Lord Birkett Trophy

   Yes Saturday was memorable. A lot of boats, both upwind and down decided to beach on the way. When there largely aren't beaches on the Lake, just rock, you had to be pretty desperate to beach your boat. Lots of capsizes by keelboats,both upwind and down, mostly the VX Ones who we were with upwind but a Soling also had a good try at capsizing downwind.Navigation was tricky, there were free swimmers floating about which you had to avoid. Then downwind, there was a VX One with crew floating about some way behind the boat. While the VX One sailed on! An Osprey helm also went out of the back of the boat, and after unwrapping the mainsheet from around his legs, he hitched a lift from a passing singlehander, holding onto the transom, till the singlehander caught up with his Osprey. He said it was pretty hard work holding on! Another sight was a D One surfing downwind under bare poles. Upwind was wild, we had to completely rag both main and jib at times, but apart from strength of wind, there was a huge ratio between gust and lull, and it was very shifty. Still upwind was easy compared with down wind, it was blowing. We were wearing round instead of gybing, but still fell in on one of the wear rounds. The Birkett is a great event, and this year's will stay in the memory!

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AlanH Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Groupie Joined: 17 Apr 10 Location: Scotland Online Status: Offline Posts: 84	Post Options Post Reply Quote AlanH Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Lord Birkett Trophy Posted: 06 Jul 16 at 12:20pm
	Yes Saturday was memorable. A lot of boats, both upwind and down decided to beach on the way. When there largely aren't beaches on the Lake, just rock, you had to be pretty desperate to beach your boat. Lots of capsizes by keelboats,both upwind and down, mostly the VX Ones who we were with upwind but a Soling also had a good try at capsizing downwind.Navigation was tricky, there were free swimmers floating about which you had to avoid. Then downwind, there was a VX One with crew floating about some way behind the boat. While the VX One sailed on! An Osprey helm also went out of the back of the boat, and after unwrapping the mainsheet from around his legs, he hitched a lift from a passing singlehander, holding onto the transom, till the singlehander caught up with his Osprey. He said it was pretty hard work holding on! Another sight was a D One surfing downwind under bare poles. Upwind was wild, we had to completely rag both main and jib at times, but apart from strength of wind, there was a huge ratio between gust and lull, and it was very shifty. Still upwind was easy compared with down wind, it was blowing. We were wearing round instead of gybing, but still fell in on one of the wear rounds. The Birkett is a great event, and this year's will stay in the memory!

fleaberto Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 12 Jan 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 302	Post Options Post Reply Quote fleaberto Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 16 at 4:59pm
	Mind you, did you see the Thames A-Rater on Sunday? - how spectacular was that? It wisely didn't go out on Saturday, but made for a brilliant sight on Sunday. Even if we nearly crashed into a Vago sailor whilst ogling the A-Rater near the start!
	Lightning368 'All the Gear' (409), Lightning368 'Sprite' (101), Laser (big number) 'Yellow Jack', RS Vareo (432)'The Golden Rays'

ChrisI Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Posting king Joined: 09 Aug 10 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 143	Post Options Post Reply Quote ChrisI Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 16 at 5:42pm
	Yes, all fairly wild - we decided to head back under almost bare poles on the Saturday - but Sunday was very enjoyable. Did you see the A-Rater returning to the club on Sunday?

Do Different Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 26 Jan 12 Location: North Online Status: Offline Posts: 1312	Post Options Post Reply Quote Do Different Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 06 Jul 16 at 10:05pm
	Given the accounts of Saturday. Matty & James Lyons sailing gods? A 49er! hardly a classic shifty & gusty lake boat.

ohFFsake Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 04 Sep 08 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 219	Post Options Post Reply Quote ohFFsake Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 13 Jul 16 at 12:11am
	Probably the windiest Birkett there has ever been and will ever be, for the simple reason that any more breeze and it wouldn't have started. I felt proud to be one of "the few" that finished Saturday's race, largely due to having a lump of cast iron underneath, though I should also admit that said lump of iron did see daylight at one point! As said above, Matty and James showed true star quality to get the 49er round without a single swim. Amazing stuff!