Extracts from the 1964 Moth Year Book - here & here.
Gurnard Newsletter - June 2010
Going Afloat
We are approaching the peak of the season, only seven weeks to the Junior Regatta and Dinghy Week, after which the Club can have a brief collective “lie down and a cup of tea”. Before then we still have a busy period of training and racing ahead of us. This is a gentle reminder that when you launch your boat to join in a race you take responsibility for your actions and for that decision. This is not to diminish the duties of the club or to argue that we won’t take our duty of care seriously. Our RIBS are still called “Safety Boats”, while other clubs call them “Patrol Boats”, and safety cover is intensified when we are carrying out training, which operates under a safety regime dictated by the RYA.
The issue of responsibility is covered in detail the Sailing Instructions, which are on the GSC website.
Martin Bean. June 8th 2010.
Bill Downer
Members may have heard that Bill Downer died on May 23rd. Bill had been a member of Gurnard Sailing Club for many years. Bill was father to Anna and Patrick and Grandfather to Ali, James, Laurel and Heather and married was to Bett (nee Denham).
Over the years Bill owned and built many boats, from a punt he sailed from the Marsh, a Gurnard G Boat “Veronica” and onto boats he built himself including a second G Boat: “Sapphirine”, a Hornet: “Wotatado”, which he sailed with the late Mike Denham, plus a motor launch: “Patanna” and a Mirror: “Mildu”.
Bill raced round the Island in 1953 in a race to celebrate the Queen’s coronation, a feat recently copied by his grandson James in an RS 400 with Paul Tyson.
Bill came from the time when most boats sailed in Cowes and Gurnard were built in the area, the Self-Build and Self-Help era. Retired from active racing himself, Bill continued to give advice and tips to his children and grandchildren. The day before he died he was watching the RS 400 and 700 Open Meeting from Thorness Bay.
Bill’s funeral service took place at Gurnard Parish Church on June 3rd, followed by a celebration of his life at the Club.
Dinghy week
Entry forms and sailing instructions for both Dinghy Week and the Junior Regatta are on the website. Discounted entry fees are available for entries received before July 4th, so get your entry in now!
The club Picos and Fevas are still available to hire for both regattas at £25 per boat, but they are going fast, especially for the junior regatta. Laser have kindly lent us 6 Bugs to hire for the junior regatta, at £15 per boat. All requests for boat hirings must be accompanied by a regatta entry form, and full payment of hire and entry fee.
Volunteers needed
Dinghy week is run entirely by club volunteers- this year Penny, who has run the kitchen for the last few years, is away in Lake Garda for the week, so we are looking for 5 volunteers to each take charge of the kitchen for a day- food will be provided- you just need to manage the kitchen team and make sure the baguettes get made! Please contact dinghyweek@gurnardsc.org.uk if you can help.
There is a rota up in the clubhouse for other volunteers - there are over 200 sessions to be filled over the whole regatta, so please do sign up if you can help at all, whether in the kitchen, bar, on the beach, in the racebox or on the safety boats.
Pico Open Meeting
There will be a Pico open meeting on June 26 and 27th. This is a good test run for Dinghy Week, and there will be racing for novices/ cadets in the mornings, using training sails, and for the single handed race fleet in the afternoons. Competition is usually fierce and often includes sailors who normally race in bigger and faster boats.
Entry will be on the day. More details to follow on the website and in the clubhouse.
Volunteers for the race committee and safety boats should contact Pete French or Mark Harrison
French Night
On the Saturday June 26th there will be a French night, to raise money to send our youth match racing teams to the RYA Youth Match Racing Championships in Weymouth, and to the Italiana cup in Italy, where the boy’s team have two titles to defend.
Tickets £10 each, to include a free Kir on entry. Menu- Pate, Beef Bourguignon, Tarte Tatin. Come in fancy dress! Raffle with great prizes! Tickets available from Sophie French or other members of the team.
Saturday Racing
This year in the Calendar we have added some Saturday afternoon racing.
This is designed to be “stripped-down” racing, ideal for one-design fleets. Last Saturday we had nine Picos on the water supported by Chris Symons, Paul Jennings, Julian James and the expanding Bradley family in three ribs. Sadly the conditions were against us and we only managed one race before the wind went and the tide arrived.
There are three more Saturdays in the Calendar with fleet racing scheduled. So if you are keen, talk to other sailors in your class- if you have any questions you can contact Martin Bean or Pete French. This is slightly experimental and is meant to be extra racing for those who want to do it. You may have to help in the ribs or with the race management, but the aim is to provide more racing for the “hard core” who are super keen.
Saturday practice sessions
There are two more practice sessions before Dingy Week, on June 19th (hopefully the Round the Island Race will be long gone by 2pm), and July 10th.
A reminder for classes with more than one rig
You must state at the beginning of each series if you are going to sail with anything other than the fastest handicap rig for your boat ( e.g if you are using a radial laser sail, or pico training sail). If you then change to a faster rig during the series, you may not get a result. If you change from a full rig to a slower rig, you will still be scored at the faster handicap. The next Sunday series starts on Sun Jun 13th, and the second Wednesday series starts on Jun 23rd.
Congratulations
To Josh Atherton and Sophie Heritage, who represented the island at the World Island Youth Games in the Azores. Josh was 5th overall in the Optimist boys, and Sophie was 11th in the Optimist girls- she was also the youngest girl sailor there at just 11 years old
Dates for your diary
Summer Pimms Party - Saturday July 17th
Tickets £10 include Pimms, buffet and 70’s music. Contact Steve Cole or Ann Moorman in the clubhouse or on 07874019066
Gurnard Village Regatta -Saturday 14th August
A fun regatta organised by the village, with activities on and off the water. Look out for more details
Gurnard Newsletter April 2010
Welcome back to sailing in 2010. Once again we have got through another winter; only this one seemed longer and colder than usual. It's quite hard to remember that only a few weeks ago we were frozen in, surrounded by snow and ice, which is why it was so great over the last couple of weeks to see boats back on the water in classic early season conditions.
Throughout the winter Gurnard Bay looked strange with no racing marks in the water, then in the course of a week they all reappeared, amazing how that happens. I need to say a huge thanks to everyone who turned up for the Work-Party, those who worked quietly in the back-ground throughout the winter, and those helped with the winter social programme.
So here we go 2010, enjoy.
Martin Bean.
Sailing
- The race tactics talk and coaching sessions with Mark Rushall last weekend were well attended, and in spite of a distinct lack of wind, both adult and cadet participants were able to get on the water to practice their new skills.
- There is a change to sailing instructions for this season's racing. Boats with more than one sail plan (e.g. Pico, laser, feva and eventually, RS100 ), will be allocated the fastest handicap for their class, unless the race box is notified at the beginning of a series, or on the first race sailed by a boat, that the smaller rig will be used. The small rig must then be used for all races in the series; otherwise the handicap for all races sailed will revert to the faster one. This change is intended to encourage novices, and to stop more experienced sailors using a change in rig to take advantage of conditions. If you accept that you will take the faster handicap, the rig can be changed whenever you want to.
- Wednesday night racing starts on April 21st, and the RS400 race training sessions run on 4 consecutive Friday evenings from Fri April 16th, see the web site for more details
Events coming up in May:
- Bank holiday Monday (3rd May) class trophy races- usual Sunday start times
- Fastnet Race Sat 15th May, start late morning- this 'long distance race' is a handicap/pursuit race to the Fastnet buoy, off Hillhead, and back, in support of the hospice. Fevas are the slowest boats allowed in the race, which usually takes around 2 hours, and there is a small entrance fee.
- RS400 open May 22/23rd. See website for more details
- Saturday practice sessions - see calendar for dates- safety boats will be on the water on these afternoons, to provide cover for sailors practicing in the bay area .
- Picnic race Sat May 29th -watch the website for details- this is a fun race usually to Newtown entrance for a picnic and rounders before sailing home.
- Go to the website to read Paul Hayden's blog from the moth worlds
Dinghy week and Junior Dinghy Regatta
· Preparations are well under way for dinghy week (25-30 July). The format has changed slightly this year- details are in the Notice of Race which is now published on the website.
- Once again, this year's junior regatta will be held immediately before dinghy week from Friday 23rdJuly until lunchtime on Sunday 25th. It is open to all sailors aged under 16 on 31 August 2010 and who have achieved RYA Level 2 or above. Main changes this year are that Fevas will replace the two-up Pico race fleet and we have lifted the restriction that had previously prevented the more capable cadets from sailing in the dinghy week races. We still need parent volunteers to help either on or off the water with sailing or social activities - if you feel you can help, please contact Chris Symons on 299330 orsymons4@talktalk.net
- Entry forms for both regattas are available on the website. Pico and feva hire is available for both regattas, but there are only 4 picos and 3 fevas available for each event. These will be allocated on a first come first served basis to regatta applications received with boat hire forms and full payment for both, so get your applications in early!
Cadets
- Over 90 cadets have signed up for training this year, and many of them came to the registration evening last week. The first training event of the season will be this weekend, April 17/18, with the level 2 power boat course, and assistant instructor's course, and the sailing assessment for new cadets.
· 'How to do Protests'- There will be an evening session on Thurs April 29th for Cadets at start racing or above, to unravel the mysteries of the protest system- there will be mock protests, and (hopefully) some videos. Free to cadets, but please let Mark know if you plan to attend
· Congratulations to Optimist sailors Josh Atherton and Sophie Heritage, who have been selected as part of the 4-strong IOW sailing team to go to the Youth Island Games in the Azores in 2 May
· Well done to the boy's match racing team, who were awarded the Junior Team Award at the Island Sport Awards recently. The boys (James French, Tom Harrison, Robbie Southwell and Ed Collinge) are part of a group of 10 cadets who have organised and taken part in regular keelboat training over the winter, with the aim of competing in a series of match racing and other events, culminating in the RYA youth match racing championships in August, and a return to Italy in September. Thanks to Mark, Judith and Cordelia for coaching, and to Caroline for her direction and secretarial skills
General
- The rotas have now all gone out. To make swaps easier plan to publish the August to Decemberdraft editions on the website during April. Please remember to note your duty date/s as last year we had quite a few 'no shows' particularly in the kitchen. This causes unfair burdens on your fellow members who do turn up for their duty. Click below to see each rota:
- Bar Safety Boat Kitchen
- Many thanks for supporting the club in such a vital area.
Mark Southwell, Rear Commodore House
· Club opening hours-
Please remember that the club is only open when there are activities scheduled: Sunday mornings from 9.30am-2pm until early December, Wednesday evenings from April to September, and Thursday and Friday evenings during the training season from May to July. Outside these hours, please contact a committee member if you need help or advice. Contact e-mail addresses are on the website.
· Date for your diary-
There will be a fund-raising dinner in aid of the Youth Development Fund on Sat May 29th 7.30 at GSC- theme "Dressed to Kill". Click here for more details
Easterly - A coastal sailing adventure, by Brian L. Bennett - worth a read.