Professional PRO and W/L racing at Draycote Water Sailing Cl

Draycote Water Sailing Club, the premier sailing venue in the Midlands, has long enjoyed a great reputation for very competitive fleet sailing, a great stretch of water in a beautiful country park setting, and a very active social scene. Ideally situated within very easy reach of the M1 and M6 motorways, it attracts members and visitors from far and wide, especially at this time of year with the combination of late opening, professional rescue cover and high water levels making that evening sail a great proposition any day of the week.

Although the traditional “round the cans” racing on Wednesday evenings and Sundays has long been the mainstay of Draycote’s sailing scene, following very successful trials over the winter and spring, the club is delighted to announce a number of new racing formats to cater for all sailors, dinghies and tastes.

Firstly, windward/leeward racing is now run every Sunday. The race is run based on average lap times, meaning that an RS Feva can race a 49er on a level playing field, but more importantly all boats will get a sensible length race. With 38 boats taking part thus far the format has proved to be hugely popular, and as well as attracting the asymmetric, hydrofoil, and youth boats who normally race windward/leeward, it has also proved very popular with the traditional classes where sailors are really looking to improve their upwind and downwind tactical skills and boathandling.

Whether you choose to race “round the cans” or “up and down”, all classes now join together for the last race on summer Sundays, enabling sailors in boats as diverse as Norfolk Punts or 12’ Skiffs to pit themselves on a club course against the more usual Solos and Fireballs. This makes for very interesting racing and some very interesting results!

And should you be racing in any of the Sunday formats, or even one of the 100 minute pursuit races held throughout the year which decides the “Club Champion”, you can be assured of a great sail on a great course thanks to an innovative step which has been taken by the club - the forthcoming appointment of a professional Principal Race Officer.

Ensuring that all aspects of club races are run to a high standard, the PRO takes overall responsibility for the quality of the racing, making life easier for our OOD teams every week. We’re still a sailing club, not a leisure facility, so club members will still be required to undertake the OOD duty from time to time. Which means that those members will still benefit from the valuable experience of being involved in the race management, but without the undeniable stress of getting the course and the race length just right! This is a bold move, aimed at reaffirming Draycote Water as a centre of excellence for all types of racing, week in, week out, all year round.

So if an excellent location, great sailing, great windsurfing, high quality midweek and weekend racing in a variety of formats, a thriving social scene, dinghy classes from the beginner to the extreme, RYA Champion club status, professional rescue and race staff, good water levels all year round, refurbished changing rooms, no waiting-to-join lists and long opening hours were not reasons enough to sail at Draycote, here’s another three hundred and sixty four…the club is open every day of the year apart from Christmas Day!

For more information please call 01788 811153 or see www.draycotewater.co.uk