Bartley Sailing Club Blog

It is with great sadness that I have to inform our members of the passing of Stanley Bird (or Stan as most of us knew him) on 16th December.

Stan was the perfect gentleman, always smartly dressed, willing to help, friendly and cheerful. He was an honorary member of Bartley S.C. with 30 years service to the club.

Stan will be fondly remembered for keeping the Wednesday sailors stocked up with cake and tea and was a keen sailor during the earlier years.

Stan's funeral will be at Lodge Hill crematorium at 2.15 on Thursday 27th December followed, appropriately, by tea and cake at the sailing club.

Or more accurately flippin' freezing. But did that put the End of Series regatta off? Of course not. The working party braved the cold and tidied the area to the side of the boat garage, the upstairs office, the grass area by the OOD hut, and a litter pick throughout the boat park. Thanks to all who helped to keep our club looking clean and tidy.

Then a fleet of 8 took to the water in freezing rain, gusty force 5 winds, and a wind chill factor of -4. The course was simple but the tactics were not! John Ling took the Regatta win from Sam knight, but it was very close. Harrison Allen took the Junior prize sailing fantastically in the conditions to 4th overall. Steve Ward and Mike Acaster kept the GP upright to show that it is not just the Lasers that go out in the big winds, and Mark Rolfe demonstrated the 2 opposing states of an RS Aero; flying or upside-down!

The Autumn series prize giving then took place with mice pies, chocolates and mulled wine to thaw out the frozen sailors.

Steve Hawley won both the Handicap 1 and Pursuit series with Ian Clarke taking the Handicap 2 series. Great to see a couple of new names on the series tropies.

The Sunday series was won by Paul Fowell.

The Junior Series was won by Harrison Allen.

The overall and fleet series winners who attended received their trophies, wine, chocolates, and the all improtant Bartley 'winner' mug in a light hearted ceremony which all enjoyed.

Here are a few photos of the fun..

Thanks to Jennifer Foort for all the photos.

For those planning on sailing on Saturday and Sunday 22 / 23rd December please be advised that Tilly's Galley will be closed for their Christmas break so make sure you bring your own food.

The Galley will reopen the following week 29th / 30th Dec.

Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

For those who celebrate Christmas hopefully you are well on your way with the important preparations. At the sailing club the festive spirit is very evident too with the Christmas decorations up in the clubhouse.

For those hardy enough to sail during the Winter there will continue to be the usual weekend racing over the festive period, however a show of hands from the Wednesday crew showed few can support this series on Boxing day and 2nd January so these dates have been cancelled and will be shown as such in the calendar shortly. The Wednesday series will recommence on 9th January.

Steve Ward is soliciting interest for a New Years day race - if you are interested in participating either as a sailor or rescue crew then please let him know by phone or text 07973 951255 and we will then confirm whether there are sufficient members interested to run this.

Finally, it is the End of Series Regatta tomorrow - the weather looks bonkers so we will take a view as to what races can be run in the conditions and may finish early if the wind and rain are too severe. If you are a prize winner in the Autumn series and want to pop in during the day to collect it rather than hanging around until 4.30pm then I am happy to distribute in the morning and between races (if they happen). Bartley Mugs are awarded to 1st,2nd,3rd in the fleets, wine to top 3 placings in each series overall, and cups / trophies to series winners. Chocolates and mice pies will also be around to complement the Galley food.

Brief working party at 10.00 for those wishing to avoid Christmas shopping

Lunch at Tilly's Galley - you know you want to...

2 Pursuit race regatta 12.30 and 14.30 both to count

Novice trophy for the first novice / improver in the 14.30 race

Prize for first Junior helm in the 2 races (the one in the photo fancies her chances - can you beat her?)

Prize giving for Autumn series and regatta after racing (with mince pies) - I have lots of wine to distribute so if you have won a fleet or overall series prize please turn up to collect it otherwise I have to drink all the mulled wine, prosecco, red / white wine, and eat all the chocolates myself...(its a tough job but someone has to do it).

I am expecting Santa hats and tinsel on the boats - please don't disapoint me!

See you on Saturday.

Well done to Richard Baker for winning the Bartley Bear Sprints in some challenging conditions today. He showed the rest of us how to execute some fantastic starts to get to the windward mark consistently ahead of the fleet.

The first 4.7 was Harrison Allen again but Josh is gaining and the GoPro footage from the cameras on the Higson designed Imperial transom mounts gave us all some insights into those little tweaks that could see the gap closing next time around.

It was great to see a couple of travellers from Midland and Chelmarsh - please spread the word and bring your club mates along next time in January.

Thanks again to Jeremy for his coaching and organisation, we are all benefitting hugely from these sessions.

Autopost Test

Thats right - only one more weekend to go and the Autumn series is over for another year which means that the End of Series Regatta is taking place on Saturday 15th December.

There will be a shortened working party from 10.00 to 11.30 followed by 2 Pursuit races at 12.30 and 14.30 that will constitute the regatta (both races to count).

After the final race has finished there will be mince pies and prize giving for the Autumn Series and the End of Series Regatta in the club house.

For those who attended the Wednesday evening improvers sessions during the summer (or any others who consider themselves as novices / improvers) there will be the 'novice shield' awarded to the winner of this group in the 14.30 race so you only need to race in the second race to qualify for this (although you may wish to do the 12.30 race to practice!).

There will also be a cup for the first Junior (Under 18) helm in the regatta participating in both races.

The series prizes will be awarded to top 3 in the Autumn series overall and the top 3 qualifiers per fleet - you have to be there to collect your prize though!

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible for some festive fun and sailing - Christmas decorations on your boats and santa hats encouraged but not essential... See you on the 15th.

Who will win the Bartley Bear sprint trophy this time around?

For those wanting to know more the Bartley Bear sprints are a fantastic way of improving your starting with the opportunity to get some coaching and pointers from our very own Jeremy Higson using imperial camera mounts (just bring your own go-pro or similar).

If you think this is just for the expert sailors think again - we had a wide range of abilities last time around and all found it a great learning experience. The difference could really be seen last Saturday as those who had attended the sprints all had vastly improved starts in the races.

The format is 10.30 briefing / coaching followed by 10 to 12 short (10 to 15 minute) races around 3 to 4 marks with the focus being the race to the windward mark.

The initiative is primarily for Lasers (all rigs) but other single handers are most welcome - we had one Aero last time and that worked out really well, and 3 Laser 4.7s.

So take some time out from the Christmas shopping and get to Bartley for some starting practice.

Hi All

I have seen the weather forecast for this week, it looks a little breezy so if your boat is not tied down please do so.

If it is as windy as forecast there may be a number of people at the club who dont want to sail. If that is the case I have a couple of tasks that I could do with a hand with. We are trying to tidy up the club including some areas that are generally unseen. I would really appreciate it if anybody not sailing could give me a hand for about an hour and a half as many  hands would make the task easier, this is generally throwing rubbish into the skip and is mainly inside.

I should be there around 2pm.

Thanks in anticipation.

Steve