Weymouth
Sailing
Club

Three of the YOB's were selected to represent Wey Valley School at the Dorset Schools Sailing Regatta which took place on the 17th May, James Robb was taking part for the second year running and achieved a brilliant 6th place overall. Alexandra Stevenson and James Limb who were taking part for the first time and achieved a very good 14th and 15th place overall. Their combined scores mean't that they finished in fourth place as a School, only nine points behind the third place and over seventy points ahead of their nearest rivals.

If, like me, you were beginning to congratulate yourself on your improved boatspeed to the Shambles, you will no doubt be mortified to hear (as I was) that the East Shambles cardinal mark has been moved a bit nearer to Weymouth. It’s now official – having stormed out there heavily reefed in a brisk force 6 I was confident of a record time, but passing close to it on Friday afternoon, I logged a position of N50° 31’. 274 W002° 20’.1, which you will see when you compare it with your handbook means a shift northwards of a bit under half a mile.

We sailed Arcsine to the Solent last Thursday, giving time to dive clean the hull and fit a new back stay.
As the start of the JOG race approached the wind increased to 24 knots and as we were racing 2-Handed we popped in 2 reefs and even discussed the No.4 Jib! As the tide was west flowing the course meant hard work tacking to the Needles before releasing the reefs and onto a long close reach and a little bit of sleep. The wind did the usual teasing , dropping and freeing till we rigged the Code 0 but luckily hadn’t hoisted when the wind piped up again.

For once the weather gods seemed favourable to crossing and coming back, promising perfect sailing conditions, so it seemed only right to be off to France again, to continue preparations for June (and do the shopping!).

Flat calm, with deceptive zephyrs under the cloud, heralded the opening Thursday race last week. The forecast was clear – the NW gradient would be restored in the evening, and usually it happens around the start time for racing, so AP up and wait…

Last Saturday promised to be brisk and did not disappoint – those brave sailors who took part in the Tony Bennett trophy were treated to a range of conditions from exhilarating to challenging, and the younger members of the club who were racing certainly put the rest of us to shame!

You're invited to enter the 2013 PYRA Spring Regatta.
NOR and Entry Form at http://www.pyra.org.uk/page2013pyraregatta.html

What better way of spending a beautiful Spring day with a bit of breeze than to go off round the Bill and back? Between neaps and springs the tides work nicely to make a day out in West Bay a real treat, with the return flood in the late afternoon. What I like particularly is the big sea horizon compared with Weymouth Bay, and a new landscape to look at as well – Chesil, Moonfleet, Abbotsbury and the hills behind with old Admiral Hardy’s monument as a reminder of Dorset’s seagoing past…

On Wednesday of last week I, like many others, wasn't convinced that there would be much chance of getting any racing in on the first weekend of the YCW Spring Series.  Forecasts of force 7-9 winds from the South-East and rain didn't look very appetising. And even come Saturday night I this still wasn't convinced we would get the chance to get some racing in. But ever the optimist I rolled out of bed early on Sunday morning and checked, re-checked and checked again the club's wind display to find we had an ideal force 4-5 from the South-South-West and currently no rain.

What better way to celebrate the return of the south-westerlies than spending a day offshore, just checking that everything still works – and waiting to see the Normandy Channel Race fleet go by!