Oh yeh, did I mention that we met Tom Jones and Dame Shirley Bassey in Tenby? They really are a lovely couple, and corr blimey can Tom tinkle the ivories.
Saturday 21 August 2010
Tom & Shirley
Oh yeh, did I mention that we met Tom Jones and Dame Shirley Bassey in Tenby? They really are a lovely couple, and corr blimey can Tom tinkle the ivories.
Friday 20 August 2010
Final Day Standings
Howling winds, even thunder & lightning, has cancelled the last race of the series. Ben & Jenny Vines will be crowned 2010 National Champions.
It has been a superb week of sailing - competitive right through the fleet. Few people managed the kind of consistency shown by the Vines throughout the week and they are very worthy champions. Our final result is 15th overall, the same as last year but with a tougher top fleet this year we are really delighted. Dave & Betty finsihed off 21st overall, another good result while Patrick and Bill sailed 4040 (Twofortea) into 40th position overall, soo that's Threefortea then! Sophie and Alan climbed to 43rd thanks to their better results in the final two races. Jamie remained as laid back as a welsh deckchair for the entire week, finishing in the Heinz position of 57th overall with Guy and Katie and the oldest boat in the fleet just 1 behind.
Time to load up the wagon and leave this town...just in time to join a queue of caravans on the A30!
Thanks for all your comments and encouragement.
Cheers,
Ben
It has been a superb week of sailing - competitive right through the fleet. Few people managed the kind of consistency shown by the Vines throughout the week and they are very worthy champions. Our final result is 15th overall, the same as last year but with a tougher top fleet this year we are really delighted. Dave & Betty finsihed off 21st overall, another good result while Patrick and Bill sailed 4040 (Twofortea) into 40th position overall, soo that's Threefortea then! Sophie and Alan climbed to 43rd thanks to their better results in the final two races. Jamie remained as laid back as a welsh deckchair for the entire week, finishing in the Heinz position of 57th overall with Guy and Katie and the oldest boat in the fleet just 1 behind.
Time to load up the wagon and leave this town...just in time to join a queue of caravans on the A30!
Thanks for all your comments and encouragement.
Cheers,
Ben
Thursday 19 August 2010
Race 6 & 7
Windy SW winds, 20-25 mph.
Photo of The Cornish Contingent
Chose to start half way along the gate today, and subsequently got buried in the fleet on the first beat. Rounded the windward mark with only a handful of boats behind us, but thought hey, its a long race lets get some back...30 boats would be nice.
Had some great reaches, runs and beats and climbed back to the mid/late 20s somewhere by the finish. OK, that is now our discard, we thought, lets do better in the next race...
Dave & Betty finished first Cornish boat in the early 20s and Alan and Sophie felt they were finally getting Cyclone going well.
Race 7
Took off early out the gate, went left and arrived at the mark with a pack of leaders not looking too bad. But the windward mark was absolutely rammed, everyone stacked up together and very little room for port-tackers coming in. Then things went a bit downhill... On the first attempt we failed to round the windward mark, having tacked beneath a few starboard tackers, leaing to us gybing around and having another go. Then, on our second attempt we got t-boned by a port tacker, splitting Kongs gunwale and leaving a big hole in the deck. At least we got round the mark, and finished the race, finishing mid-fleet somewhere and having created a new discard.
Again Dave & Betty finished in the 20s, first RSC boat, followed by Alan and Sophie.
I'm afraid today's scores will rather blow our series result, illustrating just how important consistency is soooo important in a championship. Speaking of which Ben & Jenny Vines scored two bullets today placing him on even points with Rob and Mel Sherrington for the championship.
Fingers crossed the weather will hold for a final show-down championship race tomorrow - but there are concerns that gales may interrupt play.
Team RSC
B
Wednesday 18 August 2010
Race 5 - The Sir Ralph Gore Trophy
Westerly 20mph all day. Terrific planing conditions for todays marathon race. The top half of the fleet racing for the most prized cup in Firefly sailing, the Sir Ralph Gore Trophy, and the 2nd half of the fleet competing for the Marlow Cup.
Team RSC got into the prizes with F8 (Fate) finishing 6th in the Marlow Fleet at the hands of Guy and Katie, and with a little help from some gaffa tape holding the planks in place underneath!
Winner of the Gore was Stuart and Jane Hudson by a country-mile, winning by some 3 minutes. Top RSC boat was myself and Liz, finishing 10th...we think. In which case we will be Pathfinder for the gate start tomorrow, yikes! Ah - just seen the results and we came 11th today, so our pathfinding will have to wait another time.
Dave and Betty finished a few boats behind us
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Race 4
Blowy NW, very shifty.
Classic welsh wetness greeted us this morning. This is more like the welsh weather that i remember from Swansea Uni days. The beer hasn't changed much since those days either - they put something funny in it to make your head go wobbly you know, and both Liz and I were still wobblinng this morning. Managed to lose one glove on the slipway which I found, but by then I had lost the other one! So it was a Michael Jackson impression from me today.
So it was with that auspicious beginning that we wobbled into our good ship Kong for Race 4...
Today was a one-race day, with a gate start and we were first boat out the gate allowing us to take advantage of the shifty conditions. 3rd around the windward mark - lovely. But it was a long race and a tricky one. Places were traded on every leg, we did well on some and were overtaken on others. Unfortunately for us our last beat was our worst, tacking on the shifts up the middle while boats that went up either side did better. We finished 11th.
Next Restronguet boat was Dave & Betty in their purplink (not quite purple, not quite pink) boat Water Spider
Jamie's sister Lindsay crewed for him today, both beaming with smiles throughout the race. Guy and Katie enjoyed a paticularly good final beat among the back half of the fleet, pushing their boat 'Fate' (F8)hard to overtake a good bunch. The poor old girl needs some emergency TLC though after a couple of planks popped, so much was the strain.
Tomorrow is the marathon race for one of the most prestigious prizes in sailing history - the Sir Ralph Gore Trophy. A mimimum of 3 hours or 13 miles, whichever comes first.
Cheers for now,
Ben
Classic welsh wetness greeted us this morning. This is more like the welsh weather that i remember from Swansea Uni days. The beer hasn't changed much since those days either - they put something funny in it to make your head go wobbly you know, and both Liz and I were still wobblinng this morning. Managed to lose one glove on the slipway which I found, but by then I had lost the other one! So it was a Michael Jackson impression from me today.
So it was with that auspicious beginning that we wobbled into our good ship Kong for Race 4...
Today was a one-race day, with a gate start and we were first boat out the gate allowing us to take advantage of the shifty conditions. 3rd around the windward mark - lovely. But it was a long race and a tricky one. Places were traded on every leg, we did well on some and were overtaken on others. Unfortunately for us our last beat was our worst, tacking on the shifts up the middle while boats that went up either side did better. We finished 11th.
Next Restronguet boat was Dave & Betty in their purplink (not quite purple, not quite pink) boat Water Spider
Jamie's sister Lindsay crewed for him today, both beaming with smiles throughout the race. Guy and Katie enjoyed a paticularly good final beat among the back half of the fleet, pushing their boat 'Fate' (F8)hard to overtake a good bunch. The poor old girl needs some emergency TLC though after a couple of planks popped, so much was the strain.
Tomorrow is the marathon race for one of the most prestigious prizes in sailing history - the Sir Ralph Gore Trophy. A mimimum of 3 hours or 13 miles, whichever comes first.
Cheers for now,
Ben
Monday 16 August 2010
Race 2 and 3
Light NW winds and sunshine greeted the 66 competitors this morning in Tenby. Tenby is a lot like a welsh version of St Ives. Not just the buckets and spades and inflatable dinghies adourning every shop front, but the same beautiful beaches, harbour and narrow streets. The driving ban betwen 10 and 5pm would be a good idea for St Ives too.
Already few bruises on display throughout the fleet.
Race one was meant to be a traditional line-start, but after 3 failed attempts at getting a fair start away the race committee opted for a gate start instead.
Then the gate start too was abandoned mid-way, but a second gate-start got the fleet underway at long last. A pretty frustrating race for us as we went from looking very good to mid-fleet to down-the-pan, then crawled our way back to 20th at the finish. Once again Dave & Betty finished first RSC boat, finishing 2 boats in front of us and having had a similar race.
Race 2
Once again we started at the beginning of the gate, thinking that left would pay as the wind was forecast to back and to make use of any shifts. After about 1 minute a shift came through allowing us to tack accross pretty much the entire fleet - just about the best sight in the world! 4th around the windward mark, the leader being the pathfinder* from the gate start which is pretty incredible given he was the boat furthest right. He led from there all the way to the finish.
On the final beat we dropped to sixth but managed to overhaul the two boats in front in an exciting end to the race, 4th - a really great feeling.
Now scoring a 20th (discard), 18th and a 4th
*Pathfinder
A gate start is different to a line start. A boat is nominated as the PATHFINDER, and he must sail close-hauled on port tack and during a window of 2 minutes the fleet can start by crossing behind him on starboard tack.
Already few bruises on display throughout the fleet.
Race one was meant to be a traditional line-start, but after 3 failed attempts at getting a fair start away the race committee opted for a gate start instead.
Then the gate start too was abandoned mid-way, but a second gate-start got the fleet underway at long last. A pretty frustrating race for us as we went from looking very good to mid-fleet to down-the-pan, then crawled our way back to 20th at the finish. Once again Dave & Betty finished first RSC boat, finishing 2 boats in front of us and having had a similar race.
Race 2
Once again we started at the beginning of the gate, thinking that left would pay as the wind was forecast to back and to make use of any shifts. After about 1 minute a shift came through allowing us to tack accross pretty much the entire fleet - just about the best sight in the world! 4th around the windward mark, the leader being the pathfinder* from the gate start which is pretty incredible given he was the boat furthest right. He led from there all the way to the finish.
On the final beat we dropped to sixth but managed to overhaul the two boats in front in an exciting end to the race, 4th - a really great feeling.
Now scoring a 20th (discard), 18th and a 4th
*Pathfinder
A gate start is different to a line start. A boat is nominated as the PATHFINDER, and he must sail close-hauled on port tack and during a window of 2 minutes the fleet can start by crossing behind him on starboard tack.
Sunday 15 August 2010
Race One
High tide meant an easy launch from the slipway - when the tide is out its a 1/2 mile walk!
Very light NE winds, the fleet barely made it to the start but a small increase in pressure got the fleet underway. Lots of boats chose to start through the gate early to get to the supposedly advantageous left side of the course. By lap 3 the wind gave up entirely and the fleet struggled to finish. The rule is that you must finish within one hour of the first boat finishing otherwise you will be scored as DNF or Did Not Finish. unfortunately for some of teh fleet that was the case.
The highlight of the race was the reach to the final mark which took some 45 minutes sitting going nowhere into the tide, and sometimes backwards. Then the wind swung 180 degrees and allowed us to get moving again.
Dave and Betty came from well back in the fleet to finish 15th while we finisheed 18th with 18 minutes left on the clock. Two other RSC boats finished: Alan & Sophie and Patrick & Bill. Unfortunately Guy&Katie and Jamie&Freya got caught way out in the tide and were scored DNF.
Tomorrow's forecast looks light again, but no one wants another race like that one.
Team RSC took to Tenby's beautiful South Beach for football and Ultimate Frisbee (bit like netball but with a frisbee) before the spectacular Firework display in the harbour. Thank you Tenby!
Very light NE winds, the fleet barely made it to the start but a small increase in pressure got the fleet underway. Lots of boats chose to start through the gate early to get to the supposedly advantageous left side of the course. By lap 3 the wind gave up entirely and the fleet struggled to finish. The rule is that you must finish within one hour of the first boat finishing otherwise you will be scored as DNF or Did Not Finish. unfortunately for some of teh fleet that was the case.
The highlight of the race was the reach to the final mark which took some 45 minutes sitting going nowhere into the tide, and sometimes backwards. Then the wind swung 180 degrees and allowed us to get moving again.
Dave and Betty came from well back in the fleet to finish 15th while we finisheed 18th with 18 minutes left on the clock. Two other RSC boats finished: Alan & Sophie and Patrick & Bill. Unfortunately Guy&Katie and Jamie&Freya got caught way out in the tide and were scored DNF.
Tomorrow's forecast looks light again, but no one wants another race like that one.
Team RSC took to Tenby's beautiful South Beach for football and Ultimate Frisbee (bit like netball but with a frisbee) before the spectacular Firework display in the harbour. Thank you Tenby!
Sunday 8 August 2010
Practice race
A fantastic race in windy wavey conditions. We could only manage an apalling start 100 yds behind after we took on water just before. But we got to the windward mark mid fleet but we retired when we filled up again at the busy leward mk. Ah well thats what a practice race is for. Dave and betty finished first - and only - RSC boat.
Ready for the off
We sailed two more races of falmouth week today in strong breeze and big tides bringing our total to four wins from four... Cheeky. Peter and dawn still leading the fleet...good onya guys, go B2! Met a sailor from tenby. His local sailing tip was "if you can smell the sheep poo, head left." excellent! Kong packed and ready for the long trip tomorrow. Thanks to andrew pool for the loan of undercover. Ben
Flying with red wings
A beautiful day for the beginning of falmouth week. Two races in handicap fleets, mixing it up with the Redwings who are here in force for their nationals this week. These beautiful boats with their distinctive red sails were designed by Uffa Fox for Looe Sailing Club back in the day. For anyone wanting to see one up close, we have a brand new Redwing on display in the Museum for a couple of weeks.
Only one other firefly out to test our speed (Peter & Dawn Langdon) but Kong was flying today. Still waiting for the results
Only one other firefly out to test our speed (Peter & Dawn Langdon) but Kong was flying today. Still waiting for the results
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