The Wednesday evening series has now finished for this year and was once again enjoyed by Club Members. Thirty-five different helms took part with about twelve boats out each week. Two nights were lost because of thunder and lightning arriving at the wrong time, but racing took place over sixteen summer evenings.
Picture by Daniel Harvey
Although this series is known for a relaxing time the pursuit race is still keenly contested. The early leader was Phil Alison this year sailing his newly acquired “fast Harrier.” Followed by Clive Girling and Henrietta Highfield the series looked close for some weeks.
It was nice to see Roger Wilson out with his lovely Classic Merlin Rocket. We were all pleased to see new sailor Andy Adcock improving his position each week in the splash. Daniel Harvey was regularly racing again and getting very good results in his laser, but with his personal handicap increasing to plus 6 minutes he was having to work hard at the end of the series. As usual with the pursuit races the boats closed together towards the end of each race with competitors checking their watches to see who would end up in front of whom at the bell.
After discards kicked in and at the penultimate race, Phil Alison and Henrietta Highfield were level on points. The series winner would come down to the last night. Henrietta crewed by Dad Phil in the Mirror started in front and held the lead until passed on the last lap by Bob Hawkins in a Wayfarer. With Phil Alison and Daniel Harvey close behind Henrietta manage to hold on to second place and so take the series trophy. Phil came second overall with Daniel third just leading Clive Girling by 2 points.
So well done to Henrietta whose personal handicap this year has increased from -4 to +3 minutes.
We are all looking forward to next years series with the current handicaps carried forward.
SO reserve your Wednesday evenings for Rollesby in 2024
The recent poor weather improved on Boxing Day and 16 boats turned out on a sunny morning with a varying N.E. Breeze. Kevin & Joe Edwards in their Norfolk set of first at the start of the Pursuit Race followed by daughter Ellie in her Splash. These two held the lead for three laps but were eventually passed by the faster boats.
Roger Wilson in his Solo built a substantial lead by laps four and five but during the sixth lap a number of the positions changed.
David Houghton and John Symmonds in their Wayfarer came through at the end to take first place and won the “Bent Vase” for the third consecutive time.
Mulled Wine and mince pies, organised by Roger, warmed competitors up between races. Three helms took part in the Watson Cup Race by sailing double handed boats with no crew. Tony Fulford in the Comet Trio and Ian ayres in his Leader raced in close proximity for all three laps. At the line Tony was just ahead but Ian took the Trophy on handicap result.
Seven boats stayed for the Allcomers race. Howard Astley-Jones lead the way round in his Vareo and finished a few seconds ahead of Dan Bull in his Laser. Dan took the win on handicap.
Summer Series concludes with convincing win for Howard Astley-Jones
Sunday’s sailing marked the end of a competitively fought summer series. The winner was never in doubt with Howard Astley-Jones enjoying a stella series and sealing an impressive 10-point margin victory, securing a 2nd and 1st place in the final two races of the series. 2nd place was all to play for with Daniel Bull just pipping Tony Fullford into 2nd place on countback, having secured a 2nd place in the final race of the series. 3rd was then Tony, with Richard Bailey and Ian Curtis in their Wayfarer close behind in 4th . There were 38 entries and 14 races in total with 15 competitors completing the qualifying number of races. Members completing in their first series at Rollesby included Mike and Jenny Harris in their RS Vision who finished a respectable 16th and Keith and Jane Minster who finished 13th in their Albacore. It was also nice to see Merlin Rocket “Warpath” crewed by various willing volunteers (for some their first taste of racing!) successfully qualifying in 10th place after a 40 year absence from Rollesby. The afternoon series was also won by Howard, with Tony 2nd and Bob Sparrow in his Wayfarer 3rd. The full set of results are on the website. Trophies for all the summer series will be presented at the AGM on the 16th Oct.
As we reflect on a glorious Summer Series and the temperature begins to drop it’s time now to don our wetsuits and drysuits and get ready for the Autumn Series which kicks-off this weekend with a one-day Autumn Regatta which is open to both club members and visitors. 3 races, split into two fleets, with best two results to count. We also look forward to welcoming back our winter members in the weeks to come as they start to return from their summer adventures.
WEDNESDAY EVENINGS SUMMER 2002 – END OF SERIES REPORT
The evening races again proved to be a popular event this year with 36 different helms taking part. The entrants spanned the generations from young Henrietta Highfield in her mirror to the “long time members” in their favourite boats. One evening saw a record 17 boats joining the pursuit race and several others out practicing sailing.
The lovely warm evenings made this year series particularly enjoyable and it was nice to see new members from the training courses coming along. The event also attracted non sailing spectators out for an evening by the water.
The early series leader was Ian Curtis sailing his Wayfarer crewed by Richard Bailey with a number of first places. Later months though, saw Ian unable to attend enough evenings leaving the way open for David Taylor to take the trophy sailing his Enterprise single handed. Great to see David winning the series as a relative new comer to sailing and racing. With a changing personal handicap he will have to work hard next year!
It was great to see so many members, new and old, turn out to help the club celebrate our 50th anniversary last weekend. It was a real collective effort by lots of members to stage the event. The car park was extended, gazebos erected, bunting put up, food prepared, and club boats rigged. We were blessed with fine weather and the celebration was attended by over 100 members and guests, some who joined when it first started in 1972. It was especially pleasing to see so many of our younger members sailing the club Oppies and Toppers. The day was marked by a barbeque and a huge cake cooked and magnificently decorated by Angie, along with a pursuit race, a junior race and social sailing. Some members even camped under the stars overnight.
The Pursuit race attracted 21 boats to race in a warm southerly moderate breeze. Early starters were David Taylor in the rarely seen 11plus dinghy and Suzanne Thompson in her Topper. Long standing Club member Heather Vaughan set out in a Pico next. Over five laps places rapidly changed, with the faster boats chasing . At one stage the Edwards family held the first three places with Ellie and Jo each sailing a splash followed by Kevin in his Solo. As the race progressed Ellie built up a commanding lead and stayed ahead for the win. Daniel Bull in his Laser was catching up fast at the end but had to settle for second place. Tamsin Highfield in her Streaker enjoyed a good race and was not far behind in in third position. Daniel Harvey who we have not seen on the water for while was next in his Laser. Tom Quale with his D Zero handicap was the last to start with a 19 minute delay but pulled through to a mid fleet 11th place.
Results: 1 Splash Ellie Edwards 2 Laser Daniel Bull 3 Streaker Tamsin Highfield 4 Laser Daniel Harvey 5 Comet Trio Tony Fulford 6 Leader Ian & Sharon Ayres 7 Solo Kevin Edwards 8 Splash Jo Edwards 9 Ent David & Diane Goodwin 10 Wayfarer Pete & Rachael Smith 11 D Zero Tom Quale 12 Laser Clive Girling 13 Wayfarer Steve Vaughan & Jim Anderson 14 Stratos Chris Toothill & Libby 15 Wayfarer Phil Harlow & Lorna 16 Wayfarer Auriel Gibsin & Lindsey 17 Splash Elenor Holmes 18 Topper Suzanne Thompson 19 Spash R Alger 20 Pico Heather Vaughan 21 11Plus David Taylor
The Pursuit race was followed by a cake cutting ceremony. We were very pleased and grateful to Bob Haines and Margaret Shearing, two of original members of the club, for their help in cutting the cake and to John Sallis for his recollections on sailing at RBSC as a junior in the mid 70’s. After consuming more cake than many of us should have, the club Oppies and Toppers were rigged and took to the water with their young helms . The race was one by Henrietta highfield closely followed by Evie brown.
Many members took the opportunity to take to the water. Amongst the flotilla of craft was “Warpath”, one of the original fleet of Merlin Rockets that sailed at Rollesby, still proudly owned and sailed by Roger Wilson who learnt to sail in her back in the 70’s .
Barbeques were then lit and the delicious smell of sizzling burgers and sausages cooked over charcoal soon filled the air accompanied by a delicious spread salads and side dishes all prepared by Auriel. The celebrations continued well into evening. After securing a special concession from our landlord, some members chose to camp out overnight on part of the site specially prepared down by the water’s edge making for a truly memorable evening.
There are lots of people to thank for their help organizing the event, but special recognition must go to Auriel for the salad and side dishes, to Mike for his excellent Barbecue cooking skills, to Angie for the most fantastic cake anyone will have ever seen, to John Saddington for doing the race management on the day, and the Tom Quale for all his hard work preparing the site.
It truly was a special celebration that will last long in the memory of many members.
“So after Sunday’s sunny and blustery conditions that concludes the RBSC 2022 Whit Series. The windy conditions – and with some no doubt feeling they eat too much cake after the fantastic 50 years Celebrations the day before, the turnout was a little down on normal. Congratulations go to Daniel Bull for scoring two bullets in the morning races to consolidate his position overall morning series winner with 9 points. It was a close run thing, with a tie on points for 2nd and 3rd place, but Tony Fullford manged to pip Clive Girling on countback into 2nd place leaving Clive finishing 3rd and Richard Bailey 4th. The morning Whit Series was as competitive as ever with 14 competitors completing 7 races needed to qualify.
With strong wind conditions and tied bodies meaning there was no afternoon race this week the afternoon series was concluded last weekend. One again it was very tight for the podium positions with Tony Fullford just winning the series on countback from John Saddington in 2nd with Clive Girling in 3rd.
The full Whit Series provisional results for AM and PM races can be found on the website.
Time now to look forward the 2022 Summer Series which kicks-off next weekend with our one-day Summer Series Club Regatta. With no weed to worry about, lots of new members taking to the water and the weather continuing to look set fair for some time to come it looks we could be set for another great series of races. If you haven’t qualified for a race series before or maybe want to try racing for the first time, then the summer series provides a great and relaxed opportunity to join in. There are lots of very experienced sailors within the club willing the share their knowledge and help those looking to improve their sailing skills.”
Wednesday sailors arrived at Rollesby on a dull chilly evening for the first of this years pursuit race. The ten crews that set out though were treated to a good moderate wind blowing straight down the Broad.
The “calm” between 5 and 6
The conditions suited the two Wayfarers who started out in mid fleet but by the end of lap three had worked their way up to the front. Ian Curtis and Allen stayed ahead for the win. Jason Elmer sailing with Bob Sparrow as crew was second. With ten boats out they will both have to start a minute latter next week!
Keith Sykes “survived” the breeze in his RS300 for a third place.
Starting at the back Chris Foster caught up with Clive Girling and the two lasers had a close race ending with Chris in front at 6th place.
Last Sunday Rollesby Broad Sailing Club hosted a Solo Open Meeting, which was part of a two-day Norfolk weekend qualifier for the Solo Class Association Easter Area Championship. The forecast was for 20+ mph north easterly wind all weekend which may have deterred some, but the event still attracted 9 visitors together with 6 club members making a fleet of 15 Solos for a very lively and competitive day’s racing.
Kevin Edwards was the Race Officer for the day ably assisted in the race box by Jo and Clive and Chris Foster on safety boat who were kept very busy with plenty of capsizes and incidents to attend to. Thankfully whilst still very strong, the wind settled nearer to the north than the east which enabled Kevin to set a course which included some nice long beats and white-knuckle surfing downwind legs up and down the broad. 4 races were scheduled, and all were completed with 2 held back-to-back before lunch and 2 further, slightly shorter, races held back-to-back in the afternoon.
Steve Ede – Gets a great start.
In race 1 Steve Ede from Ardleigh Sailing Club hit the front up the first beat and was the leading boat at the windward mark, a position which he maintained throughout race 1 and repeated in race 2, 3 and 4 to score 4 straight 1st places, leaving the overall result in no doubt. Mark Maskell from Brightlingsea was 2nd in Race 1 with Howard Ashley-Jones, who had traded in his Vereo to take up Ian Ayres kind offer to borrow his boat for the day, right up there in the mix battling it out with the other visitors in 3rd place.
A breezey reach to Mark 4
Back down the fleet race positions were changing rapidly throughout the day as capsizes, breakages and fatigue all took their toll on the competitors. Jack Ibbotson deserves special mention for taking out the clubs old wooden Solo which Brian donated to the club and showing us all that you don’t need a nice new shiny epoxy Solo to be competitive. Jack, forsaking his Finn and jumping in a Solo for the first time, put together a spectacular set of results which would have been all the better had he not capsized on the start line with 10 seconds to go before the start of race 2.
2nd Place Roger Wilson
With 3 races to qualify some boats decided enough was enough after race 3. This included Mark Maskell, who was still throwing off the effects of a recent covid infection and his heroic efforts of securing 1st place in arguably even windier condition at Hickling the day before decided to gamble that he had done enough to secure 2nd overall. The result was already in the bag for Steve Ede but that didn’t stop him joining Roger Wilson, Godfrey Clark (from Fishers Green Sailing Club) and Jack Ibbotson in Race 4 who still had scores to settle. Mark Maskell’s gamble didn’t pay as Roger was able to snatch a 2nd place from Godfrey on the last beat leaving Roger to snatch 2nd place overall on countback with Mark in 3rd place.
The Fleet recovering from the 1st 2 races and enjoying Angie’s Curry
At the prize giving Steve Eve, on behalf of all the visitors, thanked the club for putting on a fantastic day’s sailing, praised the excellent race organisation and Angie for the homemade cakes. Steve, was very conscious that the club had forgone their normal regular Sunday sailing in order to host the event passed on his thanks on behalf of the Solo Class Association.
Congratulations to 2022 Wayfarer World Champions Mike McNamara and Simon Townsend
Mike Mac and Simon Receiving the Championship Prizes
Now 5 Time Winners who held onto the title they first won in 1992, 2001, 2010 and most recently in 2019. The Champs Run every 3 years, Mike has finished in the top 3 on the other 3 Occasions he’s competed and didn’t make to 2 Canadian & a Denmark events.
That’s 8 podium finishes 5 Wins over a 30 year period, amazing!!
With Trophies for many of the individual races that’s a hefty engraving bill.
It must be the X factor! – We Done Mike and Simon from all @ RSBC
Friday: Congratulations to our 2022 World champions, Mike McNamara and Simon Townsend, who held onto the title they first won in 1992 and most recently in 2019, in an epic battle with local heroes, Dave Moring and daughter, Ava, who fell just a few points short of pulling off the greatest Wayfarer upset ever. Dave and Ava of the host Lake Eustis SC had a spectacular run of four straight wins, moving to within two points of Team McNamara in the 41-boat fleet before running out of gas in the 11th and final race.
Mike Leading the Way Race 6
Earlier: Forty-one Wayfarers (above) are embellishing Florida’s Lake Eustis this week as they compete for the Wayfarer world title. After Monday’s two races, we had a surprise in the results as local hero, Dave Moring and daughter, Ava, placed 2-2 and held a one-point lead over defending World champions, Mike McNamara and Simon Townsend (1-4) at day’s end. Tuesday however, saw the heavily favoured team of Mike and Simon leave no doubt with a pair of convincing wins as they have begun to pull away from the Morings (5-5) and the fleet. Today’s warm, partly cloudy overcast and WSW winds of 12 mph should enable the Committee to run three or more races as the one-drop scenario re-arranges the top end of the leader board. Wednesday: Three races. Mike Mac and Simon T. take stranglehold on series. Thursday: Two light-air races, the second a drifter which saw only ten boats finish within the time limit. Light-weights, Dave and Ava Moring, scored another pair of firsts, serving emphatic notice that the series is far from over with a final race expected to complete the series tomorrow. The previously high-flying Team McNamara came back to earth with 9-10 finishes, leaving them at 12 points, a comfortable 4 points up on Team Moring. But there will be some pressure on Mike and Simon when you look at Mike’s pair of certified discards while Dave and Ava have nothing worse than a 5th to drop. Eustis forecast for Friday is cloudy and warm, S to SSW winds 9 to 11 mph. Friday- 1st Race save Dave and Eva take the Win and with Mike & Simon in Third, now just 2 points in it with the final Race to come. In the Final Race Mike and Simon were Third, Dave and Eva running out of steam to finish 8th. Now that was a close one.
Throughout the champs the RBSC Whats’s group was keeping a eye on the results, it was a bit of a roller coaster. Re-live it in the table below- Mike looking very comfortable after Wednesday and less so on Thursday and Friday.
A perfect wind direction and mild temperature saw a great turnout, including 5 visitors, set out on the first 1 km beat along the entire length of Rollesby Broad for this year’s New Years Day Open. With a good breeze blowing there were capsizes and anyone who could break clear of the main fleet traffic and find some clear air was likely to prosper, the usual ‘stay away from the banks’ strategy on the return run only seemed to pay for spinnaker boats rather than the single-handers who were significantly split in downwind tactics.
Race Start
Rather unsurprisingly it was Daren Pike in his Phantom who led round race 1; perhaps inspired by the challenge of lapping daughter Emily in her Topper; he managed it comfortably in race 1 only by a few seconds in race 2. His closest challenger on the water was Daniel Bull in his Laser, revelling in the strong conditions Bull took both the first two races on handicap and hence the meeting! Behind these front two the racing was extremely close with only one point overall separating third from seventh.
Dave Houghton & Jon Symonds struggled to get their Wayfarer to the front of the fleet upwind, but once they raised their spinnaker they were able to make up their handicap with Richard Bailey & Ian Curtis also enjoying the kite flying on the long run. Roger Wilson and Ian Ayres led the nine strong Solo fleet, swapping wins in the morning, but unable to escape far enough from Ellie Edwards in her Splash who enjoyed her morning with two fourth place on handicap.
After a capsize and a DNF in race 1 slightly more space (13 starters) and a change of course for the afternoon clearly suited Howard Astley-Jones in his Vareo as he record a win to snatch third place overall on a tie break with Pike and Edwards, coming ashore the sailors had no idea of the overall minor places; Bailey and Wilson were also tied just one point from third.
Prize Winners.
Overall Results
1. Daniel Bull (Laser) – 2 pts 2. Dave Houghton & Jon Symonds (Wayfarer) – 5 3.Howard Astley-Jones (Vareo) – 8 4. Daren Pike (Phantom) – 8 5. Ellie Edwards (Splash) – 8 6. Richard Bailey & Ian Curtis (Wayfarer) – 9 7. Roger Wilson (Solo) – 9
