Tag Archives: racing

Skiff regatta

On Saturday the 24th there is a skiff regatta on Forfar Loch on the birthday of the ‘Mary Campbell’. The day will start with boats arriving from 8:30 with breakfast rolls. Tea and coffee during the day as well as some excellent cakes to keep going. There will be sandwiches for lunch time.

Racing will begin at 10:30 on the loch, where we have a 1km straight to create a 2km long race.

Our race categories are:

  • 280 mix
  • 50+women
  • open mixed
  • 60+women
  • 60+men
  • open women
  • 50+women
  • 60+mixed

Please pop in if you have time and support the skiff team.

Tyr sailing and training weekend

During last weekend we had 2 boats out for a ‘try sailing’ where both enjoyed their time on the water. One was so keen that he came back the next day as a member to take part in the training.

On Sunday we had some members out for a second training day, 2 took to the water in a wanderer under instructions from Malcolm, while the other 2 braved it out solo and used the club laser. With the safety boat between them and giving instructions or support they managed to stay upright, sail up, down and from side to side on the loch. Some slight mishaps and connecting with the boom did not stop them going back out after a tea break.

Gus enjoyed it so much that he decided to join in the race, making it a firefly, a wanderer and 2 lasers. Course set to X (Z), K, C and F to port before coming back to A to starboard. 3 laps, where we had Jack in a topper joining in to get some experience sailing a course.

All in all a good weekend, Saturday the skiff was out in Montrose. Maybe we can get a few words on that with the large amount of photos that are taken on that day and place them online and in the news letter.

Tuesday evening sail with a close finish.

Last Tuesday’s sail was almost called off, the wind was whipping the shores and made us contemplate if we should go out or not. We decided to go onto the water and ‘see how it goes’. With 4 Lasers and a Solo we did shorten the course to keep within a short distance of each other just in case. After the countdown with 5 seconds to go, Becci capsize. The rest managed to get away (Helen, Jamie, Conor and Erwin) followed shortly after by Becci. Direction C, F, K and G.
All struggled to keep their boat upright, all capsizing at least once, except for Erwin who managed to keep the sail out of the water although he did take on a large amount of water at on stage.
Becci retired halfway due to the strong wind and wanting to keep herself from more damage to her shoulder.
Helen managed to snap the toestrap, but fought back to get alongside Erwin, asking how much longer. The clock showed 39:58,.. 39:59,.. and 40:00 minutes of sailing had passed. Helen had managed to get about half a boat length in front, followed by Erwin and then Jamie less than a boat length behind Erwin. Conor was just into the channel, proving this a close race.

Windward leeward race report

Consistent wind conditions for four windward-leeward races to D (starboard) and back through A/Z. Each race lasted approximately 20 minutes and a small crowd (see picture) gathered for the exciting races. The wind direction was mostly from the west and the eight sailors enjoyed their three/four races (worst race result to be discounted). The thermometer suggested that the temperature was 25C, but with the wind and dark clouds (see additional picture) it felt much colder on the shore.

Eight sailors were in a variety of dinghies, which meant there were class-specific and PY competitive interests. The first three of the races saw the Lasers (Seb then Becci) and Solo (Erwin) finish closely together with a gap of the remaining two Toppers (Drew then Mark K), Feva (Helen and Jamie), and Oppi (Lyall). The first race saw Mark K have a Topper bailer issue and need to come ashore for a quick repair. Race three saw Helen and Jamie improve the use of their spinnaker and improve their finishing time compared to the earlier races. The fourth race saw Becci flying over the finishing line with a very convincing sail despite having a moderate start. The ominous Oppi was at the rear of all the races, but it stayed very close to the second group of sailors.

The race officer box was temporarily relocated to just outside the garage and a car’s horn (expertly pressed by Susan) was used to get racing started. There were no false starts and the standard of everyone’s starts was excellent. There were some interesting laylines taken during the races and it was noted that sailing by the lee did give Mark K an advantage over Drew downwind.

(Race report by Mark Webster. Race results will follow when they are calculated)

Phase 3 Update

Good evening,

Following last Thursday’s announcement to move to phase 3, the committee have been working hard to complete our risk assessments and determine what measures need to be in place for us to be able to return to Club organised events and activities safely. This is now complete and a copy of the Club’s latest guidance, effective from tomorrow, is attached.

Please do take the time to read through the information, as you would expect we are not back to the way things were just yet. Access to the club buildings remains restricted and please do make sure that you wash/sanitise your hands before and after touching communal surfaces. Hardest of all, when another club member needs some help please stop for a moment to work out the best way to assist whilst keeping each other safe. Pulling a boat up the slipway together side by side for even a couple of minutes is likely to be a flag as far as contact tracing is concerned. However, with a bit of thought we can work as a team and still stay safe.

We are pleased to advise that Club racing will begin from this weekend and a revised program will be sent out soon. The planned windward-leeward series will run over the next four Sundays and a summer series will take place on Tuesday evenings. We have decided not to trial the Saturday race series as the radio sailors will be meeting every Saturday over the next few weeks, so please be aware of that if you plan to sail at the Club on a Saturday.

We also plan to run fun days for the younger members on Mon 27th and Tue 28th July. If your family would like to take part or assist please let me know.

Finally, if you still have a boat stored at the tattie shed, these should be collected before the end of July. (Email: forfar.sailing@gmail.com or phone Tony Walker to arrange access.) We are very grateful to Fraser for allowing us to store them longer than usual and rely on his goodwill each year.

A reminder also that membership renewals can be done online with payment by BACS.

We will continue to monitor the advice from the Scottish Government and RYA Scotland and will advise you of any changes to the arrangements over the coming weeks. If you have any comments or suggestions for improvement at the club relating to covid-19 arrangements please get in touch with me or Tony.

I look forward to seeing you on the water.

All the best,
Helen Brown
FSC Commodore

Race report

Tuesday race report

09/04/19 – 19:20

OOD: Tony Cook, Felicity Kimber.
Handicap race, course: Z – starboard,G – starboard,K -port,F – starboard,D – starboard,C – starboard,F – port,A – starboard

“During a handicap race with variable speed boats, hence the handicap system, it is sometimes necessary to allow some boats to sail more laps than others. Obviously this is usually the faster boats. Doing this means that the slower handicap boats are not still sailing at midnight.
Sometimes it can benefit the faster boats, sometimes the slower. More anon.
Compared to Sun. 1 it was a good start except for Becky (ent) who suffered a gear failure just before the start but was able to fix it and start shortly after unlike poor Sally (solo) whose halyard parted during rigging ! Not so easily fixed.
However! I digress.
Tony W and Nick (both solos) were having a ding dong battle at the front of the race closely followed by David Smith (firefly)
Tony led for most of the race with David possibly ahead on handicap.. Sorted ! Or so I thought.
The fleet was split after most had completed one lap leaving the Topper and Ent. seemingly miles behind. They finished in due course. The race continued with Nick eventually passing Tony with David who was in a great position making some poor decisions in the falling wind at the death
The race finished Nick. Tony. David. Sebastian. Eoughan. Or so I thought
But what’s this ?
On handicap working out. Mark (Topper) 1st, Becky (late starting Ent ) 2nd.
Honest I have checked and rechecked the workings out.
What a system.
Sally get out soon. You are number one on the ladder and you may well receive some challenges.”

Results:
Mark 1st,
Becci 2nd,
Nick 3rd,
Tony W 4th,
David 5th,
Sebastian 6th,
Eoughan 7th.