The hottest day of the year! That is how July 25 was being advertised and the WS Trustees heeded the warning and decided to curtail the day’s sailing to just the morning session. Nevertheless, a dozen WS Racers came down to the lake in the expectation that they might be able to improve their final ranking in this the final race of the Spring Series.

The volunteers arrived earlier than usual at the lake to rig and launch the fleet, hoping to avoid the worst of the heat. So everything was ready and looking resplendent by 0930 hours and the first Racers started to appear. The wind was forecast to be SE backing ESE at 8 knots, gusting to 20 knots. Well that was the forecast. As the photographs below show, the wind speed was more like 1 knot, gusting to 4 knots (Oh dear, whilst the temperature was climbing inexorably higher! Ed).

In the Race Hut, two volunteers (Paul Cove and John Hunt) were being trained as future race officers and, after summoning the Racers over the Tannoy, they sounded the three minute Gong at 1127 ready to start the race at 1130. Here is a video from a few moments after the start until the leading boats had rounded the first two Marks (J and D). (And a finger-wag to the Stratos helms who sailed a bit too close to the race fleet at times. Ed)

Sailing the course proved to be very tricky with the Chipstead Lake wind – blowing from S or SSE – living up to its reputation of being difficult to read and as a result it often wasn’t where you expected (hoped? Ed) it would be! Here are some photos taken during the sole lap that the race fleet were able to complete in the 30 minutes. The finish for quite a few boats was affected by the inability of sailing straight into the wind in order to sail within the Flag/Distance Marker and Mark K (which delineated the Finish Line). Nicola Buss and her crew Thomas were especially hard done by, coming within 5 boat lengths of the Flag, then being headed by the wind and eventually finishing 3 minutes later, thereby coming 11th rather than 6th. (Oh dear….but the name of the game is “plan your approach to each Mark/Flag” well before getting to it! Ed)

Race result
1. Mark Cayzer and his crew Peter Moore – 303 Sail # 7
2. Mike Blatchford – Liberty # 24
3. Peter Gregory – Liberty # 22
4. Keith Eeles – Liberty # 1882
5. Fay Watson and crew James Thomas – 303 # 6
6. Martin Norman – Martin # 126
7. Malcolm Hill and his crew Mike Cartwright – Martin # 125
8. David Mason – Liberty # 23
9. Steve Farmer – 303 # 8
10. Imogen Fletcher – 303 # 1
11. Nicola Buss and crew Thomas Buss – 303 # 2
12. Tom Phillips – 303 # 10
13. Peter Wagner – Liberty # 21

Well done to all racers and a special thanks to the volunteers who crewed. See separate post for results of the Spring Series 2019 and
onward to the Summer Series 2019 which will start on 8th August.

It was great to see so many of you keen WS Racers arrive at the lake this week. And it was a special pleasure to welcome into the race for the first time, Nicola Buss who has previously sailed in a catamaran on Bewl Water as a member of Mariners of Bewl (AKA One of the MOB! Ed.). To her credit Nicola agreed to take the helm of our newest Liberty despite being heard to say that she had always disliked the idea of sailing anything that heeled quite as much as a Liberty does. (This is of course a problem created when there are so many photos on the WS website of Peter Wagner sailing with his mainsail nearly touching the water! But look where she finished! Bravissima. Ed)

Here is a short video of the Start and first few minutes of the race – as everybody watched as Peter Gregory sailed off serenely into the distance (How does he do that? Ed)

And here is another video as a few of the second phase in the fleet approached and rounded Mark J on their first lap. Please note what a sport Nicola (Sail #24) is – leaving so much water between her boat and the Mark and thereby letting other helms sail past or get away. (Sharper elbows required – methinks! Ed)

Result of Race 12

1. Peter Gregory in a 2.4m – Sail #102
2. Peter Wagner in a Liberty – Sail #21
3. Martin Norman in a Martin – Sail #125
4. Nicola Buss in a Liberty – Sail #24
5. Mike Blatchford in a Liberty – Sail #23
6. Fay Watson and James Thomas in 303 – Sail #2
7. Mark Cayzer and Don in 303 – Sail #1
8. David Mason in a Liberty – Sail #1882
9. Malcolm Hill and his crew Mike Cartwright in a Martin – Sail #126
10. Trevor Monk in a 303 – Sail #9
11. Keith Eeles in a Liberty -Sail #22
12. Tom Phillips in 303 – Sail #4

What a day for English Cricket fans! We are in the final of the Cricket World Cup at Lord’s on Sunday….wow. Fantastic…..and so was the sailing even though the wind could have been fresher. The sun shone and there was sufficient wind for the leading boats to complete 3 laps around a long course of marks A, B, J and D. There were 12 entrants in the race including Stratos 1 helmed by Peter Coulcher with Rowan and Brigette on board.

Here is a short video of the Start of the race.

Result of Race 11

1. Peter Wagner in a Liberty – Sail #21
2. Malcolm Hill and his crew Jim McEwen in a Martin – #126
3. Mike Blatchford in a Martin – #125
4. Keith Eeles in a Liberty – #22
5. Ann Frewer in a 2.3 – #279
6. Martin Norman and Sebastian in 303 – Sail #1
7. Fay Watson and James Thomas in 303 – Sail #3
8. Imogen Fletcher and Andrew in 303 – Sail #10
9. Mark Cayzer and Mike Cartwright in 303 – Sail #2
10. Trevor Monk and Nigel in 303 – Sail #8
11. Tom Phillips in 303 – Sail #4

Today was a lovely day for going to the beach – or even a lake – but there wasn’t really sufficient wind for serious sailors, let alone the Baker’s dozen of WS Racers who pitched up at Chipstead Sailing Club to do battle in Race 10 of the Spring Series.

The start of the race was held up for 10 minutes to allow the volunteers to get a Martin for Malcolm Hill and then help him into it along with his carefully selected crew Helen Fairfax (Good choice! And I have heard a rumour that the Racers are organising a Just Giving Page to raise funds for a new Alarm Clock to help Malcolm to get to Chipstead 15 minutes earlier in future. Oh dear! Ed.)

Anyway, as soon as Malcolm and Helen were away from the pontoon, the 3 minute Gong sounded and the count down to the Start was on. And here is a video of the excitement that followed the Start gong – all the way to the windward Marks D and J.

Below is a slide show of photos taken as the first, second and third waves of boats in the fleet headed up to the windward Marks D and J and another action-packed video as a bunch of boats caught one of the few, sporadic gusts that swept them downwind to and around Mark A.

Result

1. Ann Frewer – 2.3 Sail #279
2. Malcolm Hill and his crew, Helen Fairfax – Martin #125
3. Peter Wagner – Liberty # 21
4. Imogen Fletcher and her crew – 303D #4
5. Mike Blatchford and Louise McSweeney – 303D #9
6. Rowan Nicholls and his crew – 303D #6
7. Mark Cayzer and his crew Andrew – 303D #1
8. Fay Watson and her crew Bruce – 303D #8
9. Steve Farmer – 303S #7
10. David Mason – Liberty #22
11. Keith Eeles – Liberty #23
    
12. Martin Norman – Martin #126
13. Tom Phillips – 303S #2

Well done to everyone who raced and a special thanks to our brilliant volunteers who crewed for some of the racers. Only 3 more races to go in the Spring Series so there is still time for a few more of you to join the 9 Racers who have already qualified for the Series. See you next Thursday!

Another brilliant day for sailing greeted the volunteers who arrived as early as 8am to start launching and rigging the fleet of Access 303s, 2.3 and Liberty’s and the Martin 16s for the WS Racers as well as the rest of the WS fleet including the Stratoses, the Venture, the Lugger, the Longboat and the Pioneer that takes clients and their wheelchairs for trips on the water.

It was particularly pleasing to see Bob Fisher and Keith Eeles at the session after not seeing them for too long whilst they have not been able to attend. (Welcome back! Ed.)

The wind from the NW was a brisk 15 knots with occasional gusts of 20 knots. The wind was surprisingly (for Chipstead Lake) consistent in power and direction which made the challenge for the WS Racers more enjoyable than when they are constantly having to cope with the wind’s constant changes of direction and power. It was a very demanding race which everybody handled extremely well, especially Kelly Tripp in her 303 with her hand-picked crew Helen Fairfax (Well chosen Kelly! Ed.) who came first!!

Here is a video of the Start and a few photos below from a variety of moments in the race….

Result

1. Kelly Tripp and her crew, Helen Fairfax – 303 Sail # 3
2. Peter Wagner – Liberty # 21
3. Keith Eeles – Liberty # 23
4. Steve Farmer – 303 # 8
5. David Mason – Liberty # 22
6. Peter Gregory – 2.4m #102
7. John Beck and Paul Thatcher – 303 # 10
8. Trevor Monk and James Thomas – 303 # 7
9. Malcolm Hill and Mike Mackenzie – Martin # 125
10. Jake Jones – 2.3 # 745
11. Mike Blatchford – Martin # 126

Retired and did not finish – Martin Norman (303 #4), Imogen Fletcher and her crew Peter (303 # 9) and Tom Phillips and Jim McEwen (303 # 2).