Wealden Sailability

Well what can we say, except that although conditions didn’t look that good to begin with, by the time today’s race was due to start, the Sun had come out and there was a lovely F3 breeze from the NE.

Not too much of note during the main part of the race, except to remind racers that they are meant to go through the START/FINISH line at the end of each lap…and there are a couple of you out there who are getting away with not actually doing this!

The main story of this report, is about the rules of racing.
Rather than try to explain them again here, if anyone would like to learn more, please feel free to come and have a chat with me. Suffice it to say that getting to the line early and killing time by sailing down the line cutting up everyone else, especially when you are on port and they are all on starboard, is NOT allowed! To finish this fiasco off by pushing a starboard tack boat around the outside of the line, then hitting the startline buoy….
I’ve lost count of how many penalty turns that boat should do…and it had a Wealden volunteer helping to sail it….!!!!

So, to the actual results, which were:

1st Kim Sparkes
2nd Mike Blatchford
3rd Brian Mc
4th Pete Lawrence (new racer)
5th Malcolm Hill
6th Fay Watson
7th John
8th Steve Farmer
9th Bill Garry
10th Mark Cayzer
11th Paul Hagan (new racer)
12th Andy Wallace

What a day for sailing, especially at Chipstead Lake which has a reputation for difficult to read wind. And that was a challenge for some of the eight intrepid Racers who ventured out into a 10 knot gusting 18 knot prevailing NE wind. At lunch, I heard that even the leaders of the pack had struggled at times to find the best wind as its starting direction of NE backed as far as NNW and veered to ENE. Nevertheless you all coped and succeeded in finishing the race. The new format worked well again, with no incidents on the start line and every racer enjoying an exciting challenge on the water.

Some might have been surprised to hear the Tannoy proclaim that Peter Gregory crossed the finish line last and then found out that he was also the Race Winner! How come – well that’s the magic of the new race format. Let me try to explain…..

Everyone starts at the same time – therefore they enjoy the same wind conditions (which, as you know, can change frequently on Chipstead Lake)
Everyone sails their class of dinghy as quickly as they can until they hear a DONG just as they cross the FINISH LINE. That is the end of the race but others may still be racing, so please sail off the Race Course.
The Race Officer will select a Helm to be DONGED first within the set time for the race (so far this season 30 minutes). If there is still say 5 minutes to go, faster classes will NOT be donged but required to complete another full lap (taking say 9 minutes), and one of the slower class dinghies will then be DONGED first…and thereafter every dinghy crossing the Finish line will be DONGED.

In this race, Peter Gregory had such a commanding lead that his race would have been much shorter than 30 minutes if he had been DONGED first. Instead he sailed another lap and was DONGED “last”. BUT… he was ranked “First” after applying the magical formula (to each finisher) as follows:

Total Time (say 36 minutes) divided by Number of laps (say 4) = Average Lap Time of 9 minutes.

9 minutes in Seconds = 540 Seconds which is divided by PYH 1.240* = Adjusted finishing score 435.48

*The Portsmouth Yardstick Handicap divided by 1000 for the Dinghy Class 2.4)

Each finisher’s adjusted finishing score is calculated and the LOWEST score gives a better ranking.

TIP OF THE WEEK – For those of you helming a Liberty or a 303 with a Crew

The target average lap time to beat a 2.4’s time of 9 mins per lap would be:

Liberty = 11 mins and 12 seconds per lap
Double handed 303 = 12 mins per lap

So there you go!!

Looking forward to seeing how much faster you can sail each week. BTW …. PLEASE do ask if you would like any help or training. Mike Coleman and Fleur Bryant are available and very keen to share their knowledge and experience with you.

Final Result of Race 3 is:

1 Peter Gregory 2.4; 2 Mike Blatchford Martin; 3 David Mason 2.4; 4 Fay Watson (with James as crew) 303DH; 5 Sam (with Tony as crew) 303DH ; 6 Brian Mac Liberty; 7 Peter Wagner 2.4 ; 8 Mark Cayzer (with Gemma as crew) 303DH.

A short report for the 2nd week….we really need our old “Roving Reporter” back onboard…please..?!?!

Considering that this is only the 2nd week of running the new format races, we are very pleased to say that the expected “crash bang wallop” on the start line has not happened…YET!!
Hopefully everyone out there on the water is getting to grips with the new setup. But if you’re not then please ask the next time you are at the lake…

We had a reasonable day for racing again, with a decent Westerly breeze (approx 10 knots), so the course started from a line between the ‘K buoy’ and a small flag mark, then heading up to the ‘B buoy’, left to the ‘A buoy’, then down to the narrows to go around the ‘D buoy’ before heading back through the line between the ‘K buoy’ and flag mark.
As is usual at Chipstead, the wind came and went during the race, giving our racers quite a challenge, which some dealt with better than others…with the final result being:-

1st Peter Gregory
2nd Mike Blatchford
3rd Ann Frewer
4th Peter Wagner
5th David Mason
6th Fay Watson
7th Kim Sparkes
8th Andy Wallace
9th Brian Mc

Well it’s the start of another year of Wealden Racing and it’s all change in how the races are organised and run. Hopefully it will make it easier for whichever volunteer is running the race to keep on top of who is ahead on the course….but only time will tell if that is the case…!!
For those still not too sure what’s happening, the big difference is that we are now running each race on the standard (like most sailing clubs) “handicap” format, where every boat starts together, races for a set amount of time, then are finished the next time they cross the finish line. Their total time taken, along with the number of laps completed in that time, is put into a formula along with a magic number known as a “Portsmouth Yardstick”, which give their “calculated” finish time, allowing for the difference in each boats performance. So just because the fastest boat crosses the line first, does not make it the winner…!!
Another big change that several racers commented on, were the strange “BING’s” emanating from a hut near the club house, and a voice “coming from the sky”….. The hut is the club’s race hut and the voice was just that of the race officer of the day, trying to help everyone understand what was happening..?!?!

Anyway, on to the results for the very first Wealden Sailability Race run under the handicap format:

1st Peter Gregory
2nd Mike Blatchford
3rd David Mason
4th Bob Fisher
5th Peter Wagner
6th Faye Watson
7th Steve Farmer
8th Ann Frewer
9th Brian Mac
10th Mark Cayzer
11th Andy Wallace

On Thursday 24th November, Steve Thomas, Meg Warren and myself (Mike Coleman) attended the Marjorie McClure School for their annual Awards Presentation. We thought we were just there to present certificates to the students that had attended Wealden Sailability sessions throughout the season and attained Entry, Bronze and Silver Level sailing certificates. So we were totally blown away to ourselves be presented with a Marjorie McClure F.L.A.M.E Award, and the highest “Gold, Four Star, burning brightly” award at that..!!

Here’s a copy of the award certificate.

According to the Marjorie McClure website “Our Olympic Flame Award legacy project (set up in the wake of the 2012 London Olympics) is being developed as part of the Sky Living for Sport Challenge. The focus is on recognising pupil achievement and progress using the values framework of the London Olympic Games. Competing to achieve best is at the heart of the award.”
The award we received from the school today was a reflection of the part that WS has played in helping the pupils achieve the aims of the Award, so we were very honoured to receive the Award on behalf of all our Volunteers.

Wealden Sailability Drunken Sailors..?!?!