We are well into the sailing season now and as the Spring Series has come to an end and we are starting the Summer Series, I thought it was time for a brief round up.
We have had some really good sailing so far this year. In the Spring Series only one race, the first one, was not sailed. The remaining 19 races were all completed. In parallel with the main Spring Series we are running the Early Bird Series. This is the first race on occasional Sundays and it is going well with all 5 races sailed so far. Thursday sailing started in mid April is also going well with only 1 race abandoned due to lack of wind. The other series being sailed at present such as the Theo Dodd, Will O’the Wisp, etc. are not doing so well. These are sailed as the last race on Sundays and too many people want to go home.
We have had a good variety of winds from most directions of the compass – often all during the course of a single race! Of course the windy days somehow seem to coincide with days when I am not sailing or on duty & the windless days when I do plan to sail. But that’s life. The turn out has also been excellent. It is great to see some new faces out on the water and joining in the racing. I would particularly like to welcome Derek Farnfield and the Murphys into the elite band of ‘regular’ sailors. It is also fantastic to see some juniors out on the water & starting to race, so well done to the Murphys and Cushings for that.
A total of 5 boats qualified for the Spring Series. To qualify you needed to sail in at least 9 races. The honours this year go to Martin Cushing, with Paul Bullock and Mike Harris coming second and third respectively.
We are also running the personal handicap system again this year. For those of you not familiar with this, we run 3 series; spring, summer and autumn in parallel with the main series. Each helm is given a personal handicap for each boat they sail and this is adjusted on the basis of their performance in the last series – so its a bit like a golf handicap. To qualify for entry, you need to complete at least 4 races in a series so we can work out what handicap to give you. A total of 17 helms participated in the Spring Series. I did not qualify as I had changed my boat, so need a new handicap. Hugh managed to qualify for a position by sailing enough races in his old boat and sail sufficient races in his new boat to generate a handicap for the Summer Series, so that was very well planned. The honours were again taken by Peter Williams, with Paul Bullock and Mike Harris in second and third respectively. Peter has now won three times in a row. If he looks like running away with the Summer Series, I may just have to arbitrarily nobble his handicap!
Finally a reminder that results are published on the Colemere website. Just go to the racing page and click on the links to the main and personal handicap series. Thanks to Paul for setting all this up.
Don’t forget the Fun Regatta on the 11 July. Steve Locke is coming up with some really exciting events. More on this will be published shortly.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the water during the summer.
Rob Sears
Captain
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