| Thanks to Kevin for these.
Check them out on our Flickr Page its easier to view and offers a full screen slideshow.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rollesbybroadsc
Full size images can be down loaded from the RBSC Flickr Page, How To Downlaod a Photo from the RBSC Flickr page 2014 |
Angie will not be at the club this Sunday and so no food will be available, please bring your own snacks and sandwiches etc. Sorry for the late notification. Stuart.
Two things happened with the fleets at Rollesby this week; that were almost as rare as the un-February like weather. Firstly the multis-sails outnumbered the single-handers an event no-one can recall in recent years, and secondly the singlehanded fleet was entirely a Solo fleet in race 2 after the single Phantom who joined them in race 1 stayed ashore, the Lasers had already decided there was insufficient wind; which may have been true at 10.30 but there was a comfortable breeze by midday!
And so whilst Gareth Thomas (Phantom) did for a while lead the single-handers round in race 1, it was winter member Terry Palmer who took the win for the Solos from John Saddington and Steve Leigh. In race 2 Kevin Postlethwaite had a good lead at the first leeward mark with the remainder of the fleet rounding four abreast. However unable to defend both sides of the beat Saddington and Palmer were both able to get close to Postlethwaite and take full advantage of a perfectly timed (for them) gust at the windward mark to catch and pass him on the run back down the broad.
In the Multisails it was spinnakers to the fore in race 1; the three boats with, coming out on top. Ian & Sharon Ayres in their Leader were able to use their greater tacking agility to keep in touch with the faster straight line speed of Dave Houghton & John Symonds and Peter and Eileen Dearnley in their Wayfarers. However as the wind slowly rotated to the east giving less options upwind, the Wayfarers took the spoils. In race 2 Val & Chris Hanson along with Pete & Rachel Smith both started at the less obvious but breezier leeward end of the line and as those at the windward end succumbed to a hole, were able to sail out underneath them and create a tight top four at the windward mark. As the wind had shifted to stop ‘goose-winging’ the spinnakers of Dearnley and Houghton paid even more and they slowly pulled away with the Smiths leading home the rest of the pack.
In the afternoon it looked like Saddington and Leigh might hold on the Wayfarers and for a lap they were certainly close enough to challenge, but once again the lopsided upwind leg saw the Houghton and Dearnley pull away to take the top two spots.
Multisails
Race 1 (8 entries)
Race 2 (8)
SingleHanders
Race 1 (5 entries)
Race 2 (5)
Mixed PM Race 3 (9)
| Thanks to Kevin for these.
Check them out on our Flickr Page its easier to view and offers a full screen slideshow.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rollesbybroadsc
Full size images can be down loaded from the RBSC Flickr Page, How To Downlaod a Photo from the RBSC Flickr page 2014 |
A delightlyfully bright sunny morning and a forecast force 4 straight along the Broad, saw 32 boats take to the water for the first race at Rollesby on Sunday 17th February.
With a slightly lighter breeze in reality, the 9 multi-sails were first away; it took a little while for the fleet to settle into an order, but Steve Grey quite rightly led after a lap in his D-One. With a long run it looked like Dave Houghton & Jon Symonds and John Saddington & Dennis Manning flying their spinnakers would have a big advantage, but it was Ian & Sharon Ayres taking a wider route in their Leader who led the main pack at this point. The Wayfarers showed their pace upwind with Houghton eventually winning from Ayres and Saddington.
Those spinnakers paid more as the wind rose in race two however Peter and Eileen Dearnley sailing without a kite were flying up the beats and split the other Wayfarers to take second from Houghton this time around.
In the single-handers with 23 boats on the line a clean start was clearly in order; David Frary (Finn) and Mike McNamara (Harrier) were able to use their additional boatspeed to establish a small lead on the first beat, however the midfleet were ignoring handicaps and swapping places regularly. Richard Brown and James Letts represented the Laser push early on with Daniel Bull catching them on the second lap, however as the race progressed they were losing out to the Solos of Robert Hawkins and Terry Palme, indeed had Palmer not misread the finish they would have been 1 & 2 but instead they were split by McNamara. The increased breeze in race 2 saw Frary put the hammer down and establish a good lead, however Phil Highfield in the ‘family’ Streaker had other ideas downwind as he came back at the leaders on every lap to eventually tie with Frary for the win, with McNamara 3rd and Brown 4th.
The good weather encouraged 16 starters for the mixed afternoon race and there were two distinct bunches, the Wayfarers, with three boats less than a minute apart and the Solos whose first three finished within 15 seconds of each other! But who would come out on top; it looked like a Houghton win and indeed it was but Dearnley and Saddington had to wait for the calculated results to confirm they had indeed beaten the Solos by a very narrow margin.
Multisails
Race 1 (9 entries)
Race 2 (9)
SingleHanders
Race 1 (23 entries)
Race 2 (19)
Mixed PM Race 3 (16)
Courses will run on Saturdays
April 27th
May 11th
May 25th
June 8th
From 10:00 to 16:00
Please pass on to any interested parties.
The course will be run by club members in both members’ boats and our own club boats.
The course will be open to both youngsters and adults.
Sailing is perceived as being an expensive sport. Nothing could be further from the truth. You don’t even need to own a boat since we have a fleet of club boats available.
For more information all Rachel or Pete on 01953 606334.
The air temperature had certainly seen the day’s title as ice was cracked off of covers and decks for Rollesby’s Frostbite Regatta on Sunday 3rd February; fortunately the sun was out and the wind relatively light so everyone felt much warmer than the 4 degrees air temperature. Unusually, only 2 Wayfarers joined the 18 mixed single-handers; so it was decided to run the racing as all in, rather than in separate fleets.
Phil Highfield (Streaker) and Ian Ayres (Solo) took the furthest left and right hand routes up the initial beat before rounding the first mark overlapped, with Mike McNamara (Harrier) in closest pursuit. McNamara rolled over the two slower boats on the first reach and rapidly built a lead. Dave Houghton & Jon Symonds (Wayfarer) recovered well from having been a long way over at the start! dragging David Frary in his Finn up to the top group with them. On the last lap some large gaps opened with McNamara taking a 15 second handicap win from Ayres; compared to the 3 minute gap back Highfield and Frary who almost dead-heated in third and fourth.
A change of wind direction and course saw Steve Leigh (Solo) with an almost perfect start; however he and Ayres were quickly sandwiched by the faster travelling McNamara and Frary and by the time they could take remedial action were back in the pack led by Daniel Bull and James Letts in their Lasers. Highfield had taken full advantage of the bunching behind to sail along the bank and lead round the first two marks. The wind increased as the race progressed benefitting the faster craft most and McNamara took another narrow win, this time with Frary second and Houghton third.
A slightly reduced but still substantial fleet of 13 took to the water after lunch; McNamara and Highfield were best away with Houghton close behind, however the wind had swung a little further and Ayres and the second Wayfarer of John Saddington & Dennis Manning were the first to spot this, closing in at the first windward mark, this pack all finished within 25 seconds on handicap! McNamara rightly led on the water, but a better spinnaker course gave the win to Houghton. Highfield and Ayres had a bit of an epic cat and mouse race with Ayres close enough behind on the water to just take second place on handicap and for the day overall.
| Thanks to Kevin for these.
Check them out on our Flickr Page its easier to view and offers a full screen slideshow.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rollesbybroadsc
Full size images can be down loaded from the RBSC Flickr Page, How To Downlaod a Photo from the RBSC Flickr page 2014 |
This week was the final week of winter series and in the singlehanders fleet the points situation was extremely close with any one of four helms in with a shout for overall honours. After a few weeks of full off or full on conditions the forecast looked to be following the same old pattern with 20 -30 mph winds from the NW predicted. This presumably deterred some from attending but despite the occasional gust the wind appeared quite manageable and with bonus of the sun making an appearance conditions looked quite good! Despite this a few still opted to enjoy tea and freshly baked cakes in the clubhouse but 8 intrepid helms ventured out for an all singlehander race. With the wind coming from the NW the race team set a simple triangle course comprising of marks 5, 3 & 6.
Ian Ayres (Solo) nailed the first start to lead up the beat to mark 5, opting to go to left. Tamsin Highfield (Streaker) opted for the right hand side hooking up on a nice lift to round the windward mark first, closely followed by Mike McNamara (Harrier), Ian and Roger Wilson (Solo). Tamsin and Mike gradually extended their lead crossing the line in that order. Ian and Roger continued their battle for the rest of the race with Ian holding on to cross the line third. On corrected time Tamsin took the win by 38 seconds, with Ian and Roger taking the next two places.
Race 1: 1 Streaker 1493 (Tamsin Highfield), 2 Solo 5232 (Ian Ayres), 3 Solo 5259 (Roger Wilson)
In race two Mike crossed the line with speed to lead up the beat. However, despite being last to cross the line Stuart Highfield (Laser) worked the shifts well to lead at the mark unfortunately rounding a bit too close and touching it resulting in a penalty turn. Mike took over the lead with the rest of the fleet just a few metres behind as they headed for mark 3. Roger opted to run low to avoid the wind shadow of the bank and looked to be leading as the fleet approached the mark but Mike held on to round first but hot on his heels was Roger and Phil Highfield (Streaker). Mike extended his lead on the reach to mark 6 and the next beat. Unfortunately on approaching mark 3 he caught probably the biggest gust of the day and shipped some water allowing a charging Phil to take the lead which he held to the finish line followed by Roger. On corrected time just 34 seconds separated the first four boats, Phil making it a family double finishing seven seconds ahead of Roger with Ian third.
Race 2: 1 Streaker 1493 (Phil Highfield), 2 Solo 5259 (Roger Wilson), 3 Solo 5232 (Ian Ayres)
Once the day’s results were added to the overall series the positions were very close. Race 1 honours went to Ian Ayres with Mike McNamara second and Kevin Postlethwaite third.
The situation was even tighter in race 2 with two points separating the first three boats, Phil Highfield finishing on five, Roger Wilson on six and Mike McNamara on seven.
It was a Wayfarer 1,2,3 in the Multisail Winter series with David Houghton & John Symonds taking first, John Saddington & Dennis Manning second and Bob Sparrow & Chris Gibbons third.
Single handers (26)
Race 1: 1 Solo 5232 (Ian Ayres), 2 Harrier 70 (Mike McNamara), 2 Solo 4896 (Kevin Postlethwaite)
Race 2: 1 Streaker 1493 (Phil Highfield), 2 Solo 5259 (Roger Wilson), 3 Harrier 70 (Mike McNamara)
Multisail fleet (11)
Race 1: 1 Wayfarer 10000 (D Houghton & J Symonds), 2 Wayfarer 11111 (John Saddington & Dennis Manning), 3 Wayfarer 10213 ( Bob Sparrow & Chris Gibbons)
Race 2: 1 Wayfarer 10000 (D Houghton & J Symonds), 2 Wayfarer 11111 (John Saddington & Dennis Manning), 3 Wayfarer 10213 ( Bob Sparrow & Chris Gibbons)
Next week the club holds its Winter Regatta after which the Frostbite series commences.
After a short delay for some deliberation a small fleet of seven boats set out for the one and only race in definitely top end racing conditions at Rollesby Broad on Sunday January 13 th .
Several competitors were so keen they decided to start racing 5 minutes early; with only two starting at the proper time Race Officer Chris Mann felt sympathetic to the others and abandoned for a proper restart. With a wipe-out squall taking out the entire four strong Laser contingent in the last minute before the restart – led in performance by Daniel ‘I can stand my Laser on its bow!’ Bull – none of them made it to the windward mark …..
Ian Ayres (Solo) and Tamsin Highfield (Streaker) started overlapped on starboard but mid-beat had to duck Matt Boreham (Solo) who had taken the opposite route. Ayres reached the windward mark a couple of boat lengths in front; Highfield tried to pinch the mark and on a lighter day would probably not have got rolled in to windward as the wind backed on her!
Boreham had to take a rapid avoidance action and the race looked decided. Ayres slowly extended away but Boreham had a brief ‘wet moment’ allowing Highfield to catch up before her second capsize left her narrowly in third.
Having spent nearly an hour on the water to get in a 30 minute race the fleet retired for an early and well needed lunch!…..
Single Handers
Race 1 (7 entries)
Ian Ayres (Solo)
Matt Boreham (Solo)
Tamsin Highfield (Streaker)
