29th December 2015 first sail /last sail

7am start to Swanage and a diversion later the heavens opened on my arrival. a cup of tea later and i took the old tramp cover off which was acting like a swimming pool. Richard arrived and we then replaced about 6 tramp clips to tension the trampoline . we eventually launched into bright sunshine around 11.30am
Ben was out on his laser as well.
the swell was deceiving from the shore  but on the sea was quite a bit. the gusts came in fits and starts. we stayed close to the shore to avoid bigger waves further out.
after about an hour of some enjoyable sailing we headed in when it started to rain again
it was still sunny as well.
new tramp cover put on and boat tucked away for the new year
3.5 miles 49 minutes
max speed was 15.4 knts

sailing 2014 compared to 2015

new tramp cover

just ordered a much needed new cover as the old one is always attracting a lot of dirt and grime in damp weather.

Swanage return

7am 2nd  Dec i set out for weston to bring MBM back to Swanage. it was a long trip due to how busy the m27 was.
after some 2.1/4 the boat was derigged and on the trailer
we headed out around 11.50 and in swanage 1335.
Greg came to put the mast up as everything else was done. boat box in place as well we headed off to the white lion 1500, for some well earned food.  all done and dusted we were home by 1735.
hopefully now i can do a bit more social sailing like i did in 2014. and a few races as well.

racing 2015

completed 20 races total in 2015 at weston.sc   25h 46m racing time plus the warm up times extra
in 2016 i will be back at Swanage. hopefully  the return will be ist week in December.
social sails in 2015 were non existent as I had planned to do some longer distance stuff.
the sailing was good but the venue for after sailing was lacking and not as fun as Swanage.

hopefully will get back into the swing of it and maybe do a bit more on days off when i can launch any time I like from the beach  unlike weston  governed by the tide.
also the racing was a tad boring if no other 18s were out as well. basically the fast cats were in a race of their own and we had our own race.

I miss the out of bay sails to poole bar bouy and of course the Bournmouth race.

what made me stop and think was returning to swanage after sailing on Straycat with john russ.

2015 DIARY

SAILING DIARY 2015

1. 4th JAN.Weston S.C  New year cup.  2 races. 6.6 MILES 2.5 HRS   light wind

2. 14th JAN Weston S.C freezer 1 & 2  14.8 miles  2h 15m   wind nw 15-25knts  

D. 7th FEB  DUTY DAY WESTON S.C 

3. 21st FEB  FREEZER 3 & 4     wind 15-23knts nw 

D. 3rd April...... DUTY Weston Grand Slam  R1

4. 4th april R4 and R6 WESTON GRAND SLAM 

D. 5TH APRIL......DUTY  R7, R8, R9.  RESULTS

5. 25TH APRIL spring 3&4 race Sam harper wind sw 15knts++

6. 30th MAY SPRING RACE BACK TO BACK  CREW MIKE FOOTER wind 10-15knts nw. 2h 40m 18.3miles

7. 20th JUNE  JUNE CUP SERIES (3 RACES DONE)  WIND 8-15KNTS , CREW RICHARD STAINIER

8. 9th august  late summer series 1 CREW RICHARD STAINIER about 45 mins 15knts plus 5.8 miles  

9. 15th August late summer r5  r6 solo  2 races in about 10 knts of wind 2hrs 

10. 29TH AUG AUGUST CUP.   R1  R2  R3  solo   8- 10knts  sse

11. 5th SEPTEMBER LATE SUMMER 9 &10  crew Patrick Conduit  wind 10knts to 20++  8.2miles & 6.1miles

1h40 & 1h 15 

12. 19TH SEPT. LATE SUMMER 11&12 SAM HARPER Wind r1 light  wind r2 10 knots plus r1 2.2 miles r2 4.6 miles 

S.C 4TH OCT sailed straycat strider club with john russ, shell bay to swanage and back 14,6nm 3h28
17th October. WINTER SERIES sam harper  
S.C 20TH Nov sailed straycat shell bay back to its winter mooring 6.8nm 2h plus
13.  29th dec MBM pleasure sail Richard Hart  3.5 miles 49minutes wind 7-17knts  wind 240-230 deg 

summary
25h 46m racing time in 20 races

Winter series 17th Oct

race one track, wind was forecast to be 1112-18 knts nw, it was lower than that but got up in the 2nd shorter race, sam was good on his tactics today and made for some good racing against mike.
we started  late in r1 over 2m 20 late
we are 140 behind and the tetra mark in the channel and then led at the end of the lap. we kept the lead all the way tot he finnish.
r2 was windy and mike was catching fast after we had a good start.
at the end of lap 3 mike just took the lead but to the tetra we were racing neck and neck, we tacked off and made our own way back to the line, made allowances to get to the blob mark but then found out we were finishing. mike went straight for the line which was a shorter distance, so they beat us. good racing. i feel better racing myself and sams a very good crew.
7miles  57m

spare rudders overhaul

bought a set of rudders on ebay for a good price, in good condition it said, not used much so very tight to unlock.
i got them and found they were in good condition apart from one. the blade where it meets the arm had been repaired. it snapped of during undoing.
the rudder bolts were the metal sort and seized solid.
after drilling out with no success on one i then decided to whack it with a hammer hard . the insert and bolt came out as one. new replacement rudder service kit job done.

the other that i had drilled out i then hit as well and the whole lot came out. outer sleeve as well
so ordered that as well, this was then epoxied back in place and the rudder reassembled. no problem
cleaned up all working fine.

the broken rudder end bit basically is now spare like i had a spare blade before.
i will try to bond some isopan p40 and reshape it. more on this later

all fixed, the isopan p40 was really good. a bolt the same size as used was placed in the slot where it had to go wrapped in paper. the isopan fibreglass was mixed and then spread on top to make the shape of how it should have been, it soon went off, after a while it was sanded down with a bosch dremmel type machine and then mouse sander, the holes showing were filled with just some glue.
it was then sprayed with plasticote white paint.
all looking good. hopefully will do the job.
 

final of series

it was foggy when i left home at 730 and little wind predicted.
after a snooze i was woken by the sun shinning into the van, new launch wheels were added to the boat and worked very well.
sam arrived after a long spell of no crewing with me, the job to do was to beat mike and kamil.
the first race i got to a good start in hardly any wind. after going way right when i tacked  kamil had done much better.
by the end of the lap we were not to far behind, course was  triangle(laid by club) far beacon club.
2nd l;ap the tide was getting us to go around the windward mark. we fell behind and mike was catching. we made up some goround on kamil and the wind filled slightly.
it wasa long race 1h 13m
durng the break we quickly replaced the lower batten which was broken.
r2 was far beacon (s) 3(s) club(s)  a funny start as we went to early headed off mike to the pin, he was over so was i and kamil was behind, i quickly went behind the line and started again and soon got close to kamil. it was close for the rest of the race even doing a port starboard on them at far beacon.
i made one mistake gybing off to soon on one lap so we fell behind a little.
mike was behind but catching slowly.
we ended 2nd again and enjoyed the wind that made up for r1.
kamil took the series and i was 2nd, first time ever a 2nd in a series.

RACE 2

RACE 1

home built big wheel launch trolley

finally finished.
thanks to cadkat.de for the wheels , wheel bearings and cups.
all terrain tyres for the tyres
and ebay for the alluminuim 50mm bar.
total cost posted approx £400, i did buy some bolts to fix the cups but didnt use them in the end,
=====================================================================
working on a handle extension, carbon pole 25mm   6ft long,  pics to follow

5th september

busy day ahead, picked up richard and got to the club early.
task 1 put new adhesive protection on old launch trolley, too small and not sticky enough FAIL
so off we went to force 4 which i didnt know was only down the road. we got some skiaflex 291 black and used that to stick my old rubber backed carpet i had in the van.
stuck it on the trolley put it under the boat job done.
job 2 measure up the new big wheel trolley for wheel position and cup postion. job done

just waiting now for the cups to arrive from cadkat. saved a fair bit on the price i would have paid from windsport doing it myself.
£550+ postage for them , mine came out around £420 posted.
the next job was to sort the trapeze on the contender and pratice on land getting in and out. sorted.

the race wasnt until 4pm and around 2.30pm patrick turned up to crew for the day. many question s were asked which i didnt mind.
we launched early with the course in my head
when we were out there we were told it had changed. when we did it everyone did what it

was before. ???
we started well behind the line and it wasa one start for all out to boundary which was very flukey on the wind. a good reach and we cleared most of the pack going to moorehead, then off too netley for the downwind section.
mike and ugly duckling were well in front.
patrick came up with good ideas about the taletales on the sail and i tried to adjust to get them sorted. tactics wise we tried different to mike. at the end of the race were were surprised we just edged mike on the line, his tiller rubber joint had broken. not sure when it happened but a 2nd is a 2nd either way.

next race again we were behind the line and soon caught up again. this time we were ahead of mike.
at the end of lap 2 we caught U.D and then lost it going to boundary. mike caught up as well and off netley we went our own ways . we met on aport starboard but mike covered us instead and then started to luff, i tacked off knowing going on starboard was the best sailing direction. we made good speed ad then by the time we tacked for the pin end of the start line we were way ahead. good job done, and patrick did a good job too. no tack messed up by moving over early, so well please
all richard said after was we were sat to far back, patrick was a tall guy and thatw as the only problem really, needed to be the other side of the shroud most of the time.
both races about 45mins +  course was (boundary) (moorhead) (netley) (club)

race 1

race 2

  

August cup 29th aug

with no crew because richard wasnt well and not alot of wind i was looking forward to 3 races.
by the end of 2 i was looking forward to some sleep.
we decided to enter in to the med fleet with the contenders,  it made for a intresting starts and we never really pulled away from them much..
all 3 races i had a good battle here and there with mike , highlight of the day was launching after lunch,  the wind was behind and i failed to notice, the boat went down the slipway into the water and started sailing straight away even with the launch trolly., i tried to hold on but fell over and then shouted runnaway boat lol, luckily a fisherman in a small tender stopped it for the safety team to pick it up, i hitched a ride on a dinghy and got took to the boat. all good fun
course was  no2 (s) weather (s) boundary (s)

R1

R2

R3

late summer series 15th aug

well richard couldnt make it and no one else available so i went solo.  the morning started early as i took the contender down to the club as well.
uo at 4am and on the road by 430 got to the club just after 6 .
the boat was unloaded and nick noble who was staying overnight for the contender open gave me a hand to sort and rig the boat   that was a good move
i moved the boat into d18 berth  ironic.
then after a quick snooze i was back and ready for the racing
wind was lively to start but on the water didnt do much. i had a good start but then went into irons for no reason , so i was 3 dart all the way until mike went in land and i dint i went straight for the club outer mark. i got ahead and that where i stayed the whole race about an hours racing.thena the finnish i found out kamil had gone wrong and i beat him too.  so first dart  yipee

2nd race i was pushed for time as richard was helping to do the trapeze lines for me. i said to kamil get up to the line then promptly messed it up myself. i did re catch mike and was sort of making ground s on kamil however mike overtook again upwind and then went wrong at boundary so i re overtook. up wind final lap i could se kamil but too far away, mike was fairly close
again another hour for the race aprox  6.5 miles for 2nd race
course was boundary then no 2

    

2015 race events and Dairy

2015 race events and Dairy

SAILING DIARY 2015

1. 4th JAN.Weston S.C  New year cup.  2 races. 6.6 MILES 2.5 HRS   light wind

2. 14th JAN Weston S.C freezer 1 & 2  14.8 miles  2h 15m   wind nw 15-25knts  

D. 7th FEB  DUTY DAY WESTON S.C 

3. 21st FEB  FREEZER 3 & 4     wind 15-23knts nw 

D. 3rd April...... DUTY Weston Grand Slam  R1

4. 4th april R4 and R6 WESTON GRAND SLAM 

D. 5TH APRIL......DUTY  R7, R8, R9.  RESULTS

5. 25TH APRIL spring 3&4 race Sam harper wind sw 15knts++

6. 30th MAY SPRING RACE BACK TO BACK  CREW MIKE FOOTER wind 10-15knts nw. 2h 40m 18.3miles

7. 20th JUNE  JUNE CUP SERIES (3 RACES DONE)  WIND 8-15KNTS , CREW RICHARD STAINIER

8. 9th august  late summer series 1 CREW RICHARD STAINIER about 45 mins 15knts plus 5.8 miles  

9. 15th August late summer r5  r6 solo  2 races in about 10 knts of wind 2hrs 

10. 29TH AUG AUGUST CUP.   R1  R2  R3  solo   8- 10knts  sse

11. 5th SEPTEMBER LATE SUMMER 9 &10  crew Patrick Conduit  wind 10knts to 20++  8.2miles & 6.1miles

1h40 & 1h 15 

12. 19TH SEPT. LATE SUMMER 11&12 SAM HARPER Wind r1 light  wind r2 10 knots plus r1 2.2 miles r2 4.6 miles 

S.C 4TH OCT sailed straycat strider club with john russ, shell bay to swanage and back 14,6nm 3h28

8th august late summer series

a building wind and waiting for the tide to rise so we could launch richard said he would crew again so an early start to get to the club and also get ready the laser for sale on the sunday, i miss read the course thinking we were going start  m4 down to m2, when we launched i thought hang on they got that the wrong way, cos to go behind the line it was upwind. i did ask the safety team and then richard said it was start  m2  then  m4 , doh,  anyway we started and made good progress with richard giving good advice all around the course. we fended off kamil at the end to get 2nd of 3 darts. ugly duckling was very good and left everyone.

June cup 2015

well a week of change , no more Swanage sailing club, and heard the sad loss of Bill McMillan of Swanage sc.
Bill was an inspiration to Swanage as a member and will be sadly missed. many a time was spent working on his boat and others boats making repairs, always glad to help anyone. his love of the correct start line was always heard on the starting line from the committee boat.
im sure hes sailing in the next world .

anyway this weekend i did my good deed for a former work m8 who was also a member of Weston sc
Richard Stanier. Richard had not been out the boat for over 16 months and had a stroke few months ago
he is now partially blind and other ailments. he wanted escape from his home prison and offered to crew for me this weekend, he s told me many a story of his high seas expeditions and i was keen to gain knowledge from him.

mike footer was keen to have a battle with another dart 18 and i made my excuses before the start saying i was sailing with a blind man, they laughed and tried to play it down as an excuse.
on the water i said to Richard just do the jib.
in actual fact Richard gave me a good lesson in how to sail the dart .
we had a good nip and tuck battle with mike but our tactics won despite what mike had done.
1-0 to us.
2nd race we had a poor start but mike was with us, we went high he went low but for speed
we cross tacked and called starboard on him, 3 times in fact   he moved at the last minute and we almost rubbed paintwork. after that they fell behind as our tactics were clearly better.
we made our mark every time and had good boat speed every time.
we got 3rd place in all 3 races and finished 4th overall for the weekend.
the wind was too much for Richard for Sunday as he was suffering by doing too much Saturday.

race 1

race 3

race 2
race 1 7.2 n miles 1h 26
race 2 6.1 n miles  1h
race 3  4.2 n miles  1h

    

spring series final table

30th may spring series

today mike footer offered to crew as bryan was away.
wind was picking up all the time at first we got off to a shakey start, having found that mike was releasing the jib to soon we soon got our tacks under control, i said wait for the ok and then release, at pne time of forgot and he did not release  lol.
over all we worked well together and enjoyed the sail, in race one we went around the wrong bouy no3 instead of no 2, so we did the next lap properly and only completed the one, mathew was on the tornado and proved we had done it wrong.
in race 2 we had a good start but the spitfire and unicorn failed to do the correct course, they did the same as us in race one, we did tell them but they carried on, it was a nice morning for a sail and a chat so all good. kamil was out with his new crew as well but didnt race.

18miles 2h 40 m wind nw 10-15 knts

SPRING 3&4 25TH APRIL

race was at 4pm to allow for the tide  wind was fairly strong until then but died a little toward race time.
took boat box to club so now i can pack all the kit away  instead of it being in the van.
sam was keen to get out on the wire and made good use of it up wind calling same good shouts when to tack.  we were chasing sean and helen to the ben ainslie bouy and almost beat them, down wind we stayed with them and then lost them on the next upwind when i let the main sheet out the cleat by mistake, same went for a small dip  but recovered well.
at the finish we were not far behind and we crossed the finnish line but dont think they did.
only 3 boats in race 2 for our fleet a rs800 and a spitfire. the spitfire wasnt too far ahead at the finish . the wind had died alot and it was getting dark.  no gps for either race as i forgot to turn it on.about 2 hours sailing time total.

race time between 1550  and 1810

Weston MARKS

Weston MARKS

2015 race events and Dairy

2015 race events and Dairy

SAILING DIARY 2015

1. 4th JAN.Weston S.C  New year cup.  2 races. 6.6 MILES 2.5 HRS   light wind

2. 14th JAN Weston S.C freezer 1 & 2  14.8 miles  2h 15m   wind nw 15-25knts  

D. 7th FEB  DUTY DAY WESTON S.C 

3. 21st FEB  FREEZER 3 & 4     wind 15-23knts nw 

D. 3rd April...... DUTY Weston Grand Slam  R1

4. 4th april R4 and R6 WESTON GRAND SLAM 

D. 5TH APRIL......DUTY  R7, R8, R9.  RESULTS
5. 25TH APRIL spring 3&4 race Sam harper wind sw 15knts++
6. 30th MAY SPRING RACE BACK TO BACK  CREW MIKE FOOTER wind 10-15knts nw. 2h 40m 18.3miles
7. 20th JUNE  JUNE CUP SERIES (3 RACES DONE)  WIND 8-15KNTS , CREW RICHARD STAINIER
8. 9th august  late summer series 1 CREW RICHARD STAINIER about 45 mins 15knts plus 5.8 miles  

race 6 weston grand slam

race 6 gps track from weston grand slam.
Sam Harper was my new crew and we had to do duty on the rib for good friday.
on saturday it was very windy and gusty, we did well for a new combo, sam had some good ideas which we tried during the race. we messed up starting for the 2nd race of the day as the postponment came down as we were doing other things to refresh. by the time we were ready the race had started.
we headed out for the 3rd race of the day and despite being shifty and slower we did better on handicap.
on sunday i was badgered into doing results as no one else was available. we could have raced but that would have been far too much. the wind was better than forecast so a blunder on my part calling not to race, in the end the results took ages to do so was a good decision on my part. we got a grand slam t shirt for the event as well so pretty good.

am i seeing things ?????

is this right ??

freezer 3 & 4

weather was windy yet again, forcast was 15-23knts.  on the water it did look more, launched and waited to get the watch going on time for the 15 minute countdown.

i did this onshore and then synced on the water at 6mins. i did notice the baot was struggling to tack and this happened at the wrong time when i was about to start. i crossed the start 1m 30 late, upwind was slow but gained in the race as it went on. at the end i wasnt too far behind mike.

it felt like i was in the main channel going from the windward mark to netley. i was actually heading to the hound mark lol. so at mark "2" u see the sudden change as i spotted netley. ulp near the windward mark it was more gusty and choppy. all in  all a race of keeping upright.

race 1

race 2 started bang on time following the spitfire and other cat. at the windward mark i was only a fraction behind grant on his foiling nacra. i decided to gybe in to shore knowing where the mark was and sheeted in to speed  up , with that the boat bows dug in and over i went.
i lost my glasses and my greenbay hat and my new burgee, so an expensive capsize. when the boat wnet over my leg was still trapped in the toe straps and as the boat cam over i was in the water and couldnt get my leg out. i did eventually and then seen my hat floating away.
the boat was on its side  but couldnt get the thing to come upright so asked the safety boat to tip the mast after driving it head to wind. alot of the ropes were trapped so had to sort them as well. i completed the lap and retired as i had no glasses for the sunlight and hat.
i  did learn from it and all added to the experience of sailing solo.

race 2 but shortened due to capsize

Freezer series 1 & 2 2015

well the freezer series starts saturday 24th Jan at 12.30 with 2 races. should be fun 13 to 23 knts forecast
no crew for saturdays yet so will be entertaining.
pics and results here shortly

weather looking cold  but good

wind was 20-25knts in race one and after lunch 15 to 20knts + 

after getting used to tacking with no jib and a flying start  slow progress was made to the windward mark , i started thinking i had started early, but was told i did a perfect start. mike footer was trailing behind after many boat problems

after about an hour i finished ahead of him and his crew bryan to technically win my first ever race

in race 2 the wind seemed stronger and the waves choppier, but the wind chart said otherwise. a few gybes i was almost out of control and losing my tiller stick out the back of the boat didnt help

all in all it was good fun and im glad i raced and finished in one peace. i didnt push hard and thats what got me around safe.  14.8 miles 2H.15m  17mph top speed

freezer series Weston S.C 24th Jan 2015

a bit artistic

Weston S.C New Year Cup

well today was my first race at Weston S.C arrived nice and early and watched the lack of wind on the water, was forecast to be 6 mph and getting to 9 mph. after a slight delayed start we launched and tried to work out where the marks were and sort the start sequence out, needless to say i got it all wrong . the wind was almost non existent and we went across the line last in fact we were last all the way around and finished last. the start for the next race had begun the moment we finished. so we didn't have long to wait. we had a better start but the lack of wind got us again and we were last again
oh well cant get worse than that results not done by the time we left so we maybe surprised on handicap as only 3 boats in the fast fleet.
international 14 and Nacra 18. they all had kites and it did suit them we didn't have one and that's where we lacked. I will never moan about strong wind again as no wind sucks

2 races    3laps total 

2nd race start  from the Race box