Today I was back on the water for the 2nd time in the Contenderweight disaster still struggling to get a grip, I've had a couple of breakthroughs in technique thanks to fitting a couple of those tacking stick things to the trap lines, still didn't help me not piss it in trying to avoid a Laser at the wing mark, yeah I know what am I doing behind a Laser, I screwed up the start. Results? Probably last in both races on handicap.

What is it Q? Some Broads One Design? It is the broads you sail? Dave Edmund Jones (A yottie picture taker of my acquaintance) has moved up there, Facebook is alive with his pictures of the various regattas.

sit in, lever each side of the helms seat to push or pull with the free hand for steering, self tacking jib, 16ft long, 4 ft wide, 3 ft draft, mast and boom from a Kestrel dinghy.

 The boat is still "in development" as she spent most of the time in her shed when I came back while I went Yeoman sailing.

 I've just visited his pages on FB and they seem to be based down on Oulton Broad.. Not that it matters I recognise several of the characters, for instance the Broads cruiser " Wandering Rose" was moored up at Horning Sailing Club not 5 ft from my boat a few weeks back..

https://horning-sailing.club/" rel="nofollow - Horning Sailing Club (horning-sailing.club)  see the video at the bottom of the HSC front page for our sailing waters

I learnt to sail on the broads  about 45 years ago, although between then and now I've lived and sailed all over the place. I always wanted to come back and made it permanently in 2001...

I'll annoy people on here about the 3 Rivers Race,  http://www.3rr.uk/" rel="nofollow - Home (3rr.uk)  which HSC runs and I love , 50 miles 3 bridges to go under, and you have 24 hours to do it... Two person or more Boats from 14ft to 40ft... see the videos on Facebook...

and mention our regatta week a fortnight ago.. videos also on face book.

But he talks about close racing on Wroxham.. 

he ain't seen nothing until he tries Horning.. 

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/171525/Horning-Regatta-Week" rel="nofollow - Horning Sailing Club's 75th Anniversary Regatta Week (yachtsandyachting.com)

and this years regatta, 

https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/252422/Horning-Sailing-Club-Regatta-Week-2022" rel="nofollow - Horning Sailing Club Regatta Week 2022 (yachtsandyachting.com)

Now all the rangers carry a tablet with boat / name  / registration number / has the tax been paid..

I did 6 years in Saudi so I could afford to move here, even then it's not in one of the Favoured areas couldn't afford that... I'm outside the park area (it's not a national park) but I can see it from the garden....

You are correct , no complaining from me . It looks totally stunning. Hope you had/are having a wonderful time 

That doesn’t mean my opinion of you and grf has changed a jot since 2012. You both post for effect. End of. 

On the way down for me was a disaster,, missed the start, had real problems with the wind... in one section the burgee was spinning and the main swapping sides time and time again.. Not till we cleared all the trees did I get going properly. but by that time I was a long way behind.

After lunch the race back, I held back from the previous class start by about 100 yards.. when the first horn went off I made for the start,,, 5 minutes later I was finally approaching the line about 30ft off when the horn went for us...

We caught the first start of boats by the turning mark, the lead of the my start went passed several boats, and even my boat the slowest in both fleets managed to pass one of the faster broads cruisers ... For a short time.. Then the wind started waking from it's lunch time siesta, the faster boats went past, and I went to the back of the fleet... Some miles later, I felt the tide finally change to incoming, 1/2 hour to an hour late, Blue Moon started performing better and I started catching a Wayfarer which on Broads Handicap is about 8% faster than Blue Moon. Was with in a hundred yards of her at the finish, so she was easily beaten on Handicap, I'm not sure about any of the others in the fleet ..

just after the first start, I and others are hidden behind the big sails..

and to think, it would’ve been at least twice as challenging in that chop if the hull was half the weight

Or it might have skipped over rather than ploughed through and with a lighter hull I wouldn't have needed to be wrestling 69kgs against 11 sq mtrs of soft flogging dacron.. 

 But whatever it was 'Right on the edge' exhilerating and that doesn't often happen dinghy sailing, well not to me anyway, most enjoyable (Once it'd stopped)

I like the length for docile manners, the wetted area in light I can live with and some weight helps carry momentum through manoeuvres. I agree though for us pee-wees, maybe a few less kilos of hull would need less grunt to drive it away from gusts.  

Mind, the balance seems fine for the 6 foot 90kg'ers and the suitably skilled.

Did many women helm it? That was from that unfortunate era in dinghy history where marketing aspiration exceeded human ability. 

I remember Roger Tushingham then fresh from an Olympic FD campaign telling a very humourous tale of the RS600 at Minorca Sailing and his attempts to sail it and subsequent realisation dinghy sailing had entered its 'Windsurfing Division 2' phase and was beyond normal working human expectation.

 I forgot my watch, once again was failed by my apple watch app and was last away by probably twenty odd seconds and it was a slog, the wind came up even more, not really a problem with the Contender, but theTasar pulled out so I'm playing catch up. I can sail it now, but I wouldn't call me race ready in this wind I struggle to hold a better sailed Laser even but I'm making progress.

Boats start at 5 minute intervals dinghies first,  40ft sailing cruisers last,  there were 9 groups this year.

The race was started at the club due to the expected wind, however it soon became apparent the wind was not going to arrive, so the down river mark was brought back by a couple of miles and the finish moved down river by about 3 miles to Horning waterworks..

Solo's came first and third on their Broads Handicap of taking 20% off their finishing time, between them was Storm  a 35ft broads sailing cruiser with  mast of something like 50ft, her handicap is 18% added to her finishing time.

There was a massive traffic jam at the end of the village, where there was enough wind to keep boats taking across the river, but not to make headway down river against the incoming tide, some boats spent 45 minutes there before the tide slackened enough to escape.

We spent the race following the last of the falling over boats, dinghies punts etc, for most of the race that was a Wivenhoe one design and a Farr 3.7 (that had come up from Kent for the race.).

the full results.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eRBpb-QtQt_k9xi9JcbwUwjjFeYjj1BV/view

I was last off , as our Aero sailor decided to go with the 7 rig, but the rain seemed to have killed off the forecasted wind and the first couple of laps were dire so much so I was nearly lapped by the early starting boats . Luckily the wind filled in and and I could pull away from them but with 15mins to go I was only 7th with a gaggle of boats just ahead. With a lot of luck and a tiny bit of skill I managed to pass them by the time the gun when and found myself in third place . 

I was quite please with that , as it was a good result for me, so much so I treated myself to a second glass of wine at the bar afterwards 

I saw a pretty tight looking radial down at Weymouth speed week, it was being used by a girl quite a big lass probably bigger than me probably some Olympic squaddie. It had a full carbon rig, all manner of control systems the like of which I've never witnessed on a Laser, I'm thinking what kind of Bandit capability is this, what is the Radial nowadays and with that carbon mast and all those controls it probably wouldn't be that bad to sail.

On another note it was good to see even some weeks after the event that Y&Y have woken up to real things that go on, on the ground with normal folk, pity they missed half of what went on, that Weymotuh speed week is a jewel in the UK sail crown, so many interesting folk down there, so many eccentrics and it's been going on for fifty years there were three hundred down there when you take all the  Windsurfer, Kiters, Wing Sailors and other craft, an amazing spectacle on the 1st Saturday, well worth a trip.

Typically after the 1st race I'd forgotten about the bales - until I crashed into one with predictable results

Not my best day sailing by any means , started as last man off in 11th place and finished 8th . Not my best day on the water by any means .  But as they say even a bad day on the water is better than a good day at work. 

 First Race, 

2/3rds of the way through  we were forced to tack across the river and as we tried to head up a little on gaining a little "speed" nothing happened, we just drifted down river, nothing we did would change that.. Eventually we gave up as everyone had passed us by some way and drifted back to the club only sort of under control..

Who else in forum land was brave/silly enough to go racing today ? 😀

Went into the club house had a bacon butty and coffee... And waited..

Racing abandoned for an hour ,

an hour later racing abandoned.

Left an hour later 

Still no wind..

It’s just my wife and I have discussed many times the fact that we intend to be members of a sailing club long after we can physically sail as we enjoy it so much . 

The best of Clubs  are so much than than a club house and facilities .

We have been at our current club for so long because of the warmth of people, sometimes if people leave so does that warm feeling . 

Who else managed to get some sailing in over the holiday period? 😀

Sunday did 3 races two seconds and a third second overall best open meeting result todate.

Not bad for someone 65 later inthe month inforce 5 gusting 6 in a very lumpy Solent from LOSSC

I need to update signature to Phantom 1465 Seacreature

The third race I did have a competitor to play with. But got a big gust of wind right on the start line and broached into the start line outer mark. By the time I'd gone round the rest of the race was just playing catch up.

My news since I last posted anything , is I did a nationals, not my first but the first where I had a full set of results. At a new club to me , Hollowell sc. Nice club and I was really impressed, so friendly and vibrant and local to me too. You never know what’s under you nose .

I am still sailing the D-zero most weeks , it’s definitely not the best boat for the tiny water we sail on , but I still love it and if it pi@@es me off too much , I simply retire behind the bar .

Happy sailing everyone . 

I finally got the chance to take two of my kids sailing (many years too late, I fear) and they both loved it!

One got the Pico in a F4 with spray hitting them in the face all day, and a de-masting.

The other got the Enterprise in a F2 with a more gentle introduction to waves and how to catch seaweed.

Always great to hear tales of kids loving a introduction to sailing . Our daughter always loved it , even though she couldn’t cope with racing side of our sport. 

She is 27 now and doesn’t sail regularly, but sometimes I will still on a windy day, get a call saying ‘ dad can I take your boat out for a blast ‘