Reports – Page 3 – Rollesby Broad Sailing Club

Fifty years on the Water

2022 marked the 50^th anniversary of RBSC

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.

Whit Series Report.

“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 2^nd and 3^rd place, but Tony Fullford manged to pip Clive Girling on countback into 2^nd place leaving Clive finishing 3^rd and Richard Bailey 4^th. 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 2^nd with Clive Girling in 3^rd.

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.”

Roger

Race Report – Wed 27th April

Personal Handicap Pursuit Race.

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 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 6^th place.

Full results on here………

RBSC – Solo Open Report

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.

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 1^st places, leaving the overall result in no doubt. Mark Maskell from Brightlingsea was 2^nd 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 3^rd place.

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.

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 1^st place in arguably even windier condition at Hickling the day before decided to gamble that he had done enough to secure 2^nd 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 2^nd place from Godfrey on the last beat leaving Roger to snatch 2^nd place overall on countback with Mark in 3^rd 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.

Full set of results can be found on the website here :-
Sailwave results for RBSC Eastern Arear Solo Open Meeting at RBSC 2022

Mike Mac – World Champ 2022

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

Loads of Great Wayfarer W o r l d s History here…..

Report

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.

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.

	Mike & Simon	Dave & Eva
Monday (2 Races)	1,4- 2nd (5pts)	2,2 – 1st (4pts)
Tuesday (2 Races)	1,1 – 1st (7pts)	5,5 – 2nd (14pts)
Wednesday (3 Races)	1,1,3 -1st (8pts)	4,5,1 -2nd (19pts)
Thursday (2 Races – Light Wind)	9,10 – 1st (12pts)	1,1 – 2nd -16pts
Friday Race 1	3 – 1st (15pts)	1 – 2nd (17pts)
Friday Final Race	2 – 1st (17pts)	8 – 2nd (22pts)

Full Results – http://www.wayfarer-international.org/…/22Worlds…

New Year’s Day Open 2022 Report

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.

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.

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

Full Results can be found here…..

Race report – Wed 12th May

The third race of our summer pursuit season started under auspicious circumstances; it was not too cold and the wind was moderate!

It was good to see a couple of people who had not sailed before in a Rollesby race amongst the turn-out of 13 boats. We hope to see you back next week!

There was one Wayfarer, flying the flag for the double-handers! The wind behaved (as well as Rollesby wind ever does) and the sun sank slowly as the race progressed.

The Officer of the Day team was kept busy tracking movements up and down the fleet, so they never did manage that second cup of tea.

The result:

R Bailey (Wayfarer)
K Edwards (Solo)
C Foster (Laser)

Perhaps all of us who, after the race, heard the bittern booming over the Broad were winners.

Ken.

Wed Report 5th May

There was a lack of wind at 6 pm and some members decided to give the race a miss. By the time the race got going though the sailors who stayed had the benefit of a gentle South West breeze. The breeze gradually increased giving a lovely evening sail.

Jack Ibbotson joined the evening sailors this week and started in his Finn on a “scratch handicap.” Jack soon got to the front and stayed ahead to win the race. Next time he starts a minute latter and will soon establish his personal handicap.

Report Wednesday Sailing 28-04-2021

The forecast for strong winds kept many regular participants at home. Six keen members went out however, to enjoy the pursuit race, with the north wind blowing down the broad.

With fast lap times Ellie Edwards in her Splash completed the first lap as the four Lasers were just starting.

The laser sailors had many capsizes and Ellie kept pace with them to keep the lap ahead and win. Clive Girling eventually pull clear other the other lasers for a second place.

Special mention of our new member David Taylor. With limited experience Dave set of sailing his GP 14 single handed and managed several laps of the course to finish the race still dry,

Spring Regatta – Report

Twenty-six boats truned out for our first event of 2021! on a bright sunny morning with a reasonable if somewhat patchy south-westerly breeze. Three diagonal beats were set across the Broad with long downwind return allowing those with spinnakers to fly them.

With the wind shifting occasionally to south, before it rose and settled, Roger Wilson was able to get a port flyer in race one as a lull passed across the fleet in the last minute before the start leaving many drifting around at the wrong end of the line. Matt Boreham also stared well and these two led through the upwind legs on the first lap. Howard Astley-Jones hoisted his spinnaker at the far end of the Broad and was able to lead after the first lap, with Dave Houghton and John Symmonds using theirs to great effect too, recovering from an early navigational error!

On the downwind leg Phil Highfield and Richard Brown escaped from the pursuing pack to join the front bunch. The spinnaker flyers could not gain enough on the Solos who took the first two places on handicap.

In the middle of the fleet a large pack arrived at the last mark on a puff descending on an unfortunate Steve Leigh and Stuart Highfield who had led them into the wind hole at the mark. Eight boats crossed the line in a 5 second period! With Ellie Edwards gaining most having raced well with the faster craft and enabling her to take third on handicap.

Race two saw a slightly increased breeze in a more steady direction, indeed it rose on lap two enough to provide a couple of capsizes. Daniel Bull took advantage of his boatspeed to lead for much of the race, but had to settle for second a mere couple of seconds behind Dave and John who were enjoying the spinnaker run.

There was a very close second bunch with Jack Ibbotson, Roger, Matt, Phil, Daniel Harvey, Pete & Rachel Smith and Steve Whitby all largely abreast at one point on the first run. Phil did escape from the rest on the second lap, but couldn’t quite clear Roger and they tied on handicap for third place.

A great turnout for our fist sail of the year with prizes distributed throughout the fleet.

Full results are on the website page.