Newsletter May 2000
Back to Latest Newsletter
Pages
2 V-C's Report Welcome

3 Rear View

4/5 Plans for the future

6 Solo News

7/8 Youth Scene, Junior Fleet Report

9 GP14 News

10 Fireball News

11 Laser news

12 Summer BBQ
Calling All Debtors...

13 GP14 Dovey Week end

14 Phased by The Zone?

15 Website News & Plas Menai 2000 Report




COMMODORE'S COLUMN

As a Sailing Club we are pretty good at what we do and the achievements of our active members are impressive at both national and world levels. The one thing we have repeatedly not been good at is publicity - simply telling the world outside Chelmarsh what a great club we have and how good it is to sail on our beautiful lake.
Part of this was rectified on Saturday April 29th when we celebrated becoming a Volvo RYA 'Champion Club'. We are one of only four sailing clubs in the whole of the R Y A Midlands & West Region to achieve this status so we can all share in the honour of being a leading club in our sport. The Youth Regatta held as part of the celebrations was well attended with 19 'under 19s' taking part. To add to the sense of occasion there was a display by Volvo who generously sponsored the day and provided a range of prizes including televisions for the winners. First place was shared by two Optimist sailors who were presented with a television set each. With press coverage and the help of the Volvo publicity machine watch out for much more publicity this year!

The year 2000 is proving to be a great one for achievements by several of our present and former members. Andy Beadsworth has qualified for the Sydney Olympics and we wish him every success at The Games. Keith Wilkins is fresh back from the Laser Worlds in Brazil where he was totally victorious. Sarah Allen took part in the GP 14 World Championships in South Africa where she was 1st Lady Helm - a great achievement for a fifteen year old!
Meanwhile out in Thailand Bob Cullen proved a great warm-up act in the week before the main event, helming for son Paul - not a mean feat for someone four times Sarah's age!! Paul went on to take 19th place while Mike & Karen Whitehouse ended the week at 35th. Truly a Champion Club in more ways than one.
With many of our members disappearing off to various Open Meetings the Committee will be putting up a white board in the bar area. When you return from taking part in your event away from home - tell us about it. Use the white hoard to let us know how you got on, we really like to know.
Meanwhile, back home it's not all about pot hunting and winners. Most of us are on the water simply to enjoy ourselves wherever we are in the fleet.
The bright yellow buoys are proving a big success. Even the birds are dazzled by them and appear to be treating them with some respect!

This years training courses are well under way and our fleet of training boats continues to expand and improve. For news on Clubhouse improvements see the article inside the Newsletter. I do assure you we are 'on the case', the wait will be worthwhile.
Great place to be, Chelmarsh, this summer - make sure you are part of it.

PETER WIDDOWSON, Commodore.

GOING TO AN OPEN? SAVE PETROL AND THE ENVIRONMENT

TAKE ONE CAR INSTEAD OF TWO

HIRE MY WEST MERSEA LOWERING DOUBLE TRAILER

£10 PER WEEKEND

CALL GARTH REYNOLDS

01746 861992

Page 2

 
VICE-COMMODORE'S REPORT

With the Summer fleet series and Wednesday night sailing well underway we can enjoy barbecues and open-air drinking once more. We have already had 3 successful Open meetings — Thanks to Peter Widdowson and team for running St. David's Day, Tim for the Laser Open, and Fred for the Youth Regatta (not forgetting all the old faithfuls who regularly run the galley and man the rescue boats). It was fantastic to see so many Chelmarsh youth on the water.
Our next important event on the water is the Solo Open on Saturday June 1Oth. Thanks to all of Garth's hard work I'm sure we'll have a really good turnout as we now have so many enthusiastic Solo sailors. Good luck to you all.
I'm sure there are congratulations to Sarah expressed elsewhere in this news letter, but I'd like to add mine and say "Well done in South Africa" (I wish I was 15 once more!)

I have just returned from a wonderful weekend at Aberdovey — unfortunately the winds were very light (the highlight of Sunday was surfing the waves back over the bar!) but the social scene was excellent. Sue and David Mount were fantastic hosts. I hope the Solos enjoyed Salcombe as much as we enjoyed Aberdovey.

This year we have planned some 'Taster Sessions' instead of an Open Day, where anyone with an interest can come and experience dinghy sailing and be shown around the clubhouse. Perhaps you have friends who have expressed an interest BRING THEM ALONG! If you are able to help at any or all of these sessions I would very much appreciate it. I'll need willing volunteers from all the fleets to take visitors out for a sail, serve tea and cakes, and generally persuade them that sailing is the best thing since sliced bread. Taster Sessions are: July 15th, 22nd, and August 26th. 1:OO-5:OOpm..


Enjoy your sailing
Sally Fowler

Chelmarsh Reservoir
Hampton Loade
Near Bridgnorth
Shropshire
WV16 6BL



Clubhouse Phone: 01746-861560

E-mail:
sail@chelmarsh.mariner.co.uk



 Wednesday

evening sailing

Why not join us?
the race starts at 7.15 and why not stay for the
barbeque and discussions


Welcome to new members.

On behalf of all members, the committee would like to welcome the following new members to Chelmarsh Sailing Club. We hope that you will enjoy not only some excellent sailing, but also the friendship of all our members.

    Paul Stanford of Brierley Hill
    Katherine Stubbs of Stafford
    Robert Rowley of Wheaton Aston
    Martin Preece of Chorley
    David Naylor of Bridgnorth
    Johnny Themans of Bridgnorth
    Enid Bibby of Bridgnorth
    David Adams of Habberley


Page 3
REAR VIEW

I have been told to make this brief! Which is always music to my ears!

Thank you to everyone who helped in the galley at the recent youth regatta, you were all very much appreciated.

The first full club social event that you have all been waiting for takes place on the 17th June. Yes the B-B-Q. Tickets are £7.50 with a concession for youngsters. Stop me and buy one. Quickly, because demand is already at unprecedented levels!

On a more mundane note, could people putting food in the freezer after they have OD'd (on fruit pudding presumably) please mark it with the date. I recently found some lemon curd purportedly from 1988!

Gary


PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Clubhouse Developments
Architect's Plan1 Plan 2 drawings

In the middle of this Newsletter you will find the plans we have had drawn up for the Clubhouse we are aiming to have in the future. ( The plans are not available on this electronic news letter. They can be viewed in the Club House) The idea of the improved building is to create a sailing club that is not only functional but also feels like a sailing club both inside and out. The room above the current OOD room will have a 'ship style' roof design. The wooden balcony with access from the new room and the galley will give excellent views over the whole of the lake. The sweeping wooden ramp will give access for disabled guests and members and will give a whole new look to the Clubhouse. Improved and enlarged changing rooms with heating, ventilation and plenty of hot water will bring 'comfort' into an area where it was previously unknown. We are very conscious that many members want to bring wives, partners, family and children up to the Club when they are sailing and at the moment facilities can be lacking. The room currently used as our bar is earmarked for new uses - a comfortable area for visitors and members, a crèche perhaps, fitness room — we are open to suggestions. We want our visitors to be comfortable (there's that word again!).
All this planning takes time and effort. Our architect has drawn up plans and the fuller version will soon be on display in the bar. Planning permission has been applied for and costings from builders/heating engineers/gas suppliers etc etc
are being sought. The Water Board has indicated that they wish to replace all the windows facing the lake.
Originally we split the works into three phases and had planned to use club monies to fund Phase One to carry out improvements to the changing rooms and heating. Phases Two and Three were planned to be completed as grant aid came through. After much consideration the Committee has decided to pitch for grant aid from the National Lottery and Sport England as we would really like to carry out the building work in one complete go. We realize that this will add to the waiting but feel it will be well worth the delay.
To cover immediate needs we are looking into the age old problem of insufficient hot water provision and intend to rectify this as soon as possible. I hope to keep you up to date with our progress. I would ask for your patience as these things certainly do not happen overnight and the reward for waiting will be much improved facilities and a Clubhouse we can all be proud of

PETER WIDDOWSON
Commodore

Page 6
SOLO NEWS

I'm pleased to say that the Solo fleet now numbers fourteen and that without counting Peter Bond's boat which we can hardly include since one of our number put his knee through the floor of it; perhaps praying for more wind ? As the weather improves more Solo owners are coming out of hibernation and joining in the racing on Sundays. We now have a proper Solo flag, international code numeral one, elegantly stitched by our Vice Commodore for which we thank her. Any time now we shall be able to claim that bottle of Champagne from Peter Bond for the ninth boat to finish a race.
A few weeks ago Walter, Neil, Sam and I took our courage in both hands and went to Barnt Green Sailing Club to take part in our first ever Open Meeting. To say that we had an interesting day is about the best we can say. To start with we had a number of problems loading and transporting the boats with several unscheduled stops along the way to secure bits that were coming adrift.
Arriving somewhat late we found we had to park away from the main boat park and by the time we were ready to sail the first race was starting. Walter just managed to get to the start line in time for the re-start following a general recall, the rest of us had to wait until after lunch to sail races Two and Three. We all ended up well down the pecking order, Walter doing best at 25th out of 30. Sam was our only prizewinner getting a large tub of chocolates for being youngest competitor.
There were some very top ranking Solo sailors there most notable of which was Jim Hunt, Solo World Champion taking all three first places sailing his brand new Winder epoxy boat and stretching his lead to a good ten boat lengths from his nearest rivals. However, it was a well worthwhile experience and we all now have much better idea of what to expect in the future. Our next outing is to the Salcombe Solo Open when six of us will have to tackle tides, rocks and mud banks in addition to everything else. Peter Widdowson tells me that on his first Fireball Open at Salcombe he ended up on a mud bank with a broken rudder so perhaps we had better take some spare parts with us.
Solo dates to remember are as follows: our Open on 10th June and our dinner on 3Oth September the venue for the latter will be announced later.

GARTH REYNOLDS
10 June 2000
First Race 11.00
Four Races
Entry £6

Page 7
YOUTH SCENE

Throughout the month of April, the club has been running training sessions on and off the water for the budding new Ben Ainslies of this world, every Saturday and Bank Holiday Monday in the month. On each day, five or six boats have been on the water, practising starting techniques, beating, tactics, rules and loads of other stuff in attempts to get the boats moving quicker in the right direction.

What improvements were made?

This all culminated in joining the Bank Holiday pursuit races on Easter Monday, against some well- known faces of the Chelmarsh crowd. Peter in his Laser 4.7 won the race, with one of our Toppers, Matthew Jones, coming in third, just behind a Laser — this was in a wind, strong enough for me to have to hike out & spill wind in a Topper, (God they are small and wet! !).


The Chelmarsh Volvo Youth Regatta, Saturday 29th April.

No wind forecast, mist over-hanging the water, a far from perfect start for the biggest day in the Club's Calendar in this Millennium year. The Volvos were there in their force, one by one more Chelrnarsh Sailors were turning up, contemplating why they were there, as rain had shown signs of falling. Visitors were soon to arrive on the scene, wondering why they had driven miles, when the forecast had been so bad.

All was soon to change; the sun was about to burst through, the competition was about to begin in earnest.

11 o'clock was soon upon us, the first race about to get underway. A major windshift in the prestart led to a post postponement, a quick move of the line and they were off, the two Optimists leading the way!!
Now, in Handicap racing, it is so difficult to tell who is where position-wise, as the race is progressing. It's easy to tell the boats with similar Handicaps as you can judge fairly easily as they go round who is ahead of who, but with the Oppies almost a lap behind the 420, it is a nightmare. The first race saw Chris Whitty (Optimist) finish first on the water of the boats in contention, ahead of Guy Fillmore (Oppy) followed ten minutes later by the La ser of Sam Thompson who had done a lap more. Toppers of Holly Turner and Alex Fillmore had a close battle all the way round, Alex taking the gun ahead of Holly. This meant, as the results were worked out on the shore, it was Oppy 1 of Chris, ahead of Guy, with Alex and Holly in 3rd & 4th
Race Two, different Wind Direction, different course. Up to 4 with the wind coming over the trees led to lots of problems after the start from in front of the clubhouse, parents anxiously watching how their little ones did. Again Oppies led the way in the gentle breeze, but they both bang right, a no-no at Chelmarsh. Sam Thompson in the lead, followed by Peter Cowell in the Radial got it right by going left and led at the top mark, close all the way down the fleet. The wind was slowly dying and all the boats were on the same lap as the finish approached, Sarah and Matt in the 420 took the gun, those Oppies were only haifa lap behind, this time Guy well ahead of Chris. As the results were calculated, the Oppies won again, 1 & 2, but reverse of the first race, so there was all to sail for in the last one. The Toppers were pretty close too, battling away for third place overall.
In the last race, it is the 420 of Sarah and Mart who lead the way throughout the race, Sam Trinder in his Solo, with keen (!!!) support of Dad in the Rescue boat, not too far behind, leading the Lasers. Forty mins into the race, the Oppies are coming up to do 1 lap, so we decide to finish them early. As we blow the shortened course guns, the wind picks up a tad, allowing the leaders to do their 2nd lap a lot quicker than the first, not a good sign for the Oppies who we had to finish. Sarah first across the line, and as it happened first in the 3rd race. The two Oppies still came 2nd & 3rd with Chris fortunate not to suffer from going the wrong way round the course, Guy very close on his heels. Holly and Alex again had great tussles in their Toppers, Alex just winning on the line. Results
1st Chris Whitty ( Tamworth SC) 3 pts 1,2
1st Guy Fillmore (Draycote SC) 3 pts 2,1
3rd Sarah Allen & Mart Willett (CSC) 7 pts 6,1
4th Alex Fillmore (Draycote SC) 7 pts 3,4
5th Holly Turner (CSC) 7 pts 4,3


What a day; in the end fantastic weather for Junior/Youth Racing at a very high standard, all under the scrutiny of Jane Clague, the High Performance Manager for our RYA Zone. Congratulations to all those who competed and Huge Thanks to those who helped the day be the success it turned out to be, Volvo for their financial support, and Robin Webb in Walsall who donated a prize for 3rd place.
Let's keep it up—Junior and Youth at Chelmarsh! We can get the standard of sailing even higher if we can all turn up on Sundays where separate starts will be give to you, to compete against each other in Handicap races.

Fred Thursfield

Soon the lake will be buzzing with Optimists: the club has already been given two Oppies by generous members, and we are soon to get another three, so there will be plenty of opportunity to get out on the water. Keep your eye on the notice board for more information.

Meanwhile, there has been a good junior fleet of Laser radials, Toppers and a Solo in the Spring series. There have been some very good results, Peter Cowell, Hannah Jones and Holly Turner have all won races in the class, Peter having won 5 out of the 6 races he entered.

The Junior fleet was well represented in the Youth regatta, and we look forward to a Summer of good sailing.

Brian Yates.

Page 9
GP14 NEWS

As summer is rapidly approaching and another newsletter looms near I find myself at the computer somewhat in a state of disbelief- the reason for which is that of 'deadlineitus'-. how is it possible that writing a few words of encouragement for the fleet can be so hard? So, returning to the iron discipline of my halcyon student days- "say what you're going to say, say it, and then say that you've said it". Here goes...
I want to write about people sailing GPJ4s at the worlds, people sailing GP14s not at the worlds, people not sailing GP14s but mending GPl4s, GP14 rudders and psychology in sailing GPI4s, oh... and buoys! In synopsis we are going on a wonderful adventure with allegorical undercurrents to gently caress away any doubts that sailing a GPI4 at Chelmarsh is by far the nicest dinghy experience of the new millennium!

Firstly, let's congratulate Sarah Allen and Peter for their fabulous result at the Worlds in Durban, South Africa last month. Not only did Sarah do the club proud by winning the Ladies (or should that be 'Women's' in this age of reconstructed feminine identity?) prize but by providing a genuine reason to look on the internet for the results has surely given all Chelrnarsh net-surfing tekkies valuable relief.

Lots of other sailing has been going on at the club which is all very encouraging. On April we held a crew race training day, and having persuaded people that it really was taking place a very good day ensued, complete with everyone using a spinnaker. Lots of quality time on the water meant that both skills and confidence grew. May I thank everyone who made it possible. However, the day was somewhat marred by a practical joke - essentially revolving around misinformation: I did check with the Water Board to see if the club was open following reports of an environmental spillage around the Hampton Loade area (you know who you are!!).

For the rest of you seasoned racers (and you must know who you are because I don't!) I trust due attention has been given to the notice board replete with adverts for Open Meetings. Having invested heavily in capital equipment to facilitate the optimal level of information sharing (Viz: I've bought a tin of drawing pins) please plan these summer events carefully. Just as with property, my advice is "location, location, location" otherwise that first open of the series could be in 14 acres of three foot deep puddle- or the equivalent of Dave and Linda Thursfield's old fishpond!

Since my diaries were scandalously stolen from an unzipped sailing bag and subsequently published, many of you have enquired as to my rudders- thank you. Rudder No. 1 is coming on whilst rudder 2 is resting, nestled under my bedstead. I'm still a bit concerned that 490 grams is too light and I'll never get it down onto the bottom pintle- only time will tell. Presently, this is being occupied finishing off the work to Sally and Robs' boat, Fizzer and reading Yachts and Yachting and Autotrader on the down stairs loo - I still haven't had a mention in either publication!

However, regular subscribers to Yachts and Yachting will hopefully be able to read about our Youth Open Regatta — held Saturday 29th April - marking the Club's new Champion Club status. This event heralds a new Phase (see Pete Townend's Zone article) for Chelmarsh and it was with great pride that Jane Clauge the RYA High Performance Manager for the West informed us that we are the first in the West Midlands to gain this achievement. Many people put in a lot of work on the day, however the Club owes a special debt of gratitude to those who really made it all happen: Keith, Fred and Dave Cowell. As an exercise it has been developmental for all: it came as quite a shock to find that Gary is a Renaissance man after all - being able to turn on an electric oven and subsequently adjust the controls. Notwithstanding 2 bottle of champagne and a terrible headache by 5:00pm I hugely enjoyed his pizzas.

I was most interested to observe the sailing of the youths that Saturday, not only did they display great boat handling and a good understanding of the wind, but in the most part there appeared a lack of aggravation. Recently, I have been aware that my own sailing has become more fraught with tension
and it would appear that I am not the only person to experience these sensations. On speaking with some of Sally and Robs' friends they described how their daughter, who is in Australia, was most upset to experience "Surf Rage" first hand. It appears that surfers are pinching other surfer's waves and this has lead to physical altercations both on (or should that be 'in') and off the water. Now I found this very interesting because as a keen 8 year-old body-boarder I can remember huge frustration at being balked by two West Highland Whites playing with a beach ball in the shallows at Barmouth. Could that one chance collision have started my 20 year long angry young man phase, and when will it end?

Answers on the back of a postcard to.... My psychiatrist

In conclusion we have shown that despite some evidence that, if taken too seriously, sailing can become a trigger for physiological distress, lots of entertaining and worthwhile things have occurred at Chelmarsh since Christmas. It can be argued that the trend is set to continue with Aberdovery and the summer months where even the least hardy GPers come out of the woodwork — we haven't seen that bearded book person yet and what about the Doctor fellow from Broseley....?

I nearly forgot- the buoys! What colour should buoys be? Well, depending on the whim of the race officer they could be red or green, or depending on the level of dietary fibre of the various seagulls and geese, they could be an orangie-beige but, after much hard work by our Bosun Rod, all the buoys have been replaced with new YELLOW ones. Have fun sailing around them.
Jonathan Carter— GPI4 13385 -.jonathan@carterl36.freeserve.co.uk

Page 10

FIREBALL FLEET NEWS....

The Fireball sailing season started in style with Adam Whitehouse and Chris Barley achieving first place in the St.Davids bay regatta, and Mike and Jean Jones coming third. Well done!!

It has been noticed how well Martin Bunn and Paul Morris have been doing since we came back from our winter slippers. I can personally confirm for any people thinking that it is luck that they are wrong. They have sailed come rain or snow. So practice does make improvement. (edited by Martin)

On Sunday we had an addition to the Winder fleet, Andy I'm sure you will notice the difference and Pete I know you will love the bags (NOT). It's great to see people are taking the fleet so seriously. If any of you non-Fireball sailors would like to have a go in one of these wonderful boats, a boat that is exciting and that has a good mix of standards within the fleet, do not hesitate to ring me on (01746)766710 and I will organise a sail for you. With the Wednesday night series just started it is a perfect opportunity for you to try racing the club Fireball and experience a different type of boat.
We are waiting for Mike and Karen's Blue bream Machine to return from Thailand, which I have heard was a real experience in more ways than one. I'm sure they will tell you all about it in their article.

Finally I'd like to remind Martin to be at the altar for 1pm on the 20th May!

Sam

Congratulations to Sam & Martin (on behalf of all of us members) on their nuptials! Glad to see they still made the start line on Sunday! That's what I call dedication

Page 11
LASER NEWS

On 19th March, Chelmarsh S.C. welcomed the Midland Laser Traveller Series to the best kept secret in Shropshire, Chelrnarsh Reservoir; beautiful settings, warm weather, just not much wind. A high pressure had centred itself over the lake, leading to light & fickle winds throughout the day. Twenty boats were ready to fight it out on the water.

Race One of four saw experience prevail, with John Kingsley leading around the first lap, closely followed by Jon Emmett, Bruce White and Mark Jones. Windshifts, planing gusts & drifting all culminated with J.K. putting it in on the last beat leaving Jon to win from Bruce, with Fred Thursfleld passing Mark to take third.

Straight onto Race Two with a Port bias line, lots of bunching, but still away 1st time. Fred leads the way for first few legs with Mark Jones, Pete Townend and Jon Emmett in procession, but with light conditions, the places changed throughout, ending with Jon pipping Mark across the finish line, followed by Fred & Bruce White, Pete having found a hole on the last beat.

Race Three, same wind, different results with new names in the frame. Richard Perring led the fleet for most of the way, with Andrew Harding coming through late on to pass Richard only for Mark Jones taking them both to win.

With one race to go it was close at the top, with one point between Jon & Mark, with Bruce not too far behind. Only the top two could win the open, so it was all to sail for in the last rubber.

The two involved pulled away from the fleet along with Bruce, battling it out all the way round, each taking turns to lead, Jon gaining a comfortable lead by the shortened course blasts. Windshifts again played their part with positions reversing in the last 100 yards. Bruce taking the gun from Mark and Jon. Calculators out, it was down to the judges with Mark & Jon both on 5 points, but with Jon having won two races, the event was his for the 4th (?) year in succession.

Results:
1st Jon Emmett (Weirwood SC) 5 pts
2nd Mark Jones (Oxford SC) 5 pts
3rd Bruce White (Rugby SC) 7 pts (1st Youth)
4th Fred Thursfield (Chelmarsh S9 12 pts (1st Home Boat)
1st Master - Steve Perring (Earlswood Lakes)
1st Junior - Peter Cowell (Chelmarsh SC)

We are now well into the Laser club championship. Only the second two races of the 18th June remain to be sailed. The Results to date are as follows
19th March 19th March 16th April 16th April

Page 12
Calling all debtors...

which actually made me much less worried than if it had been one of the other alternatives.
I quickly tied the spinnaker's turtle to a stanchion and clipped the corners of the sail to the wire so they wouldn't deploy. Vaughan, helming the other Sigma 33 off to our starboard side, grinned a cheshire cat grin as he sailed past in deeper water.
"Put the helm to windward and gybe her, I suggested to Dennis Teer at the tiller, but it was too late! The tide flooding up the Solent had gripped the wrong side of the rudder, and the wind, which was aft, was pushing us around to port, and we were soon heading back towards the coastguard cottages at Beaulieu river entrance, which we had just left. Engine on, full revs, lean on the boom everyone, more scrrrunch, and soon we did a 3600 turn and were off the bank, but now, instead of being 20 yards ahead, we were some 20 yards behind the others.

Yes, it was a race. How can you put two groups of dinghy sailors in two boats and not expect them to have a race? Impossible! Beaulieu River to Cowes, and the last one in buys the beer.

Soon it was our turn to grin! Our pebble bank was marked by a cardinal mark, and the other yacht was heading straight for it - sideways on the tide! Big steel jobs these buoys - not the inflatable rubber type with numbers like the new ones at Chelmarsh. The engine of the other yacht roared into life and they zoomed away towards the Island, leaving us ghosting along and passing the buoy on the wrong side, but without further incident.
"OK - let's get that spinnaker up" - soon it was drawing nicely on a broad reach on starboard tack and we were heading for Cowes and away from the setting sun. But the ground track was horrible, and it became evident that if we aimed for Cowes, we would be lucky to hit the island near Osbome House, and Queen Victoria had told us quite forcefully that she was not serving dinner that evening! So we headed up until we were beam-reaching across the tide, putting on an extra knot or so at the better sail angle, and the huge union-jack on the East Cowes hangars stopped zooming past the buoys at the river entrance - we were now traveling directly where we wanted to go, though aiming 450 to windward of it.
The Red Funnel pier was soon abeam as we entered the river and got the spinnaker down. A distant yacht with nay lights and a steaming light told us the others, well on their way past Prince Consort, had capitulated!
And do you know, they never bought the beer that evening
Well, Jim, Vaughan, Tony, Dick and Jane (not forgetting guest Gary) - there's plenty of
Wednesday evenings till close of play in August, and there's plenty of beer in the barrel at Chelmarsh
Race Results for the GP14s are as follows:

Page 13
GP14  ABERDOVEY WEEKEND

WHO SAID WHAT AT ABERDOVEY
"What time is the ten o'clock briefing ?" Brian in the Safety Boat

"Crew, please hold the tiller while I heave over the side."
A sick helm

Tony wearing his shorts inside-out and back to front:
"I thought they were difficult to do up... but it's not my fault—there isn't a label to tell me !"

"Aren't the decorative flags on the Committee Boat pretty !" Sue

"I don't know why I am feeling so fragile this morning — I only had two
tequilas, a Baileys and ten pints of beer last night !" John Tildesley 

"A good bottom is essential."
Tim Davies

The racing at Aberdovey was in light to non-existent winds with three races on the Saturday and two on the Sunday. Starts proved to be a major factor with the first boat to the windward mark usually winning the race outright.

Sally and Rob Fowler got the best start in the first race and despite pressure from Rod and Tony throughout the race, held on to win. The second and third races were won by Jonathan and Roger fighting off challenges from both Tim and Hilary and Rod and Tony.
Sunday saw even lighter winds and lots of place changing. Rod was the main beneficiary in race four coming from third place to win up the final beat in a decreasing breeze with Jonathan and Roger followed by a storming Brian and Andrew. With the series poised with Rod needing to win, it was a tense final race, Tim and Hilary got the best start and despite pressure from Rod and Tony won race five.

Page 14

PHASED BY THE ZONE?

STUART ROBINSON MEETS PETER TOWNEND

I am due to meet Peter at the Club for some advice on sailing. He is on time despite his legendary lateness. He breezes in, immaculately dressed as always and a boyish smile belying his forty-one years. I get the beers in and after exchanging a few pleasantries I am eager to ask him some of the many questions I have.

Stuart Robinson: So Peter - I have never sailed on the sea — what is the difference to sailing inland?

Peter Townend: The main difference in sailing on the sea is the fact that there are waves which require a definite technique to sail over quickly. The wind also tends to be a lot steadier and the true pattern of the phase shows up more, and of course the tide has to be worked out or at least considered.

SR: So what is the technique for sailing in waves?

PT: As you're sailing over the wave the effective wind angle changes as the bow is slowed and lifted by the wave so you have to luff up to keep the tell-tales flying. As you reach the top of the wave it's important to kick off the bow by bearing away viciously and suddenly, to stop the acceleration of the boat going down the other side of the wave from stalling the main. Again, you must keep the tell-tales flying as you reach the bottom of the wave, so the course should be slowly changing, luffing up the boat as the beginning of the new wave starts and the cycle repeats.

SR: Yeah, o.k. but what's this phase business?

PT: To understand wind phase one's really got to start with gust front deflections. This is where a sets of cloud formations, (he starts drawing on a beer mat) for example several sets of cumulus clouds each with its system of rising hot air and sinking cool air produce a circular motion or heat cycle. These circulatory patterns are repeated in a sequence. At the same time a higher strata wind moving in a different direction to the lower circulatory movements can push a down draft between them. The down draft is known as a gust front. A gust front is not the true change of wind. That's why we are taught to wait a few seconds to see what the effect of the true shift is. The changes are cyclic and follow a pattern. This pattern is known as the wind phase. The thing about the wind phase on the sea is that there are no objects to distort it, so in a steady breeze it tends to be true. Inland, of course, there are many obstructions which make the wind disturbed and complex and it's far more difficult to identify the phase. The art of the sailor is to be able to read the patterns of the wind phase. I believe that when the patterns are in synch with your biorhythms you get to the point that you feel the impending shifts and undertake the necessary actions in anticipation of what the wind is going to do.

Gary: ZZZZZZZZZZZZ [WAKE UP! - new man on sofa Ed.]

SR: So if you sail in phase and always on the lift that has to be the ultimately quick way to go?

PT: Yes, absolutely and providing you stay within the zone you should be able to accomplish sailing on the lift.

SR (I pause to reflect): Peeete

PT: Yes, Stuart...

SR: What's the zone?

PT: It's funny you should ask that — considering I've been sailing since I was three this is something I only learned since coming to sail at Chelmarsh from Keith Wilkins. The zone is an area of the course to the windward mark that will enable you to take any wind shift as it comes. This means not sailing to the lay line too early or as it's known "banging the corners". If you can imagine a triangle and a square (he gets the old pen and beer mat out again), sailing close hauled on either tack towards the windward mark if you sail in the central hatched area you are in the position that you can take the shift when it occurs. If you are in the dotted area you risk losing out. Of course if the wind is true then there is no triangle, and conversely the more the wind is shifting the narrower the triangle becomes. In extremely shifty conditions the better sailors tend to stay in the middle. Sometimes it pays off to take risks, that is sailing outside the zone because you might sail the two legs both on a good lift. It's a play off between percentage sailing and taking risks.


At this point I have to stop the interview as he rushes off because he remembers having to buy a new sail.


Page 15
Email address
 		sail@chelmarsh.mariner.co.uk
These cover:
Home Page; a welcome page with general information.
Location; map of the area, and UK, Membership Details; details and costs of membership.
Duty List and Club Diary; listing all the events.
Training Details; of courses, cruising and racing etc.
Fleet Information; details of your fleet activities at home and away (including the new Solo fleet)
Open Meeting Information; Dates and results.
Social Events; date and details. See details of the Dinner Dance.
Gallery; club and member related photographs.
News Letter; an electronic version of the printed copy.
Forum; where you can express your views on any subject and start a discussion!
For Sale and Wants section; advertise those items for free. There's already a list, even for Wanted Items.
There is now a Photo Gallery; here you are able to display your photographs. Please let me have any interesting photos and I will publish them.
The Sale and Wants page has links to outside pages, which I think are interesting. If you wish to suggest a link please do.
Within the site are links to other sailing clubs, sailing associations, sailing interests, and weather information.
You can get the actual weather in the English Channel at the Channel Light Buoy.
A lot of the published information depends upon members supplying that information. If you have any to publish
    please email it to sail@chelmarsh.mariner.co.uk, or give to Rod Fox.

    I'm building a database of members email addresses, if you have one please send it to sail@chelmarsh.mariner.co.uk

      Plas Menai 2000 — Oh What a time!
      Just like when we went in 99
A dozen of us went to Plas Menai — The National Water-sports centre on the North Wales coast overlooking the Menai Strait with Anglesey just beyond, at the beginning of April. The "Try a boat weekend" meant that all levels of experience and confidence were accommodated, with more confidence than experience in some of the group showing through! The youngest of the team, keen to learn the delights and thrills of trapezing, after only an hour on the trapeze for the first time, promptly declared that this was definitely fun, and immediately progressed to a Laser 4000 for the afternoon!

When I go next time will someone remind me to buy shares in Guinness or the local brewery, or preferably both, as apart from the really great sailing in various types of boat, the "craik" is what makes the whole weekend such fun.

Thanks to all who came to make it such a good time!

Here is to next year!

David Willett.
Page 16
FIREBALLS GO TO THAILAND
Or Chelmarsh stars, the Cullens and Whitehouses, meet Leonardo Di Caprio on the Beach:
We've won a few Open Meetings and the World Championships beckoned, well to be precise we have
only won one Open Meeting (but we did have a moment of glory at Abersoch when we had a lead of five or six minutes on the next boat). Watch this space - by the next issue it will be at least seven minutes lead on the next boat. But anyway, look out Thailand, here we come!
I am not going to give a day to day account of the sailing or you will think I have copied it straight out of 'Yachts and Yachting'.
The Royal Varuna Yacht Club was venue for the two weeks racing in a nice secluded bay with all the facilities you need. We had a superb clubhouse overlooking the islands, swimming pool, showers, restaurant with wonderful food and the essential bar... .and boat boys (or men to be precise) who pull your boats back every day after two races. They met us with our trolleys - the more pathetic I looked, the more pulling power I got (a must for Abersoch). (I'm in the queue—Ed) The Club hosted quite a few evening functions but when there wasn't one on, it was a trip into nearby Pattaya. Well, what can I say? A unique place, the censors would have a field day. In between go-go girl and go- go boy bars there were some lovely restaurants. I am sure the whole of the world goes there in the evening — the streets were alive, no picture would ever capture their atmosphere, their smells, their lives: it's all happening there on the pavement 24 hours a day. You had to see it to believe it. The Thai people were lovely, very humble, kind people. Tourism is essential for their livelihood.
After busy Pattaya Town it was nice to go back to our seclusion of the Yacht Club. The Pre-Worlds and

Worlds were won by the Brits. D S Edwards and Vyv Townend were unbeatable. Paul crewed for his dad, Bob, for the first week and they had more success than Bob expected: well done Bob! After a week of 'Gunwhale Bum', Bob was quite happy to hand the helm back over to Paul with Weirwood's Dave Mason crewing for him: congratulations to Paul for some good results. You may have noticed that up to now I have
stayed quiet about our results. Our big ambition was not to be last Brit and up to the last day we were failing! But at last we got it together, and in the final race we did it. Good start, second to the windward mark, tacked too early, fifth round the windward mark, first reach held our position, praying nothing went wrong on gybe, close to close it went well. D S Edwards and Vyv challenged us briefly, still held our position, I get distracted briefly by a BIG BLACK FIN [dum-dum dum-dum dum-dum, Ed.] get told to concentrate, not sure what on (black fin or sailing) — but slowly bit by bit the faster boys came through, but we managed to jump from last Brit to third from last Brit.
The new boat went well, felt nice and we had two weeks of lovely sailing in hot conditions with no wind chill factor at all — bliss! High factor sun block and lots of water were the order of the day.
We tried a new mast instead of sticking with our tried and tested Stratus. We went rather foolishly to an M7 plus, an unknown quantity, and had to play around with a lot of measurements. Not the ideal time really: it would have been nice to have got it right before we got there. But I don't think our position would have changed and what a chance to tune your boat up against the best of the world. We're still waiting for it to come back and look forward to sailing it at Chel marsh.
KAREN'S DIARY, WORLDS 2000 THAILAND