Issue 2 Autumn/Winter 2009

�e Summer Open SeasonClub ChampionshipsProfile of the Laser

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9 Dates at a GlanceSailing Events 19th September Oppy Open

10th October Wealden Cup provisional date. See website for further details

31st Oct & 1st Nov Rooster 8.1 Inland Nationals

8th November Winter Draws on

Social Events

7th October Family Social Evening: Curry and Quiz in the Club House

14th November Wednesday Family Social evening. Visiting speaker Steve Cockerill

12th December Christmas Dinner

3rd February 2010 Wednesday Family Social evening

3rd March Wednesday Family Social evening

7th April Wednesday Family Social evening

Write them in your diaries NOW

Tony Carter G

From the Commodore’s DeskTony Carter

We’re now approaching the end of summer and autumn is in sight. We have had some excellent weather as well as some less good.

First of all I must offer the club’s congratulations to Jon Holroyd and Jane Rusbatch, Rob & Katie Burridge and Amy Hulley & Sophie Payne, but I will explain why later.

The sailing Open season is well underway with the Laser 2000 Turbo in April, Laser 1 in May, RS200’s and Enterprises in July. All these Opens were a great success with many visiting clubs attending. The RS200’s and Enterprise’s sailed in quite testing conditions.

The Optimists hold their Open this September, the Rooster 8.1 Inland Nationals this coming October. Then comes Winter Draws On in November and the Optimist Zone Squad Training back again in January 2010. Weir Wood is getting back its name as the place to be for your inland events.

We also had Oppy Camp at the end of July and from what I have been told great fun was had by all. I would like to thank the Oppy team for providing such a fantastic facility for our younger club members, especially Pete Clifton, who stepped forward at such short notice, to act as principal for the camp. I would also like to say a big “Thank You” to Chris Hopkins who has run the Oppy Fleet so successfully for the past few years. He has put a great deal of energy into the Fleet and it has benefited greatly as a result. And welcome to Mark Harrington who has volunteered to take on the role of Oppy Flotilla Leader.

Mark is no stranger to the Oppy Fleet. He has been running the beginners course for several years.

At the end of August we ran a very successful Youth week at Cobnor; the first after a few years break. It was great fun for everyone.

We still have places for the Adult Cobnor at the end of October. For those of you have not been before it gives you a chance to experience sea sailing in Chichester Harbour with a few instructors on hand if you need them. It’s a great weekend at just £75 all inclusive. Full details on the website (just follow the link from the home page at www.wwsc.org.uk).

Now back to where I started. At the end of July I entered the Laser 2000’s 10th Anniversary Nationals at Hayling Island SC. Joined by 13 other club 2000’s making a total of 14 entries by WWSC (this represented by far the largest club fleet at the nationals). Branded “Team Weir Wood” by Tim Hulley they did our club proud. John and Jane came second, Rob and Katie came third and Amy and Sophie fifth out of a fleet of 82 boats, Alexie & Stefan Nicholas were 1st Youth boat and new club members Robin & Christine won the Endeavour prize. They had only been sailing for some 6 weeks! This was a great achievement as we had very testing conditions with winds ranging from force 3 to 7, but on average around a F5 - 6 for the week. We had quite a few first timers and those who spoke to me thoroughly enjoyed the weeklong event and are looking forward to next years in Sidmouth. Sadly Tim Hulley was not able to compete this year and had to watch Linda sailing their boat with Skip Atkins. Tim was nursing a few broken ribs as a result of a tumble windsurfing the week before.

I am pleased to report that memberships are going really well at the moment with the club doing better than last year. This is fantastic news and very rewarding considering these troubled economic times. I was expecting to be doing well by just matching last year’s figures. This is a great testament to all the efforts to promote the club via this website and with our Open Day last May. In fact the Open day was the best we have had with new members joining well into double figures, topping last year’s numbers by 5 for those joining on the day.

Wednesday Evening Sailing went very well this year with numbers well up on last year. This is all due to do our social committee who provided fantastic meals after sailing. At just £4 it is great value and the menu has been so varied you had to be there to believe it. You did not even have to sail to enjoy the

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atmosphere and a meal. We are hoping to continue with this successful formula next year. We also have plans to have one or two Wednesday evening social gatherings over the winter months, so watch out for posters in the club house and details on the website.

You will have noticed our development plans are going well. We added to the outside furniture on the balcony plus further picnic tables earlier this year. The new store behind the Race Hut Store is well under way with the refurbishment of the hut to follow. This will ease the pressure for storage and make things much easier for everyone. For example, the hire fleet has been moved to an area close to the Race Hut. This helps the OOD to point out exactly where the boats are for our members who wish to hire a boat and get help easily. I intend to focus next on the main club room, looking to enhance the facilities here. If you have any ideas on what you would like please let me know. You know how to contact me by now.

I am also pleased to report that we have built a good relationship with Michael Evans, our new landlord. He is keen to see the sailing club grow, develop and integrate with his plans. He shares our concerns about site security and has given approval to add an additional gate to the main car park. This will give an additional layer of security when the club is closed by not allowing access to the car park unless you have the appropriate pin number. I accept that some may find this an inconvenience, but the benefits way exceed this. He is also going to erect additional signs saying that the reservoir is a private facility and not open to the general public and there is no public access.

As you can see your committee is driving forward to improve and enhance the clubs facilities making Weir Wood the best inland waters to sail in the south.

That’s it from me this time. Happy sailing.

Social NewsJean Chisnall

Social SecretaryThe Spring started off with a very successful Easter Egg hunt with about 30 kids taking part.

The Social Committee have been closely involved with Open day and Mid Summer Madness in providing the running BBQ’s and thanks to all who helped out. We have had record sales of burgers, sausages, etc.

The Swing Band was a great success again at the Madness and thanks to Reigate Grammar School for their great playing. They have the same problems as we do when the students come to go to Uni. They have to train up a new lot! We received the following from Simon Rushby who is head of music at the School following a “Thank You” e-mail to Nick Lobb, the Band’s conductor.

“Dear John Thank you for copying me on this – I know that Nick has already replied, but I would like to add my thanks for the donation you made to the band’s fund in return for their playing at your event. The money will be put to very good use – since the students have worked so hard this year (and since we cannot pay them!) we intend to use the money to treat them to an evening in the West End in the not too distant future.

Kind regards

Simon”

They clearly enjoy coming and entertaining us.

Wednesday evenings have been a huge success with the committee members providing the food. Members have enjoyed pork, lasagne, bolognaise, tagine, curry, sausage casserole and a BBQ. Numbers have been up to 60 including some who have come for just the meal. The Club House has been buzzing and we intend to carry on next year. Thanks to Gill, Lynn, Christine, Annabel, Emily, Ann, Bridget and Simon for your splendid meals.

In fact we intend to carry on with a Wednesday evening with a Family Social Evening once a month through until next Spring. The first evening is the Curry and Quiz night in the Club House on 7th October (Note Change of Date to previously advised) 7.30 -10.00. There will be alternative food for those who don’t eat curry. We do need to know numbers so please let us know if you are coming before the event if you can. There is a list by the galley. So get your teams together in advance and book your places. There will be spectacular prizes for the winners!

Further dates are 14th November, 3rd February, 3rd March and 7th April. We are planning to get a couple of speakers for these evenings and Steve Cockerill is already booked for 14th November to give his "Boat Whisperer" talk.

The Christmas Dinner is on 12th December in the Club House. Again we will want to know numbers so watch out for ticket sales as numbers will be limited.

Buoyancy Aids

Members are reminded that it a Club rule that you must wear a buoyancy aid whenever sailing and also when on the jetty. The only exception to this are windsurfers who are allowed to sail without.

THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS. Support boat crews will be asked to escort sailors off the water if they are sailing without a buoyancy aid.

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Peter Young J

Dates Series AvgStarters First Second Third

GeneralHandicap4th Apl to 30th May Early Spring (Sat) 7.7 Ian Clark Janine Blundell John Prince & (Laser) (Laser) Joyce Skelton (Enterprise)

6th Jun to 25th Jul Summer Cup (Sat) 10.2 Nick Jones John Prince & Simon Delves & (Laser) Joyce Skelton John Bailey (Enterprise) (Laser 2000)

12th Apl to 31st May Kingfisher (Sun pm) 4 J. Henton A. Forbat & Dil & Lynn Sandhu (Laser) Andy Knowles (Laser 2000) (Wayfarer)

10th Apl to 13th Apl Easter Plate 2 Dave Binding (Laser) Dick & Jo Lankester (Enterprise) (equal firstt)

Racing Results for Winter 2008/9

Laser Ramblings – August 2009Peter Young

Firstly, the latest Weir Wood results with just under 40 of the club’s sailors taking part:

Early Summers1. Ian Clark 2. Chris Fyans 3. David Binding

Mid Summers1. Chris Spencer-Smith 2. Ian Clark 3. Matt Giles

Summer1. David Binding 2. Peter Young 3. Stuart Richardson

It has been a good old summer for the travellers of the club. Between us all, we have attended most of Grand Prix events, the Masters Nationals and the Nationals. At the Masters we had seven sailors from WWSC in a fleet of 120, down on the South Coast’s Pevensey Bay. The event had just the right mixture of sailing, wind, waves, craic, food and beer to be about perfect.

At the Nationals Jon Emmett won the Radials and Simon Barrington put in a sterling performance in the Standards. And there is more to come with Bewl Valley Grand Prix on 27 September and two more Masters World qualifiers in September and October respectively.

So what else is of note? Most worryingly is the speed of the young blood in the fleet. In particular Giles, Thompson and Davis. All of them are showing a massive increase in performance around the race course. This is causing a lot of concern amongst the old men at the bar. Chris Fyans is sure that it would not have happened in his day. He is right - Lasers had not been invented then.

It was in August that we said good-bye to Ian Clark with an impromptu but extremely classy BBQ with yours-truly at the burger flipping helm. He is moving up North to work on his Laser skills at Draycote. Now we all know that it is miserable up there but Ian is confident that he will fit in fine. He has also promised to come south again for the 2010 WWSC Laser Grand Prix to show us that he has not lost his touch. Good luck Ian. David Binding has kindly offered to step in and make up for the rule infringement space that Ian will leave as long that it does not interfere with his rocking and pumping. Thank you David.

So – to the future. Well – we all know that Laser sailing just gets better at the club as the year goes on. The fleets get bigger and we take more time to do training sessions. So – diaries out!

David Giles will be running a Laser improvers session on Saturday 26th September. Names to me please: peter.young@mac.com or 07799 765 216. Even if you are not in the bottom half of the fleet you are very welcome to turn up, share ideas and stretch your legs. Also, if you intend switching to a Laser (say for example you currently sail a GP14 and fancy a try) – get your name down.

Jon Emmett will be running a session for all Laser sailors in December. The current plan is to do it on the day of the Christmas function so that we are able to continue the movement smoothly from the boat to the bash upstairs. More when I know more.

That’s all for now. See you at the club!

peter.young@mac.com 07799 765 216

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Handicap RacingJohn Prince

As most members will be aware the majority of handicap races at Weir Wood are now entered directly on to the computer and positions/series standings are available very shortly after the event.

In the past points scored have been allocated to the helm even if more than one class of boat were used in the series. The computing system links the helm to the boat sailed and if a different class is used the helm is treated as a new entrant.

This affects very few members but in fairness a helm does gain an advantage if another class is sailed in extreme conditions. Helms sailing a two-man dinghy single-handed and thereby losing 20 PY points, are also regarded as a new entrant.

For consistency, series that are currently not computerised are being calculated in the same manner.

Race Card Revisions Please Note the following revisions to the racing format:

The Featured Fleet Series has been discontinued after the trial with the exception of the Laser 2000 fleet who will have a fleet race once a month.

Saturday afternoon racing has reverted to a 2.15 pm start i.e. first signal at 2.10 pm ◗

Sunday morning racing times continue with a 10.30 am first start i.e. first signal ◗

at 10.25 am. Will Race Officers please remember to set a short first race no longer than about 45 minutes. If necessary; only one lap if the wind is light. That gives the flexibility to run a longer second race and finish the morning without proceedings going on way beyond 1.00 pm.There is no formal Sunday afternoon race. If sufficient crews want one then they ◗

can organise informally with the OOD. Sunday Race Officer and Time Keeper are discharged after morning racing.

Sailing SecretaryWe are pleased to announce that David Giles has agreed to take over this role. Many of you will know David and his sailing prowess and history with the Club. We will introduce him to newer members in the next copy of the magazine.

Club Championships Sunday May17th 2009.

David GilesWeir Wood’s 2009 club championships got away at the second time of asking after the first attempt set for March 29th was calmed off. This time round the opposite nearly happened with a strong south westerly breeze with gusts up to 30kts making many competitors think twice.

Much effort is being put into improving what is the premiere club racing event after its prestige had slipped over recent years. One innovation is the event being run by a dedicated and experienced race team ensuring well run races with results ready by the time competitors have changed after the last race. This means the prize giving can take place soon after the boats are off the water with hopefully all the competitors attending. To encourage this many more “spot” prizes were awarded and less overall prizes. Sadly an oversight in the race card allowed the last race to be discarded which was not the original idea and several teams went home after the mornings two handicap races.

The elite race team of Ernie Hatton, Peter Clifton, Peter Meares and James Meares got the racing away on schedule at 10.30 although eagerness to get going led to a general recall on the first start. With a squall hitting the 32 starters soon after the start gun the rescue boats were quickly into action. Jon and Rebecca Ching led around the first buoy but went around it the wrong way and were forced to retire soon after. This allowed David and Matt Giles to take the lead but they were never far enough ahead of the slower boats, in particular the Laser 2000’s that seem to excel in the windier conditions, to win race honours. The race was won by J. Holroyd and C. Stevens in a Laser 2000 with Peter Young in a standard rig Laser coming a very commendable second. Rob and Katie Burridge in another Laser 2000

WantedLarge Reward

CommodoreAfter serving for three years Tony Carter is stepping down as commodore at the coming AGM in November. We need

someone to take his place. Most of you will know what is involved but if you want more detail talk to Tony.

SecretaryJohn Norris is also standing down as Club Secretary this year.

John has served as secretary for many years. It is a job with great variety and interest dealing with the general administration of

the club. Get in touch with John for more information

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were third. The wind claimed about a third of the starters with 24 boats finishing.

By race two the wind had swung more westerly but the wind still blew with a will and rain squalls came and went. The fleet got away first time with Matt Larkin and Dave Mason in a Fireball starting on the pin end of the line and getting away best to lead the dwindling fleet of 18 away and establish a good lead which they extended throughout the race. There were many spectacular capsizes not least by the hardy group of Laser Roosters rig competitors who decided a standard rig for a laser was not big enough for a wind gusting 30 kts and so put up their larger sails. At the finish Mason and Larkin had not established a large enough gap over Holroyd and Stevens who again won on handicap. Burridge and Burridge were again third.

At the lunch break it was pointed out that in the race card in a series of three races there was to be one discard. This was never meant to apply to the club championships but with no sailing instructions to say otherwise it was accepted that this would have to apply to the event. This meant Holroyd and Stevens had won and so were able to leave the rest of the racers to scrap it out for the minor placings. Some decided not to do so and so a rather depleted fleet of 10 started the pursuit race. The first class away was the Laser 2000 followed soon after by the Laser. The wind remained as strong as ever but it had swung again giving the course two long fetches which did not

allow the spinnaker boats to fly their kites. The Lasers made the most of this and Peter Young won convincingly from Ollie Bush in another Laser. Giles and Giles in the RS 400 were third. Larkin and Mason showed flashes of great speed which was rather spoilt by bouts of breast stroke in between.

And so to the prize giving. The race results were delivered within minutes of the last race finishing and were presented by Ailsa Giles. The full set of results can be seen on the web site. Congratulations to Holroyd and Stevens for an impressive victory. Their names will become immortal on the Champions of Champions board in due course. Peter Young came second with Rob and Katie Burridge coming third.

The spot prizes (awarded to competitors outside the main prizes i.e. the top three) proved popular with Vice Commodore Chris Fyans getting a particular cheer for winning the converted endurance award (last

placed boat having completed all three races). Matt Giles won the youth award and with dad David Giles in the same boat won the family (helm and crew from the same family) award while Linda Hulley won the Ladies award and with hubby Tim won the “Love” category (first husband and wife team).

Next year a new category for a spot prize is to be created, the “Duckhams” award. This will be for the competitor who makes the biggest blunder during the day. Had we run it this time around without a doubt it would have been won by Dave Mason, crewing Matt Larkin in the Fireball, who managed to sail out to the start line for the pursuit race minus his trapeze harness! As their start gun sounded Dave was to be seen frantically running up the shore to grab it!

Thanks to the race Team who did a first class job in organising and running the day and of course to all the competitors who braved such demanding conditions.

G Dave & Matt in the RS 400G Fireball fun

A Nearly on the wire A The winning pair

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Enterprise Open Meeting 19th JulyDirk Lankester

Enterprise Fleet CaptainFor as long as anyone can remember, the Enterprise Open meeting, which is always held in mid-July, has been accompanied by hot and generally windless conditions, resulting in sunburn but not much excitement.In the days leading up to this year’s event, it seemed that things might be a little different. As luck would have it, the jet stream moved conveniently south to pass right over the top of East Grinstead a week or so before the event, resulting in an extended period of unsettled weather.

And so it came to pass that the 3 Weir Wood crews (Nick Bush/Harry Burry, Chris Daniels /Ray Nevard and Dick & Jo Lankester) and 8 visiting crews were greeted on arrival at Weir Wood by scudding clouds and a 20 + mph gusting SSW wind, in stark contrast to last year’s drifting conditions.

Enterprise Masters winner, Nigel Bird, arrived with not one but two boats on his trailer. He was intending to sail with his lightweight, 8 years old son, Ian, and asked for a volunteer to sail with wife Andy in the second boat. An urgent call was put out to your editor (former Enterprise sailor before he lost his way and bought a Laser 2000) who was roused from a deep sleep in South Coulsdon and told to be at the club ready to go in 45 minutes. To his great credit, he made it.

In spite of some misgivings about the conditions, all 11 crews took to the water for the first race, with self-bailers in the ‘open’ position. Race Officer Ernie Hatton and Assistant Peter Clifton set a beat up to No. 5 and the fleet got off to an orderly start.

David and Maggie Beaney pulled away into the lead on the first beat, but approaching the windward mark Nigel and Ian Bird found a good lift up the shore to round just behind the Beaneys. On the reaches, the lower crew weight of 8 year old Ian told and the Birds planed serenely into the lead. Up the next beat the Beaneys regained the lead and towards the end of the beat, Ian decided that the wind was too strong for him and the Birds retired. This left the Beaneys with a big lead ahead of Martin Brooking/Jane Anderson in second and first Weir Wood crew Nick Bush/Harry Burry in third. This was a particularly remarkable performance, as was the first time that Harry had ever sailed in a dinghy! Behind the leaders, several crews discovered to their surprise that the water was surprisingly warm for the time of year.

Race 2 was sailed back to back in similar, gusty conditions. The Beaneys led around the first mark followed by Bush/Burry. Third pace Brooking/Anderson found a big gust on the run to the next mark and planed through to claim an overlap on the Beaneys and to lead down to the bottom mark. On the beat back up, David sailed through Martin’s cover to regain the lead which he defended to the finish. Bush/Burry were in a comfortable third place throughout until getting blown in about 1 boat length short of the finish line and were beaten into third by Paul and Andre Turner. Further down the fleet,

Chris Daniels/Ray Nevard found themselves boxed in by the Lankesters when rounding No. 4 for the last time and, unable to ‘wear round’, capsized spectacularly on the gybe. The Lankesters survived to finish in 5th place, but their smugness was short-lived, as they capsized while approaching the shore.

As forecast, the wind had increased significantly by the time crews ventured out of the club house after lunch for the 3rd race and several crews turned around and headed straight back to the club house, so that only 5 boats took the start. Nigel Bird, now sailing with his wife Andy, revelled in the conditions and sailed into a comfortable lead on the first beat which he held to the finish. The Beaneys rounded the windward mark in 2nd place, but both the leading crews lost their way down wind and Brooking/Anderson, having correctly located the mark, sailed into 2nd place. Up the next beat the Beaneys pulled back to finish 2nd with Brooking/Anderson 3rd and Bush/Burry 4th.

The Beaneys, having won the meeting, sailed to the shore before the start of the 4th race, Maggie deciding that she had had enough sailing for her 29th wedding anniversary! Dick and Jo Lankester threw caution to the wind and ventured out again for a do-or-die last effort. The Birds again led round all the marks, but this time had more difficulty pulling out any gap from Brooking/Anderson in 2nd and Bush/Burry in 3rd. The wind had increased back to a full gale by the end of the race, and Dick and Jo Lankester celebrated finishing in 4th place by icapsizing spectacularly while planing back to the shore.

While those at the front of the fleet seemed to be able to cope quite comfortably with the very challenging conditions (the weather station recorded a gust of 38 mph during the afternoon), the also-rans admitted to being well outside their comfort zone for most of the day. Nevertheless, everyone agreed it had been a great days sailing, impeccably run by Ernie and Peter in the committee boat, Barbara (results) and Ann (cakes).

1st David & Maggie Beaney (Castaways SC) 4 points 2nd Martin Brooking & Jane Anderson (Bewl Valley SC) 6 points 3rd Nick Bush & Harry Burry (Weir Wood SC) 10 points 4th Nigel & Andy Bird (Papercourt SC) 14 points 5th Dick & Jo Lankester (Weir Wood SC) 14 points 6th Alan Ross & Pear Heart (Chipstead SC) 16 points 7th Paul & Andre Turner (Chipstead SC) 19 points 8th Adrian & Louise Howse (Bewl Valley SC) 28 points 9th Chris Daniels & Ray Nevard (Weir Wood SC) 28 points 10th Andy Bird & John Chisnall (Papercourt SC) 31 points 11th John Pledger & Mark Early (Havering SC) 33 points

A Nigel & Ian (aged 8) blast down the first reach

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The Editor’s Enterprise Open

The EdThe idea was that Jean and I would compete using the Club’s Enterprise. But it was quite clear following the weather forecasts for the week before that it was unlikely we would be taking part. Jean doesn’t do force 5 and I would have been very nervous in a boat type that I haven’t sailed for a few years. None the less I got up at 07.30 to check the forecast and went straight back to bed for a lay in. Jean made a grunts of relief and contentment.

I staggered out of bed at about 10 am to make tea. The phone rang 10 minutes later and Jean answered. She shouted down the stairs,

“You are wanted to crew an Ent for a visiting helm. I told Dick you’d be there before the start.”

“Who is the helm?”

“Andy Bird”

On the basis of never missing a chance of sailing with a top helm pyjamas were exchanged for a wet suit still damp and stinking from the day before. Breaking all speed limits I

parked amid flying gravel, ran to the first slip where Andy was waiting with the boat in the water, dived over the side saying “ Hello. I’m John” in mid air as she cast off. Only then did I take in the weather conditions which were fearsome. Too late though so I hid my panic and hiked out to the start.

We were a bit late but Andy soon started to haul in the other boats and we made good progress. Then the inevitable capsize. Andy is fairly slight and it needed two of us on the board to get the boat up.

“This may be a bit beyond me” she said but we finished the race with a few boats behind us.

The second race was even windier and we went over at the windward mark

and we realised that the prudent thing to do was to retire.

It was great fun whilst it lasted and what was more to the point I was able to see how she managed the boat on the beat. The style was to keep the nose stuffed up into the wind with the jib feathered. It was amazing how high the boat pointed and kept going. The downside is that you need a very agile crew because if the helm over did it or the wind backed suddenly there was a chance that it would back the jib and over you would go. I haven’t seen any WWSC Ents sailing like this so give it a go guys and see how you get on.

Sadly I didn’t see her technique for gybing as I was concentrating hard in case things went wrong. But they were very smooth and we only wore round once.

Thanks for the opportunity Andy particularly taking me on unseen and having deserted the class.

A Overall winners David & Maggie Beamey

A Fleet Captain show them how to reach

G Nick & Harry keep it flat

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RS 200 Open Sunday 12th 2009.David Giles

For the third year running Weir wood laid on fabulous sailing weather for its RS 200 open meeting. A 12kt. Westerly breeze that rose to 20kts during the course of the day was complimented by unbroken sunshine and a 22 degrees Celsius temperature. Champagne sailing if ever there was!Seven home club RS200’s were joined by 11 visiting boats for the six short race contest, three back to back in the morning and three back to back in the afternoon. Race Officer’s Ernie Hatton and Peter Clifton set windward/leeward courses with a leeward gate. With the wind almost straight down the lake the upwind/downwind buoys could be set a long distance apart and two laps took the lead boat about 40 minutes to get to the finish.

Race one got promptly away with Steve Janering and Lottie Wakeling establishing a comfortable lead over Nick and Juliet Charles. Janering extended his lead downwind but missed the windward gate out on the next upwind leg loosing several places correcting the error. Charles took the lead followed by David Giles and Fiona Clark who were passed by Rob Janering and Olivia James and this order remained to the finish.

Race two saw Charles again take an early lead but he lost out on the right side of the lake downwind being passed by James Boyce and Sam Tozer as well as Giles. At the final leeward gate Giles rounded the left hand buoy while Boyce choose the right. The left prooved the better choice and Giles squeezed passed Tozer on the upwind leg to the finish line.

Race three saw Andrew and Geraldine Peters establish an early lead from Giles and Charles. The race order was turned on its head when a strong gust filled in from the left hand side downwind leaving those on the right relatively becalmed. Steve Janering was best placed when the gust hit and took the lead which he held to the end. Charles pulled through to second with Boyce third. Giles witnessed life at the other end of the fleet limping over the finish line in 12th spot.

A short lunch break was taken before battle recommenced. Giles got the best start in race 4 and established a narrow lead at the first windward buoy. Gybing straight around the windward buoy and heading to the left hand bank downwind paid handsomely as again a strong gust filled in on that side of the lake. Giles extended his lead considerably followed by Mike Chapman and Lynne Ratcliffe. These two had a big enough lead on the rest not to be troubled again. Charles worked his way up to third.

Race five saw Peters take the early lead and was then first into an enormous gust downwind which took him over the horizon. Boyce was next into the gust and established a comfortable second place while the rest scrapped it out with Charles again managing to sneak through into third.

And so to the last race. Charles was very much in the driving seat with only Giles able to overtake him by finishing ahead of Charles and in at least first or second place. Charles rounded the windward buoy first followed by Peters, Boyce, Janering and Giles. Downwind the wind was relatively even but Giles managed to squeeze through to third behind Charles and Peters. Although Giles passed Peters upwind Charles held a comfortable lead around the last windward buoy. Downwind Charles having gybed immediately around the windward buoy gybed back about mid lake while Giles carried on as far left as the depth would allow. Shortly after gybing the strongest gust of the day arrived, mostly missing Charles but engulfing Giles. Charles could only watch helplessly as Giles was able to sail faster and lower and went from 100 metres behind Charles to 100 metres ahead in the last half of the last downwind leg. Giles crossed the finish first with Charles second giving Giles the overall victory on count back.

And so to the prize giving. First up was the Duckhams award, the prize given to competitor who committed the biggest howler of the day. Easy winner of this was Steve Janering from

G Nick & Juliet CharlesG Andrew & Geraldine Peters

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Laser Open 2009David Giles

Weir Wood held its annual Laser Open meeting on Saturday 2nd May. As part of the South East traveller circuit it attracted a good entry of 34 which included 13 visitors.Typical Weir Wood conditions were served up at the start of the day with a patchy 2 to 10 kts. mainly north westerly breeze that swung between the south west and north. The occasional stronger gust blew through which caught out one or two of the competitors.

Principal race officers Tim and Linda Hulley had their work cut out not only because of the wind conditions but also because of the demanding race schedule that required 8 races to be sailed during the day. Provided at least 7 races were sailed two results could be dropped.

Race one got away first time with only a couple of individual recalls. The early showing was from David Goddard of Bewl Valley sailing club, the man who tamed Chipstead a few weeks earlier. He lost out to home grown David Giles on the approach to the windward mark. With the front of the fleet closely bunched the long downwind leg was always going to be fraught. Goddard slipped back in the centre of the course while on the right Gary Bullock and on the left Tim Crook pulled through. Giles hung on to the lead round the leeward buoy and crossed the finish line just ahead to take first blood of the day.

Race two saw the wind swing to the north just before the start allowing the leading boats to fetch the windward buoy. Veteran campaigner Bill Stein from

Wembley who decided he did not need to go to the briefing and so missed the bit about having to go through the start/finish line on every upwind leg. He therefore missed the “gate” out on the first race while comfortably leading to limp home eventually in 10th place. Prizes were awarded to the first five overall:

David Giles and Fiona Clark Nick and Juliet Charles James Boyce and Sam Tozer Andrew and Geraldine Peters Steve Janery and Lottie Wakeling

Spot prizes were for the first Master (Mike Chapman), Lady (Janine Blundell) and Junior (Matthew Giles). The full results can be seen on the web site.

Thanks were given to race officers Ernie Hatton and Peter Clifton for the very professional way they ran the racing, to Barbara Hatton for doing the results and taking the entries and John Thompson who volunteered to move the marks around despite turning up only to watch and having no wet weather gear with him.

Weir Wood scorched off the pin end of the start line and rounded well ahead of David Giles and David Goddard. Giles and Goddard team raced each other backwards down the long run allowing Stein a comfortable victory. Local ace Dave Binding succumbed to a vicious gust shortly after the windward buoy, the resulting capsize scuppering his hopes of a good result in the race.

Race three again saw the pin end of the line pay, particularly for those who worked their way to the right hand side of the course as a new breeze filled in from there shortly after the start. Martin Brooking of Bewl Valley worked the conditions best and led around the windward buoy. The ever consistent Goddard was close behind while local hero Bruce Ramshaw started to show form in third. The leading group were so far ahead of the author of this article that it is hard to say quite what happened next but these three ended up 1, 2 and 3.

With start delays due to the fading wind lunch was called at this point giving Goddard the half time lead followed by

G David Giles & fiona Clark

G The first beat

A Perfectly flat

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Brooking and Giles. During lunch the Weir Wood “sea breeze” set in with the wind shifting to the south west and increasing to a relatively steady 8 to 10kts.

The fleet got away on the second attempt with the Weir Wood trio of Giles, Ramshaw and Paul Luttman arriving at the windward buoy close together. Giles kept a close cover on speedster Ramshaw with Luttman a little further back and these positions remained until the finish.

Race five saw Bullock pull off a daring port tack “flyer” to establish an early lead over Giles, Giles tried to break cover but only succeeded in falling back leaving Bullock to win comfortably from Giles and David Freeman of Queen Mary who had had a difficult morning but was now getting to grips with the conditions.

Race office Tim Hulley was getting increasingly frustrated with premature starters and so the dreaded black flag was brought into play for the start of race six. A right hand shift at the start handed a huge advantage to those starting near the committee boat end of the line leaving those on the pin end to struggle. Fireball supremo Dave Mason showed some of his magic to power his vintage Laser off the start line and then used his weight disadvantage to build a slender lead. Much to the anguish of the on lookers Mason slipped behind Harry Harding

of Queen Mary before the finish. However, the ever popular Mason held off the late charge of Queen Mary’s Rupert Bedell, another of the visitors who was now getting to grips with the fickle Weir Wood wind, to gain a credible second place.

Black flags were the order of the day now and were taking their toll on the over eager. Giles returned to form in the nick of time in race 7 to lead around the windward buoy. Never looking comfortable he was harassed all the way by Bedell and Brooking. Brooking tried a little too hard to break through and incurred a penalty when he tangled with Giles around the wing buoy. However it cost Giles also as Bedell gave the incident a wide birth and sailed around the outside into the lead which he never lost. Giles hung on to second but while Brooking was spinning Freeman nicked up into third place.

And so to the last race. Giles had the lead but with two poor races needed a reasonable result in the last race to win the day if his main rivals did well. In the frame was Goddard who had struggled in the afternoon, Bedell who had struggled in the morning and Ramshaw who had punctuated solid results throughout the day with a couple of shockers. Giles’s hope for a solid final race evaporated when his sail tie down failed at the start. Lounging mid fleet he was glad to see pre race favourite Binding finally coming good and holding back the young guns, along with Harding, to allow him to limp across the finish line and take overall honours. Ramshaw completed the top 3 to gain a well deserved second overall while Goddard’s miserable afternoon continued to drop him to third.

A super efficient race team meant the results were ready straight after the racing. Outside the top three, spot prises were awarded to Dave Binding (first over 55) up and coming speedster Matt Giles (first youth) and Anthony Parke (first4.7). Thanks were given by first visitor Dave Goddard to the race team and Ali the chef who produced a splendid post race curry for all the competitors. Many thanks must also go to class captain and Bough Beech champion Peter Young for organising the event and for keeping his smile going despite holding up the other 33 competitors in the final results sheet.

G Even the best get it wrong

A The winners

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Laser 2000 NationalsJon & Jane

22234 Skippy and the Wombat

Jon Holroyd (Winner of WWSC Club Championships) and Jane Rusbatch came second in the Laser 2000 Nationals. Here’s their account of the racing. Jane and I joined Weir Wood in February this year after deciding to buy a L2K at the boat show. I grew up sailing single handed boats in Melbourne and was keen to get back into dinghy racing after 5 years out of the water. We chose WWSC for it’s proximity to south London, size of L2K fleet and the lovely surroundings of the club. I hoped the L2K would be a good starting boat to introduce Jane to dinghy sailing. The L2K appealed as it looked relatively easy for a beginner crew to hoist and drop the genneker and offered asymmetrical sailing, without a trapeze to complicate things.

A few months later I admitted to entering us into the Nationals, which Jane found very amusing, until she realised I wasn’t joking. However, after some practise sessions down at WW, and surviving some cold weekend capsizes, she was slowly convinced that it would be, at the very least, a new experience for her.

We arrived at Hayling Island on the Saturday, with racing due to start on the Monday. We were very impressed with the club racing we saw going on and the size of the facilities and boat yard. We’d never sailed the L2K on the sea before so we were keen to go out on Sunday for a practice. There was some decent wind and for the first time in Jane’s sailing career, waves. I used to love racing my laser in the big waves of Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay so was relishing the chance to try and get the boat surfing down some waves. Jane, meanwhile, was slowly turning green, and a capsize during a gybe was not doing her confidence much good, so we went in pretty quickly.

The first race was sailed outside the harbour in 20-25 knot conditions. Rob and Katie Burridge sailed very well to come 3rd in the breeze. Despite the challenging conditions, nearly 70 of the 83 strong fleet completed that first race. The weather was soon to take a turn for the worse however. With a large rain squall on the horizon, and 6 of the 9 safety boats committed to boats in trouble, the abandonment flag went up and we all headed back to the harbour, in winds now gusting to 0 knots.

The flatter more protected waters saw much closer racing on Tuesday and Thursday. We managed a good day Tuesday with a 2, 1, 3 and Mike

Hart and Sally Kirkpatrick were also consistently up there. The majority of the 83 boat fleet enjoyed the conditions and it was a good day for spectators with the top mark about 100 yards from the club.

Thursday was a very similar days racing with Mike and Sally turning on the jets to record three bullets.

Friday brought sunshine and gentler breezes to the relief of most, and provided perfect conditions to race outside. Rob and Katie and Amy Hulley and Sophie Payne were on top form and managed to vault up the leader board into 3rd and 5th respectively, passing some of the heavier crews who had done well earlier in the week. Mike and Sally were consistently the best crew and were deserving winners. We were very happy, in fact I think Jane was a little stunned, to come 2nd overall, and it was great to see WWSC having 3 in the top 5.

Overall it was a fantastic week on and off the water. WWSC was the best represented club with 15 boats, largely due to the encouragement we all receive from the Hulleys, Slopers, Dil and Lyn, Tony and Bridget, and everyone else at the club which has made the class so much fun to be a part off, and made us feel so welcome so thank you from both of us.

Note From the EdWhen Jon and Jane first came down with their brand new Laser 2000 a number of us offered them some helpful advice as they were new to the Class. It soon became evident that he had done some sailing. He is a very modest sailor and I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get him to own up. In 2003 he was ranked 18th in the World in the Laser Class by the ISAF and narrowly missed being selected for the Australian Olympic Team.

G Jon & Jane

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Atlanta Yacht ClubA Profile

John and Jean ChsinallMany of you will know that Jean and I spend quite a bit of time each year in the States. We have a daughter, Claire and family who live in Acworth which is a suburb of Atlanta to the north west of the city.

A few miles from where Claire lives is Lake Allatoona; an area of about 1110 square miles of water that was flooded back in the late 1940’s for flood control, water supply and power generation. It provides all sorts of recreational activities including walking, camping, picnicking, fishing and boating.

We have visited the lake many times and always bemoaned the fact that we never saw any sails so last year I did an Internet search for sailing on the lake and came up with Atlanta Yacht Club. Even better it was situated only about 20 minutes drive from Claire.

I e-mailed the Commodore and received a very warm response saying drop in and say “Hello” next time you are over. And so last February we called in on a weekday to have a look. We were very fortunate in that we met a couple of members who just happened to be there including Craig Mclean. They couldn’t have been more helpful and Craig gave me his contact details saying get in touch the next time we were over.

We visited Claire again in late May and were staying 6 weeks this time so I contacted Craig and got a reply that said they would have us in a boat before we were off the airplane! It nearly came true in that shortly after we arrived they were holding a Thistle Fleet Regatta and some one very kindly offered us a boat so that we could compete. We declined on the basis of jet lag and being nervous at sailing an unfamiliar class.

Atlanta Yacht Club is situated on a scenic point of land on Lake Allatoona between two quiet coves. The clubhouse, with a wide deck overlooking the lake, is spacious and attractive but informal, a place where sailors can comfortably mingle in their casual clothes and wet shoes. They have an open fireplace, two bathrooms with showers, two large rooms for dining and parties, a bar area and a full kitchen. Like us they do not have paid staff. They serve meals and drinks for special events, most of which are “staffed” by member volunteers. Downstairs in the clubhouse is the Junior Training Room, where sailing classes are taught. The Club owns a small fleet of Sunfish and (newly acquired!) a fleet of Optimist Dinghies for its training classes. Other than these and a small number of utility craft for running races, all other boats are member-owned.

There is generous parking for members’ boats, most of which are parked on trailers when not in use. Two boat ramps lead to the lake, where boats can be launched and temporarily tied on one of three Club docks. (The club offers no overnight docking or moorings for either sailboats or power boats, though

a small number of private docks offer limited dockage for their owners.) By the water’s edge are benches and several covered pavilions where spectators get comfortable and sailors hang out between races.

If you are looking for tennis courts or a pool, you won’t find them at AYC. They are all about sailing! But they do have a groomed, sandy swimming beach, an enclosed play yard for children, a barbecue pavilion with picnic tables and an open grill, and a camping area near the beach. The facilities, clean and well-maintained by the dockmaster and groundskeeper, are purposely kept low-key so that families can get away from the busy lives they lead all week and find a fun, safe and fresh-air place to play at AYC.

The site is very large and is lightly wooded over much of its area. In the tress are a large number of substantial cabins where members can come for weekends or longer throughout the season to enjoy the club facilities.

The Club sails three main classes of dinghy; the Snipe, the Thistle and the Y Flyer. (We chatted about other classes but they were fairly conservative and wanted to keep their preferred fleets. They knew little about asymmetrics and there wasn’t one to be seen.)

Sailing takes place all year round but mainly through the summer. The best winds are early summer. July and August are very hot and humid. “The air hangs like liquid lead” was how Commodore Buzz Bezure described it. “We wait for the thunderstorms to come through and then go and have fun whilst we can in

G Jean's turn

G Oppy lunchtime

A On site cabins

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50 mph winds!” The lake is drained late autumn through early spring although there is enough water left to sail. Dry suits are unheard of!

The Snipe “Serious Sailing, Serious Fun”This motto of the Snipe Class also sums up the essence of the fleet at AYC. The Snipe is a 15-1/2 foot, 2 -person, one-design racing dinghy with a rich history dating back to 1931. Originally designed by William Crosby to comply with the emerging “trailer class” of racing sailboats, it has evolved into a modern, tactical racing dinghy with fleets around the world. It has a steel centre board and a long whisker pole that the hlem can operate for downwind sailing. The Snipe class at AYC has been in existence since the club was started in the early 50’s. Today it averages around 30 to 35 members with an average 10 to 12 boats racing at any given time. The fleet at AYC has a variety of members at different age groups and different skill levels. This is the beauty of the Snipe- it can be very competitive or it can be a learning experience with every outing at any level! The fleet does enjoy a party and will generally organize at least one per month during the racing season.

The Thistle “Thistlers have more fun”This is how Dale Newnham, an ex Brit who was kind enough to offer us his boat to sail in the Regatta, sold the class to us.

“Don’t you wish someone would design a boat that’s spritely and challenging to race but also comfortable enough to take the family day sailing? A boat that can plane like crazy in a stiff breeze on open water but is still a pleasure to sail in

the light-to-medium winds of Atlanta’s inland lakes? A boat that with a lot of love and only a little expense will retain her value no matter how old she is? Well, good news -- someone did! Take a look at the Thistle, and you will find you can have it all!”

The Thistle is a 17-foot, sloop-rigged boat with round bilges, open decking and a centerboard. Only 515 pounds (just over 200kgs), she is easily trailered, rigged and launched from a ramp. She has generous sail area in the main and jib and carries a spinnaker as well, making her not only beautiful on the water but fast-moving and responsive, quick to hop up on a plane and absolutely fun to sail. The Thistle is sensitive to boat balance and likes to be sailed flat. Though she

an eye for not creating obsolescence for the older boats. The Thistle has a reputation for strong, conservative class organization and enjoys a network of camaraderie and competition with fleets all over the United States, including District, Interdistrict and Mid-Winter Championships and a week-long National Championship that rotates annually among host clubs. Atlanta Yacht Club is home to Thistle Fleet 48, a flock of about thirty actively sailed Thistles, their skippers, families and crew. Boats are kept on trailers at the Club at Lake Allatoona, where we set sail for races with fellow Thistlers most Saturday and Sunday afternoons from late March throughout October. Because there are many active Thistle fleets at nearby lakes and on the coast, a Southeastern regatta circuit in the spring and fall allows us the fun of traveling to compete at other clubs but always just with Thistles. Fleet 48 hosts its own regatta, the “Dixie”, on Memorial Day Weekend, drawing 60 or more boats every year. If you’ll pardon their bragging, they would like to say that the Dixie is in contention for the best Thistle regatta anywhere! The AYC Thistle crowd gets together monthly to “talk boats” and party, even during the off-sailing season.

Y-Flyer Fleet Y Flyer Fleet has approximately 75 members and when family members are included, this number is more than doubled. Family participation in fleet activities is very much encouraged. Fleet activities include approximately 70 club races per year, The Atlanta Invitational Regatta, The Beers Regatta and several after-the-race parties as well as numerous out-of-town regattas, sponsored by other clubs. Trophies for Club races are awarded for the Spring series, the Fall series and for the Season. Each year the “Most Improved” skipper is awarded a trophy. The Y Fleet holds about 10 meetings during the year, which are mainly social and consist of a cocktail hour, dinner and a short business “meeting” when necessary.These dinner meetings are held to encourage comradeship among the fleet.

was designed to be raced with a crew of three, in light air at their lake they often “two-man it” or, when we’re not racing, take as many as five or six out for a picnic or a swim. Such versatility makes her the perfect family boat.

Designed by Sandy Douglass in 1945, the first Thistles, made of wood, are still alive, well, and being raced today. New boats are now made of fiberglass; easier to care for to be sure, but no less beautiful or competitive than the original “woodies”. Design changes over the years have been few and carefully considered, always with

A The thistle

G The snipe

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The Atlanta Yacht Club is the home of Y-Flyer Fleet No. 1, first organized in the 1950’s. The Y-Flyer is an 18’ sloop rigged sailboat that carries a main and a jib sail and can be raced with a one or two person crew or comfortably daysailed with up to 5 people. The Y-Flyer is a one-design class of sailboat popular throughout the south, midwest and Canada. Its relatively light weight, 500 lbs (230 kg) fully rigged, which makes the Y-Flyer a pleasure to sail in light to medium breezed common to inland sailing. The Y-Flyer can be rigged and ready to sail in as little as 20 minutes and is one of the most active fleets both on and off the water at the Atlanta Yacht Club.

Whilst we were visiting they were holding their annual youth camp. This is a summer camp that lasts a week and takes about 50 aged from 12 to 18. It is a week based on sailing of course but with a big dose of other fun activities. The kids stay in the cabins and eat in the club house. Sailing includes structured courses and racing. The week is run by

volunteers and it turned out that Craig was overall in charge for the week. As for our Oppy camp it is a lot of work that relies entirely on volunteers. What struck us on the day that we visited was the number of volunteers that were there for the week. There seemed almost as many adults in the club house as kids.

They have a training regime very similar to Weir Wood with a generous collection of instructors. The titles are different but they equate to our senior instructors, instructors and assistant instructors. Courses start with the very young at 3-4 years old.

The Club has a membership of some 400; many of them families. Annual subscriptions are rather more than WWSC averaging about $150 -$200 a month for family membership. (At current exchange rates that is equivalent to about £1500.00 per year; so don’t complain WWSC members!). There is also a $600 initiation fee for new members. Potential new members must be sponsored by two club members, interviewed by the membership committee and approved by the general membership.

The Club is managed by a Board of Trustees and a committee. To become commodore you must have served several years as vice commodore, then 3 years as commodore and then stay on the committee as ex-commodore for several years so that the club continues to benefit from your experience. This is a very onerous commitment more akin to the way our Golf Clubs run than most UK sailing clubs.

So what was our overall impression? First of all we were struck by how friendly and helpful folk were. They couldn’t have made us more welcome and were very generous in offering us use of their boats. Secondly, enthusiasm. Everyone we spoke to was passionate about the Club and sailing in all its forms; racing cruising, training and generally having fun. They were very serious about training and youth development. Going to Open meetings was a revelation. They are held all over the country. The Thistle National Championships are held on the sea and the nearest coast is Florida; a 10 hour drive. But to share it around they switch between east and west coasts and the west coast is days away. One guy we spoke to had recently competed in an Open meeting in Arizona!

So if any WWSC members want to go and sail in a completely different location let us know. Perhaps we could arrange to freight out the asymmetric fleets and show them something different?

Finally, as copies of this magazine are going to Atlanta, a big thanks to you all who made us so welcome particularly Craig and his wife Gayle and Dale Newnham. We look forward to seeing you again in the Fall. And if any of you want to come and say”Hello” to Weir Wood sailing Club when you are visiting the UK just get in touch.

A The Ed in his snipe

A Thistles downwind

G The Y flyer

A�o

at

Oppy Camp

A�oat

Oppy Camp

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The Return of the MadnessThe Ed

We celebrated the Mid Summer solstice again this year with a return of the Madness. It was a rather overcast but warm day with a nice light breeze. This year the event targeted the Youth who turned up in good numbers to form four teams of hyperactive highly experienced sailors who throughout the day demonstrated that they had forgotten every basic essential of sailing. Boats were propelled by anything but the sails; hand paddling and rudder wiggling seemed to the most favoured. And when you got fed up with that just jump off the boat with your mates and hang out in the water having a chat.

Not that that deterred Simon who was masterminding the circus. Races had been planned and races there would be. This year teams used just Toppers to make the scoring easier (insofar as it was possible to adjudicate which team had won each event). So contesters had relay races, how many can you get on a topper, a tug of war on the water and the most difficult of all; climbing the mast. No one managed this (well there’s a surprise!) but they had great fun trying.

Throughout the day the BBQ produced a record number of burgers and sausages and bar sales rocketed.

A water slide proved a huge success and was appreciated by the kids just as much as the crazy sailing. Another brain child of our intrepid MC who with a sheet of builders polythene and a high pressure water pump improvised a most efficient and exciting ride which he (clearly a kid at heart) enjoyed as much as everyone else.

The traditional picnic and proms rounded off the day with another cracking performance by the Reigate Grammar Swing Band followed by a Rhythm and Blues band.

Thanks Simon for all your efforts and everyone else who helped out. Ideas please for next year welcome from anyone.

G Much better without sails H Up the mast

J Sliding Simon

A Waterslide fun

K They're supposed to be on the boat!

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New StoreThe Ed

The new store behind the Race Hut is just about in service. The facility provides storage for Training at one and for the Hire Fleet at the other. The hire fleet has been moved to the main boat park adjacent the new store for ease of management.

We have been talking about this project since earlier in the year so why so long?

The primary reason is that we had to get planning approval despite the fact that there had been a building of sorts on the site for many years.

Planning approval meant drawing including plans, and elevations of each side plus perspective impressions and photos of the existing site. There was a preliminary visit by the planning officer followed by the formal submission which took about 8 weeks to pass through the administrative process. In the meantime we had sourced the Shed and were ready to start when we had the OK.

Although some rough levels had been taken we didn’t quite realise how much excavation was needed. Thank goodness Steve Carr had a small excavator or we would be still digging. Then followed two days laying the concrete base and paths. The shed came in July and was erected in a day.

There was a break in operations then whilst the tea boy took yet another holiday!

Fitting out followed and most of the kit is now installed. This has freed up the Training Room so that it can be used for its proper purpose.

The next phase is a covered connection from the new Store to the Race Hut including a “signing on” area. The final phase is repair an refurbishment of the Race Hut.

Many thanks to the design and construction team who were:

Planning, procurement and labourer Dick Lankester

Ground works Steve Carr

Structural Engineering David Ramshaw

Marine Engineering Tim Russell

Advanced mathematical calculations James Matthews

Mechanical Engineering Alex Matthews

Tea Boy John Chisnall

G Laying the base G The batch mixer G The first pour

K Tom gets really technical

A Lunch break A Resting again A Steve shifting muck

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Dutyman updateDirk Lankaester

Duty Co-ordinatorIt is now 12 months since the club moved to the web-based Dutyman system for duty rosters and in that time the club has saved a significant amount of money on printing and postage.

If you have joined the club this year and you provided us with an email address, you have been added to the Dutyman database. Please be assured that this is completely secure. (Members who do not provide an email address will receive duty rosters the old fashioned way - by post).

I have recently uploaded the Duty Roster for October-January and if you have been allocated a duty during this period, you will by now have received an email from Dutyman with a password enabling you to access the system.

The main benefits of Dutyman are:

The club no longer has to print and post hard copies of the rosters to every ◗

memberMembers are informed of their duties automatically by email ◗

Members receive reminders by email approximately 10 days before the date of ◗

their dutyhe system allows members to request duty swaps with other members by ◗

email, avoiding the need to make countless phone callsWhen swaps are agreed, they are immediately uploaded, so Dutyman, is always ◗

up to dateMembers can notify Dutyman if they change their email address ◗

Dutyman can be accessed from the club website ◗

When you receive an email from Dutyman notifying you that you have been allocated a duty, please put the date in your personal diary immediately (assuming you do not need to swap), then log on to Dutyman and tick the box opposite the date, thereby confirming that you are able to do the duty. I then know that you are aware of the duty. If you know that you will not be able to do the duty, it is your responsibility to arrange a swap. If you request a swap immediately, you should not have a problem finding someone to swap with. If you wait until you receive the reminder before requesting a swap, don’t be surprised if you do not get a very good response. And I do not find it amusing when members email or phone me to say that they are very sorry, but they cannot do their duty tomorrow because it is their mother-in-law’s birthday (it has happened, believe me!).

If anyone has any queries about Dutyman, please contact me at duty@wwsc.org.uk

Profile of the Laser and WWSC Laser Sailors

Peter YoungContinuing our review of the main classes sailed at Weir Wood Peter Young, the Laser Fleet Captain, extols the virtues of the ubiquitous Laser

If you had a penny for every Laser (proper Laser – you know – the one with one sail) built since it was invented in 1971 then you would have enough money to go to the Club’s Vice Commodore and have a fair chance of buying his tasteless Wrangler 4x4 from him. There have been more than 190,000 made (Lasers not Wranglers – there have been only 19 of them), making it the largest one design class in the World. So, why do so many people sail them?

Well, for a start they are strictly one-design. What does ‘one-design’ mean? It means you can’t so much as think about changing anything on the boat without getting yourself the wrong side of the law. So – what’s so good about that? Well – that means that the bloke or lass that just finished in front of you has finished in front of you because they have just sailed a better race than you. Thankfully, there is an unwritten local rule at the WWSC bar that allows any Laser sailor to account for getting beaten by a variety of other excuses. Just stand at the bar and listen if you need to know more or cannot sleep.

So – if you are new to sailing or Lasers here is a list of things that are worth knowing:

Visitors to the Club. A Reminder.WWSC Committee

Members can invite visitors to the club to sail with them or for social occasions. They must be signed in by the club member in the Visitors Book which is on the galley counter left hand end. The same visitor can come up to 4 times. After that they must join the club to enjoy the facilities.

Members cannot invite sailing friends to bring their own boat and sail on the reservoir at any time; either in the member’s presence or on their own, even if it is to entice them to join the Club. There is no exception to this. This is expressly against the Club rules and has always been so. Members must not give the gate combination to anyone who is not a club member for any reason.

G Down under

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The super friendly national Masters ◗

circuit (100+ boats) for the over 35sThe hyper competitive national ◗

circuitThe competitive but fun South-East ◗

Grand-Prix circuitNo crew, no maintenance, no hassle, ◗

turn-up-and-go sailingLaser fleet racing all the way through ◗

the yearSave money on your gym ◗

membership as sailing a Laser is a great workout (for your brain and body)Work out your belly a the bar ◗

afterwards with sugary water and beer

So, for about £1,500-£2,000 you could be sailing one of the sexiest boats in the world knowing that if, for some strange reason, you didn’t like it you could sell it the next year for about the same price that you bought it for. They age even better than the WWSC Laser class cornerstone Tony Boulton. So – what are you waiting for? Get yourself out in one or give us a ring if you want to know more or want to know where you can buy one.

07799 765 216

Nothing makes you a better sailor faster than racing against your chums and you’ll have loads of chums in the Laser fleet

That is the boat, but what about the people that sail in them? There is a common misconception that all Lasers sailors are hairy backed Neanderthals, who have only a basic grasp of language. But, if you stray away from David Binding and Chris Fyans at the bar after sailing you should find a much more diverse selection of people. We have loads of Lasers at the club, and on a good winter Sunday we will get 20 racing. The age range goes from 10 to 60 with each sailor putting in at least one top end performance per year. On the water it is quite competitive, but always fun, but here are some more reasons to consider getting yourself wet in a Laser:

It is the biggest fleet in the club ◗

The boat has been around since flared ◗

trousers and is used in the Olympics for two classes. It is not a here-today gone-tomorrow class190,000 people can’t be wrong ◗

Laser curry nights – wind on and off ◗

the waterLaser Fast & Furious days (10 short ◗

races in a day type days)

It is made from glass fibre, weighs ◗

59kgs, is 4m long and requires next to no maintenanceThe Laser comes in 3 one-design rigs ◗

(different sails and masts really):The standard rig: the one normally ◗

raced by men or accomplished lady sailorsThe radial rig: the one normally sailed ◗

by ladies or lighter menThe 4.7 rig: the one sailed by younger ◗

sailors who have yet to beef upBoth the Laser Standard and Radial ◗

are sailed at the Olympic games by men and ladies respectivelyBen Ainsle and dozens of the World’s ◗

top sailors all cut their teeth on the LaserThe rules of the class were ◗

loosened a few years ago to allow easy adjustment of the outhaul, cunningham and kicker. You don’t have to be a gorilla anymore to sail oneIf setup correctly, the boat is easy ◗

to handle if you are about the right weightThe right weight for the Laser are ◗

approximately: Standard: 80kg or so Radial: 55-72kg 4.7: 50-55kgThe boat teaches the sailor some ◗

extremely good habits because:All the boats are pretty much the same so the sailor really masters how to make best use of the mainsheet, outhaul, cunningham, kicker and tiller

The rudder is quite small so if you really want the boat to go the way you want it to you have to lean the boat over to steer. “Use the ‘`Force’ Luke” rather than brute force

D An International class

A Sometimes you sail them like this

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Westray Sailing RegattaJean and John Chisnall

We both agreed that Hayling Island didn’t have the charm and ambience of other Laser 2000 National venues so instead of getting blown to bits and rather wet we escaped to the most northerly island of the Orkneys where we enjoyed a week of hot and sunny weather. We timed our arrival to coincide with Westray’s sailing regatta which took part in the Pierowall Bay on the north east of the island.

The first Westray regatta took place in 1925 and they raced the traditional Westray skiffs. This boat developed as many traditional boats did in response to the needs of local people to suit local conditions. The skiff is a clinker built double ended open boat which ranges in size from about 15 foot long with a 5 foot 7 inch beam to 20 foot long with a 6 foot 4 inch beam. It can have a variety of rigs including gaff, dipping and standing lug and gunther. There are only about 30 boats in existence today and they are much sought after.

The fleets for the regatta include two fleets for the skiffs where they appeared to be grouped by size, a couple of mixed fleets which included Snipes, Wayfarers, various other unrecognised classes and a single laser. There was then a fleet of yachts. They sailed one race in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Whist we were boarding the ferry from Kirkwall to Westray we were intrigued to see a large canoe being taken on board. It turned out that a group of native Sasquatch Indians from British Columbia were touring Orkney and paddling the canoe around just about every island. They were going to support the Westray regatta. And there we saw one of the most bizarre sights we have seen for a long while. The canoe was launched and the crew got on board. And then they were joined by four pipers and a drummer in full highland regalia minus shoes and stockings who stood amidships and piped the canoe across the bay serenading the fleets as they went. Lord knows what would have happened if they had

capsized. Presumably they would have gone down piping leaving Neptune wondering if it was the end of the world.

We went to watch the prize giving. Now given the relatively small number of boats taking part we were amazed to see a huge bench covered with all manner of trophies. The Prizegiving took almost as long as one of the races and we didn’t understand a word that was said. Everyone got a prize except the visiting canoeists.

G The skiff H The Westray skiff

J With a hundred pipers an' all an' all

J Westray skiffs

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A new life for old boats.

Christopher MoirChris Moir,WWSC Boat Park Marshall and of WMG University of Warwick, explains how WWSC “dead” boats are pushing forward the boundaries of perception.

Boats come to the end of their lives in Weir Wood boat parks. Or at least some do. Abandoned and lost, with long out of date boat park stickers, they await their fate at the mercy of the chainsaw if wooden; angle grinder if GRP or foam sandwich. Some other boats’ dispatch to tip or skip is delayed. Covered in brambles inspection of a transom boat park sticker is discouraged. And then when the brambles have been cleared away, often there appears an almost upto date boat park sticker. The club is full of members, including the author, whose intentions to take their boat out far exceed the number of times their boats hull cuts through the water. At the last minute other things take priority. Very occasionally abandoned boats are sold or take on a new lease of life as a pirate ship in a children’s playground.

So far so typical of practice in many UK sailing clubs. However so far as I am aware, no parts of an abandoned

boat at any sailing club can be said to have assumed the star role of promoting new applications of applied physics and novel technologies. This was the job assigned to an old fireball hull, mast and boom sections from a kestrel, a rudder stock and tiller from an abandoned Skipper. Last March relics from Weir Wood central boat park took pride of place at Science and Technology exhibition at Olympia.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council “Pioneers 09” was to bring advanced novel ideas in science and technology to the notice of the press, industry and commerce. Among numerous high tech university exhibits like energy wave converters, advanced medical

cues, of 5 human senses. These are sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. These are not the only senses we use to interact with the real world, but they are the main ones. The novelty is stimulating all five senses to the point of perceptual reality. That is a person in one place believes they are actually present somewhere else. Even the most advanced applications of 3D computer games relay on replicating only two senses. (Sight and sound). The Warwick/York exhibit was a sailing simulator with some marked differences. It was intended to promote a project to develop a “virtual Cocoon” through which people can interact naturally with a world that is physically remote from them. In more technical language the virtual cocoon is the production of a highly realistic multi-sensory virtual environment but which complements but does not replace reality. The Daily Mails response to this idea of a “virtual Cocoon” is captured in the illustration below.

Can the brain be fooled into believing it was somewhere else? Generally the answer is no. The subconscious minds of helicopter pilots, for example, using a training simulator to learn how to land in a snow or sand storm know what they are experiencing is not real. The emotional stress is not there. In a few minutes they can go for lunch. The brain can detect small blemishes in a commuter graphic image of a women’s face. The brain knows the image is not real. One sense can however trick another one. A classic example is exploited by a ventriloquist. The viewer is fooled into thinking that sounds are coming from the dummies mouth because of the way the dummies lips are moving. Visual cues dominate sound. In many other circumstances smell dominates taste.

Could the exploitation of these cross modal effects mean that visitors to the Warwick/ York stand are persuaded that they were sailing a boat? The answer is yes but. Details have to come later. First some technical stuff about the boat on stand and then how senses were stimulated. The boat was

imaging and measuring carbon emissions in homes, Warwick and York Universities turned up with a pretend wooden sailing boat on stand and a device to be worn on the head that looked like a glorified cycle crash helmet made out of plastic. Neither could be described as embracing new technologies. Building a boat by laying planks on wooden frame I think is a 3,500 years old technology. 1950s technology produced masts and booms made out of extruded aluminium. Plastic injection modelling is of a similar vintage

So what was going on? The answer is these were all props used to convey an idea of creating a virtual real world based on placing a person in an immersive environment through stimulating physical science based

G Sailing

G The cocoon

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fixed to a stationary steel box section cradle. Unlike conventional dinghy simulators the cradle did not have pitch, roll and yaw degrees of freedom. The hull could not move. Hull and deck was a rebuilt stern half, centre of plate case to transom, of a fireball. Overall mast height was 10ft, the sail had a 6ft luff and 3ft foot. Health and safety regulations at Olympia largely governed the dimensions of the standing rigging. Boom rotation was 30 degrees port and starboard from a for and aft centre line and brought about by guys attached to the boom in a never ending line and through a reversible cog drive powered by a small motor. There was a single rope centre main sheet, from boom, to sole, and then hand. The rudder stock was attached to the transom in the usual fashion; as was tiller and extension to the stock. Whilst it was possible to create resistance on the main sheet, there was no resistance on the rudder. Everybody reading this article would conclude that sitting on the deck of this half boat with a sheet in one hand and tiller in the other had little or no resemblance to the experience of sailing a boat. They at least would not be tricked. The Sun took a bit of persuading that the boat did not float and they could not sail it down the exhibitions halls of west Kensington.

Guest “sailors” were subject to four sensory cues. Their eyes saw what they would have seen if they had been the helmsman of a Flying Fifteen in force 5 gusting to occasional 7. (Lots of

white horses, grey skies, grey water, spray, a healing boat, water over the gunwale, an over active crew and a sometimes flapping mainsheet.) The visual display was on two small screens inside goggles and showed a 2 minute video clip taken with a helmsman’s head mounted camera. In their ears, through headphones, they heard the sound of the water under the hull and the wind in the rigging. Wind and spray was on their face, (albeit coming from the wrong direction, given the tack the boat was on). A small smell device emitted odours of the sea. Note they were not wearing the cycle helmet virtual cocoon.

A succession of distinguished and not so distinguished visitors took part in the little pretend sailing experiment from roughly 9.00 in the morning to around 5.30 in the afternoon. Most saw it as a bit of fun. Sitting largely motionless their main reaction was a smile to the unexpected slight shower of spray landing on their face. Some people though did respond to seeing the healing boat, particularly when water came over the side, by leaning backwards and trying to spill wind. A few reacted in conventional fashion of depowering through movement of tiller as well as sheet. No formal records were taken as to whether the visitors had sailed or not but a straw poll suggested the sailors were not fooled. Some non sailors apparently were.

One obvious last question; other than having a bit of fun what was the real point of the Warwick/York exhibit? The short answer was to get a public reaction to the idea of a virtual cocoon. This came as bit of a surprise. The virtual cocoon was covered by radio, television and print journalists from most major EU countries, the US and Canada. Google recorded something like 90 press hits at the end of the day. It featured in three BBC radio programmes. Possible applications were seen in training surgeons, creating virtual rather than physical prototypes products, at much less cost, maximising safety in engineering design of complex and dangerous environments like deep water oil rigs, and reducing air travel.

There are no plans at either Warwick or York Universities to build further cut down versions of abandoned boats. The death sentence that hangs over an old wooden Miracle among other abandoned boats in the boat parks is unlikely to be commuted. Normal club practice and procedures will be resumed. These procedures are that lapsed members with boats in the boat park will be chased, asked to remove their boat or pay for the space it occupies. Otherwise……

D The 'Boat' simulator

A The system (courtesy Daily Mail)

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Assistant Instructors CourseThe Ed

In August the Training Team undertook the most risky venture of their tenure; to train 4 older members as A I’s. I can’t imagine why they would want to do it! Attempting to train one old age pensioner, one senior citizen, and two yet to get those badges but of mature years was a feat of pure courage. More than that between them they had approaching 150 years sailing experience together with all the bad habits that that brings plus all the myths of years of sailing that had become established facts in their minds.

So Bridget, Dick Dil and me turned up on a Friday night to be indoctrinated in Child Protection, Communication (You don’t yell at them!) and how to tack. Sadly Dil in a fit of domestic enthusiasm had decided to clear out the loft and had “done his back in” and had to pull out of the course.

Now learning how to tack the RYA way is a something of a mystery when you have been sailing for so long. But with some practice overnight we got the hang of it and turned up on the Saturday at an obscene hour to meet our “guinea pigs”. The way the course works is that a number of volunteers are rounded up who have little or no sailing experience and the student instructors teach them the Start Sailing Course plus a bit of the Basic Sailing Course. Topics covered include tacking, gybing

and sailing a triangular course.

Student Instructors are required to give a number of talks to cover the theory. Dick dealt with launching and recovery which up until then he thought was a beer in the bar after a race.

My topic was the five essentials. I asked Bridget what they were.

“Water, a boat, a bouancy aid and some wind. I can’t think of a fifth” she said.

I also was landed with demonstrating 5 knots and that was an equal challenge as I only use two; a figure of eight and a bowline. A rolling hitch took all week to learn and then I couldn’t get it right. What’s more Dick had an amazing way of tying a bowline which was more like a Houdini escape trick than a nautical practice.

(It also happened that the vital game in the Ashes was being played over this weekend and for the first time ever the said trainee instructor took his mobile phone afloat to keep in touch with the score).

On the water was great fun and I have to say we all found it exhausting as well as very satisfying. The big problem is giving instructions about things that are second nature and instinctively done. If you haven’t got the tiller in your hand knowing whether to push it away or pull it towards you was rather taxing causing some confusion in my boat for a while. But the novices were very forgiving and we only had one near miss where Glynis observed that she hadn’t ever seen me move as fast to prevent a capsize.

This was the first course that WWSC has run specifically for adults and overall it was successful. (Well, we all got a certificate). Certainly we all enjoyed doing it and are now part of the pool of A I’s that can be called on for courses. We are going to need more as our youthful A I’s move on to University and other things. So if you would like to contribute to this valuable part of the club’s activities get in touch with Peter or Glynis Hargreaves.

Well done to Julian, Robin, Christine, Tom and Richard who all made the grade and for being such willing and cheerful “guinea pigs”.

G Instructors & guinnea pigs

A Off we go A Rigging

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Oppy Oppy Oppy

Optimist Report Summer 2009

Mark HarringtonWe’ve had a busy time at Oppy Club in the last few months with healthy fleet numbers sailing on Saturdays, Wednesday evenings and taking part in open meetings.

The Oppy Parent Team is in place and as part of that team I have taken on the role of Flotilla Leader whilst retaining responsibility for the beginners and website updates. The other members of the team are John Hamilton (Racing Group and Open Meetings), Richard Haw (Oppy Bosun, Intermediate Group) and Richard Baker (Intermediate Group, Parent Rota and Oppy Members). Our aim is “To ensure that the children enjoy sailing their Optimists, by providing them with a full range of opportunities to develop their skills”. We all have a good deal of enthusiasm and experience and are really looking forward to developing the Weir Wood Optimists.

What’s been happening on the water?Great Fun at Oppy CampNow you have sorted out the tents, sailing gear and various odd socks, time to reflect on this year’s camp. Despite the changeable and at times

challenging conditions, all the children and adults had a great time on and off the water. The closely run watch points prize, which runs during the whole week was won by Blue Watch with an excellent all-round performance. Georgia Baker won the Pendry Trophy for most improved sailor during the week and well done to Sophie Mamalis for winning the Avalanche Cup for the greatest number of smiles from the highest number of capsizes! A huge thanks to Pete Clifton and Chris Hopkins for their invaluable input, plus the whole team for making the week such a great success, we are all looking forward to next year.

The Summer Series was won convincingly by Verity Hopkins – well done. It was a close run thing for second place with Sören Selter, Fiona Harrington, Jacob Hamilton and Emma Baker all able to take second place overall in the final race of the series. The race took place in perfect conditions at the end of Day 1 of Oppy Camp. 15 boats on a short start line made it a challenge for the fleet. Fiona and Sören made good starts with Jacob hard on their heels. By the windward mark Jacob was out in front with Fiona, Katie Wood and Sören close behind. Emma got back amongst the places on the downwind legs. However Jacob pulled it out of the bag on the second beat by reading the shifts well and establishing a commanding lead at the windward mark, which he maintained until the finish, giving him second overall in the series. Fiona sailed well to finish second, resulting in third in the series, holding off Katie in third and Emma fourth. For overall results see the results page on the website.

Chipstead Open/South East ChampionshipsTen WWSC boats took to the water in great conditions on Saturday 18 July and although the lack of big

fleet experience told for some of our sailors, there were some good individual performances throughout the day. Sören Selter getting a great start in Race 1, resulting in a 6th place and ending up 12th of 31 entries in the main fleet. Verity Hopkins sailed consistently well, ending up in the top 10 and with 3rd place in the South East Area Championships. Emma Baker showed real determination after a difficult morning, earning her the Endeavour Award. In the Regatta Fleet Millie Hopkins sailed really well all day and was never far behind the top 2. Millie gained a 3rd place overall in the Regatta Fleet a brilliant performance and one to watch for the future.

OK so what’s on for the rest of the season?On 12 September we have our Training Day being run by Ben Ainsworth RYA Optimist Coach. We will have 2 groups including intensive race training and an intermediate level. This is taking place a week before the WWSC Optimist Open and will help the children to get up to speed so they can enjoy the racing the following week with confidence.

Talking of the Open Meeting, it takes place on Saturday 19 September and at the time of writing we had over 50 boats entered from most of the clubs in the South East region, including a great turnout from the locals. This is also the RYA South East Zone Squad selection event so the competition is going to be hot. I’ve already checked out the long-term forecast and the Met Office assure me that it will be 15 knts, Westerly, Sunny and 23 degrees! This event requires a great deal of support from the whole club and a big thank you to everyone who has volunteered to be involved both on and off the water!

That’s not all for September! We are looking to increasing the number of local open meetings we attend,

G Mark Harrington

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particularly good for those who enjoy getting up at 5:30am at the weekends! We now have 2 trailers so if you’re not able to take the boat yourself then please ask one of us as there is space for 6 boats. A good number of Weir Wood Optimists are already entered for the following events: Papercourt 5 September, Datchet 13 September and the SE Zone Championships again at Datchet 26 and 27 September. Good luck to all of our sailors in these events. Want to enter? Then go to the IOCA website www.optimistsailing.org.uk.

Starting from Sunday 4 October there will be a separate start for Optimists. Start time will be 10:40 and it will be one race of about 60 minutes. This will give our sailors more experience in longer races and also keep their hand in during the winter when there is no Oppy Club. The feedback for this has been good, but of course its success is based on getting your boats on the water! We will see how it goes until Christmas and review.

During Oppy Club in October we will be starting to use the IOCA curriculum as a basis for training. This will give everyone a more structured approach and ensure that those who don’t always go to Oppy Camp have the opportunity to cover all aspects of the programme and develop their abilities. If you are not an IOCA member or don’t have a log book it will be a good idea to sort this out so you can get the most from Oppy Club. Other plans include an end of season

prize giving/get-together likely to be mid-November (date to be advised).

For 2010, I would like to hand over running the beginners group to another Oppy parent. It’s a great role and I’m sure something which could be developed further. If you are interested in taking this on then please contact me. Also I am delighted to confirm that we have again been selected for the Optimist RYA Squad Zone training on 23rd and 24th January 2010.

The 2010 National Championships are in Weymouth 24 – 30 July. There is a good deal of interest from our sailors in being there in force, not too far to go and great offshore experience using pre-Olympic facilities. More details to follow. However, this is likely to present a problem with Oppy Camp

Oppy Camp 2009By Jacob

Wow what a week! On Sunday 26 July, I and 39 (or so) other )ppy sailors arrived to set up camp in a freshly-poohed field (thanks to the cows!). Once all the tents had been put up and the parents had departed we were able to get on with sailing - that’s what we were there for. We were in five groups – levels 1-4 and racing. It was great fun sailing every day. Off the water we were in put into one of four Watches. The Watches were supposed to be a mixed group of different ages although for some reason ours (yellow) was made up boys. Points were given out for helping, good sailing etc and there were prizes at the end for the Watch with the most points. We started off trying to earn some points, but……. we ended up losing a few points. Highlights of the week were Oppy club race and winning the treasure hunt….

G John Hamilton G Richard Baker G Richard Haw

which is usually in the same week. Depending on school holidays we could consider re-scheduling for the end of August, please let me know what you think as we need to make a decision on this before the end of the year?

So, there’s a lot going on with a growing fleet of keen children and parents looking forward to the rest of the season. You can keep up to date by going to the website and regular news will be sent out by email.

See you on the water!

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Youf

“Youf ” NewsLexi

WWSC Youth SummerThe last few months the WWSC Youth Team has been very busy! We’ve had an awesome Oppy Camp and a very successful Laser 2000 nationals, and (by the time this is published) week long Summer Cobnor will have returned! Unfortunately I wasn’t at this year’s Outer Space themed Oppy Camp, but everyone I have spoken to has raved about it. This year the Avalanche Award went to Sophie Mamalis and the Pendry Cup to Georgia Baker. well done guys! The Laser 2000 Nationals at Hayling Island SC had a very strong Weir Wood turn out and, most importantly, included plenty of youths! All of our youths did exceptionally well and all had a great time while we were there, braving the wet, windy, wavy and FUN conditions! Now we are all looking forward to Summer Cobnor, especially since some of the older clever university type youths will be back for a few days. Topper racing will also be starting up again soon, hope to see you out there!

The Youf ’s Laser 2000 National Champs

Amy HulleyA significant number of our Youfs took part in Team Weir Wood at Hayling Island including Alexei and Stephan Nicholas, Amy Hulley and Sophie Payne, Katie Burridge, Will Sloper and Nick Bush . Neilsons donated the prizes and this is their “Thank you”.

On behalf of the ‘youfs’ of the Laser 2000 class association I wish to say a very big Thank You to Neilson for so generously donating such brilliant prizes at the week long Nationals held at the end of July. 83 Laser 2000s ventured to Hayling Island Sailing Club to take part in a very special 10th Anniversary event. Over the last 10 years the class has developed to become very competitive attracting some of the top racers in the country whilst continuing to welcome and encourage new comers of all ages to racing and sailing.

At the Laser 2000 Nationals last we realised that there were a large number of youths that were enjoying sailing the Laser 2000, not to mention the off the water activities that were organised by the older youfs such as fish ‘n chips, fishing, twister and a variety of other beach games. Following last years success, Neilson kindly agreed to support us with some prizes for this special 10th anniversary event.

On Monday we were sent off shore out into Hayling Bay only to be greeted with winds over 25knots and 2m+ waves. ‘Bring it on’, big smiles to all the young guns, even if a couple did get sea sick!! The second race had to be abandoned with a BIG squall developing in the distance blacking out the Solent. Our sail back to shore was wicked especially for those braving the kite by the time we landed the sun was out. The youth chilled out after a hectic day with fish’n chips on the beach and more games.

Tuesday bought even bigger winds and waves but fortunately the race officer took pity on us and set the courses up inside the harbour. This provided 3 races with tactical courses and a few boats coming to grief on black flag starts.

G Hanging around

F Alexi & Stephan

A Sailing wears you out

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The Laser 2000 being such an awesome fleet we got a rest day on the Wednesday – very epic. However youths being youths, rest = play!!! A few guys made the most of the wind and went windsurfing or kite surfing

Others decided they would like a day to dry off so ventured to the theme park for more hairy thrills but all met up later and chilled out with a DVD and pop corn.

Thursday was recording winds of over 38knots out in the bay where the racing was meant to be located, therefore it was again empty of laser 2000s and we were back in the harbour with a mere 25knots blowing at the start of the first race but had dropped to 15knots at the end of the 3rd race (8 o’clock at night!!). We were starving….Several boats sustained a fair amount of damage: the waves were knocking the boats about and the wind was strong enough to cause them to move fast in wrong directions. Jessica practised her front crawl having fallen out in all the carnage and had a long swim back to her boat.

Friday was totally different day with light winds and sun this saw a lot of the lighter youth boats come forward to in the fleet. Alexei and Stefan Nicholas who were the youngest youth boat within the fleet

Road Bases and boat trailers at Weir WoodChristopher Moir

Boat Park MarshallThe trailer park next to the race hut has been closed down. A new trailer park has been created at the far end of the mirror boat park adjacent to Oppie bay. Nearly all trailers that were in the old trailer park are now in the new one.

Here are two requests. Could members who still have a trailer in the old trailer park chained to a tree or one without wheels move them to the new trailer park. Secondly it would be much appreciated if all members could follow the lead of others and attach labels to their trailers showing their name and membership number. This request is irrespective of where in the club grounds the trailer is parked. The club is trying to work out which trailers still have owners and which ones have been abandoned and could be got rid of.

One reason for closing down the old trailer park was it was considered an eye saw. Another and more important reason was it was not very secure. Trailers have been stolen from there. The combination of insufficient space and too few trees to act an anchor points meant many trailers could easily be picked up and attached to a hitch on the back of a car.

The new trailer park is more secure and has more space. A long 13mm chain has been laid and secured between two trees almost the full length of Boat Park opposite row MK. Please secure trailers to this chain. It is to be hoped that trailers can be arranged at right angles to the chain and on both sides.

Many thanks.

gained a 9th place and decided it was time to loose the airbag from the top of the mast!

Friday evening was prize-giving. 24 youfs took part in the sailing and with most days averaging a force5/6 this was a fantastic achievement. Many thrills and spills were had along the way but this just added to the fun. Thanks to Neilsons generosity every youth received a prize for taking part, Sam Boswell aged 12 gained youngest youth on the water prize, Mark Baldwin received ‘Mr Toe Strap snapper’ prize which involved a big swim after a disagreement with his

toe straps at the first windward mark on the Monday, Jessica for her swim also, Katie Burridge aged 13 and same weight as a crisp bag crewed her Dad and they came 3rd overall, she has BIG muscles now!! Graham and Christina were made honouree students as they sail a boat called ‘student loan’ but that’s another story!!

Thank You Neilson for donating these fantastic prizes, helping make our week at Hayling even more memorable.

(Neilsons have been very supportive of WWSC with generous donations of various training boats for our fleet)

D Katie

A Amy & Sophie

A Nick A Will

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Open Dayy

We held our annual Open Day on 9th May and it was a huge success. The weather was hot and sunny with just the right light breeze. Numbers attending were the largest we have had for many years and the sailing taster fleets were kept busy all day. The Social committee provided a running BBQ and sales went through the roof. We had about a dozen people sign up on the day and there ahs been a steady trickle of folk coming back and joining as a result of the event. Thanks to everyone who helped including the reception committee, those who organised the sailing and the BBQers.

Farewell to Ian Clark After more years as a member than he will admit to we are saying “Goodbye” to Ian Clark who is moving away from the area. Ian has been probably our most regular Laser sailor for years competing regular as clockwork on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesday evenings. His record is formidable always up the front of the fleet.

Annual General MeetingThe AGM will be held on 6th December at 2pm and formal notice of the meeting is enclosed with this issue of the magazine. Just to repeat the “Wanted” advert elsewhere both Tony Carter and John Norris are stepping down as Commodore and Secretary respectively. Do please give serious consideration to undertaking the roles as they are absolutely critical to the successful running of the Club. It cannot operate effectively without either role

A farmer called Thomas was overseeing his herd in a remote pasture in Yorkshire when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the farmer, “If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?”

Thomas looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, “Aye lad. Why not?”

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the farmer and says, “You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves.”

“That’s right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves,” says Thomas.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then the Thomas says to the young man, “Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?”

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, “Okay, why not?”

“You’re an MP from Westminster”, says Thomas. “Wow! That’s correct,” says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?”

“No guessing required.” answered the farmer. “You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of pounds worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don’t know a thing about how working people make a living -- or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep........

Now give me back my dog!

Joke!

We have two training Wayfarers with names and two without. The named boats are “Maccabee” and “Valkyrie”We want suggestions for the names of the other two. The only constraint is that they should match the theme of the other two.

Entries should explain a connection between “Maccabee” and “Valkyrie” and then propose two other names that fits the connection.

Entries to the Editor. They will be judged by the training Committee and the winner will get a £5.00 bar token.

Editor

Who was the youth on the ice with the Ice Yacht in the last magazine?

In the last magazine on page 17 we asked you to identify the young chap in the woolley hat standing on the ice. We didn’t get a single response. It seems

that no one had a clue despite me telling you the clue was in the last paragraph; “his Enterprising father”

Any the wiser now? No? Well it was our Enterprise Fleet Captain and Duty Rota man Dick Lankester standing on the ice where he was brought up to sail from the tender age of 5 at Frensham Ponds. Dick’s dad was commodore there for many years.

Name the Wayfarer Competition

31

Afloat Autum

n/Winter 2009

Feeling bored and fed up, try these harmless diversions:At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.

Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has got over their caffeine addiction, switch to espresso.

Order diet water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

Sing along at the opera.

Five days in advance, tell your friends you can’t attend their party because you have a headache.

When the money comes out of the cash machine scream ‘I won! I won!’

When leaving the zoo, start running towards the car park yelling ‘Run for your lives! They’re loose!’

Tell your children over dinner, ‘Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go.’

Attention all Novice Laser Owners.And more time doing this?Would you like to spend less time

doing this?

Then sign up for the Laser Novice training day on Saturday 26th September.

This day is specially designed for those of you who are new to Laser sailing. The intension is to explain the boat set up and then the fundamentals of sailing a Laser quickly.

It is free to Weir Wood Sailing Club Members.For further details contact fleet captain Peter Young via email or mobile 07799765216 or Course

instructor David Giles on 01342300969. or e-mail d.giles2@btinternet.com.I would like to limit the numbers to a maximum of eight on a first come first served basis.

Creative Puns for Educated MindsThe roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was - Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi

A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class --because it was a weapon of math disruption.

A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab centre said, ‘Keep off the Grass.’

A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. His grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In democracy, it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism, it’s your count that votes.

When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects !