pressure-less piece of rope to naturally i was going to go over the side. I was later told by giggling crewman of over yachts passing by that my dive was very good and got marked  4 out of 5 for the dive by phil samways and the farr out crew were marked 10 out of 10 for the recovery so when we are next asked have we practice our man overboard recovery recently we can actually say yes. It wasn't until after being on the boat for 5 mins i realised my phone was still in my pocket, i took it out of my pocket it and stared at in dismay. From this experience i have learned 4 things, 1. Bring a spare change of clothes and place it in my locker, this includes a towel and underwear, 2. wear appropriate shoes out sailing, 3. Not to bother trying to  dry ones clothes and underwear at the top of the wayfarer mast in the yard in full view of the club house, it wont dry and it just draws unwanted attention and 4. and most important of all, LEAVE ALL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT DOWN BELOW DECK OR ON SHORE!!! 

The Sound of Silence

As William Shakespeare once said " Absence from those we love is self from self - A Deadly banishment."

I think an explanation is due for my absence from my Blog, As you already know i have been working very hard over at the Olympic Venue in Weymouth & Portland and due to my early hours, I have been unable to stay awake long enough to complete a post. More recently i have been Preparing for my further education in A levels at Budmouth College Sixth Form. Because I'm starting school again does not mean iv'e finished sailing for the year, I still have Saturday morning sailings, and the all exciting Sunday mornings so I can guarantee more up to date blog reports on the Saturday and Sunday winter series.

Dawn Till Dusk

After months of preparation the Day was finally here. On Arrival at the sailing club, we were met by yobs class captain Emma Stevenson and informed on what the plan was for the day... or to use her precise words, "just get out there and go sailing!" but  before we could do this we had to wait for the camera man to arrive to take the photo for the local newspaper, The Dorset Echo , which the report is available via this link, however, I do Worn ye of in my opinion, two badly produced contents of the report. First, the photo itself and i do apologise for my very creepy smile at the front and second of all the very huge mistake in the second Paragraph, "The group of 12 youngsters from Weymouth Sailing Club’s YOBs (Youth On Boats) raised around £800 for the Will Mackaness Trust through an all-day sponsored sail around Weymouth Bay." WRONG!! Ok, Yes we raised around £800 but it wasn't only for the Will Mackaness trust, it was also in aid of the yob's. Dawn Till Dusk. After setting off down the harbour in an RS Feva with my crazy friend Alice Norris, we attempted to take part in the first race of the day, but this was not to be, Alice decided to do some surprise tacks and gybes which ended in me being knocked out of the boat. With my cool Kodak sports camera i managed to get some nice videos when bobbing about in the water when waiting to be rescued. One of which can be viewed via you tube on the left hand side. After eventually getting the boat going again with the wise decision to let me drive, We managed to finish second place. After the end of this race, Alice decided to end her turn and head back in to get some rest, so i was left out to my own devices and to single hand the Feva. Started race two and got half way up to the first mark when i was joined by Cory Ronayne. We then did another race after this and then we sailed over to the pavilion to pose for more photos when i was again knocked out the boat in style. After this, i decided it was time to take a break and head in for a BBQ, after refilling with energy i headed back out... but another couple hours sailing was not to be for me, At this moment in time when i was single handing the Feva again was when all my limited hours of sleep decided to catch up with me. Therefore I could no longer concentrate so my good friend Katherine Samways brought me in and took me for a stroll round town before heading back out for the evenings youth on boats Squib Racing. I decided to take a step back and take a more instructing roll so i stepped onto safety boat with Ross Groves, and tow all the boats out into the bay because there was not Much wind, after getting my clothes thoroughly wet i set about lying down in the front of the rib and taking photos, this too didn't seem to be aloud because every 5 minutes, Yob's Coordinator Phil Samways decided to come along with a bucket of water and attempt to get me wet. After taking some amusing snapshots of the next Ben Ainslie and A man's attempt to save fuel.

We tried to start heading back in when we discovered that one of the Feva's bouyency tank caps had come off when the boat was capsizing, so the boat was half sunk in the water and i had to quicksticks learn how to drive the jaffa rib while Phil holded onto the Feva. First time round i think i did a pretty good job. Back at the club we then hosted a raffle draw. A total £800 was raised but i dont think anything more was raised than everyones enjoyment of the day in general.

Sponsored Sailing Event Preview

Coming up tomorrow from 9 am to 9 pm, the Youth on Boats are taking part in a dawn (teenage dawn) till dusk sailing event. Looking forward to it, all money raised will be given to the yob's and the will mackaness trust. Expect a Big blog report on sunday :D 

Olympic Series Medal Race

After an 8 hr shift working over at the Olympic Venue, watching a unsuccessful day of sailing medal races, for which all were cancelled due to the light wind, I couldn't wait to get out there myself and take part in our own Medal race on Farr Out. After many jokes about Adam's New hat we headed out into the bay for a gentle race around the Olympic course directly in front of the Nothe Fort, where our spectators included men in High-Vis Jackets and a bunch of seagulls. After a dodgy start which involved penalty turns on the line we headed up to the upwind mark with the full team on board (majority of whom were sunbathing). The only thing Steve reckoned would have made this evening any better was to have a Martini whilst sunbathing on the foredeck. Everything on this evening went very smoothly and we enjoyed plenty on friendly banter with boats we were passing.  In the overall series, we came 2nd, great result, Results Table available via the link

The Olympic Series - Anchors Down

2nd race of the Olympic series and an even more crazier idea for a race. The original idea for the race came from the A team mates Steve and Jez, and I do believe, Monday previous to this race Steve was saying to me whoever came up with this idea must be mad! The race involved starting the race with your anchor down and your sails down, it was an all in start so the dinghy's were doing 720's on the line. Vice Commodore Jez and Co were on race officer duty to Farr out did not sail. However, behaving like a typical Boat Tart, I jumped on board  the Sigma 33, Scoline, and enjoyed sorting out all the bunting before heading out to the line. While enjoying some banter about leaving the anchor behind to save time we didn't realise that we were floating across the line 4 mins early, a situation which was luckily easily fixed. As soon as the flags came down at 1900 hrs, the jib was hoisted straight away, anchor lifted and not long after the main was up and we sailing off, leaving boats behind us and following in the wake of an osprey. We did two laps going round the big red gate mark buoys where the official Olympic racing takes place, We were kept entertained by watching the you've been framed moment performed by nick frampton in his OK, rudder popped off, then watching making the difficult decision of whether to stay with the boat or to jump in the water, deciding to jump, he made the leap but didn't expect the boat to move backwards as he jumped so his graceful leap turned into a full frontal belly flop! Overall we came second in this race, good result i think but i don't believe my fellow members of the A team weren't particularly happy that we got such a good result when i was on a different boat.