Bartley Sailing Club Blog

Members might like to know that there is a talk TONIGHT, 26th. November, at Ashwood Marina Social Club DY60AQ at 8.00 pm by David Holbourn on taking part in the legendary Three Peaks Race from Barmouth to Fort William, in which sailors race a boat to Caernavon, Whitehaven and Fort William and runners from their crew scale Snowdon, ScaFell Pike and Ben Nevis. Visitors’ fee £3.00. Event organised by Midlands Coastal Cruising Club

HI all,
if any RS400 helm needs a crew this Saturday 19/10 I am available,
no experience on RS400's but fit and fairly agile,
cheers John.

 

Congratulations to all our K2O sailors for their achievements over the spring and summer months. It has been great to see the rate of development of our sailors and champions of the future pictured here with their RYA Certificates of achievement. We look forward to seeing you all again next year.

A special thank you to Adrian and his instructor and volunteer team without whom the K2O club could not exist.

 Games on the Water

One...

Two...

 Three....!

If you have a potential junior sailor aged 8 to 18 who wants to join the fun next year please register your interest with Adrian on  

 

Fancy learning a new sailing skill over the winter ready for the summer of 2020 - look no further...

Start date 6th November

Book via phone or text on 07868 845 039

Bartley hosted the finale of the 6 event RYA Midlands Youth Series on Sunday 15th Spetember in champaign sailing conditions.

Sunshine and force 3 winds greeted the competitors as they arrived at Bartley Sailing Club for the RYA Midlands Youth Series finale. Race Officers Aida Milvydaite and John Ling provided the briefing followed by a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday for John by the sailors.

The five-race regatta then got underway in strengthening and then weakening winds as the clouds came and went.

Race one enabled the sailors to get a feel for the course and where the gains were with some big opportunities on the upwind leg often neutralised by the fickle wind on the run. Sean Ricketts in his Supernova was first to the windward mark but also first to get caught out by a gust and take an early swim. The Laser fleet got away well and made the most of the stronger wind periods managing to pull away as they got up to full speed on the reach. Megan Hardiman sailed her 4.7 rig flat and fast upwind and with just the right amount of heel on the downwind legs to take the win from Harrison Allen and last year’s winner Tom Williams.

The wind strengthened in race 2 and whilst the Lasers stretched away with the Supernova, and the Toppers had their own battle, it was Theo Smith in his Optimist who nailed the beats to take the win from Megan Hardiman. Josh Oates took third place from Tom Williams in a tight battle between the Laser full rigs.

After a great lunch at Tilly’s Galley an increased fleet took to the water as Mona Nygard from Olton Mere borrowed one of the club boats to take part rather than just watch her sisters Stella and Eva.

A course change meant more reaches in race 3 and the stronger wind conditions resulted in the Laser full rigs and Supernova shooting away from the chasing pack. In the 4.7s Harrison Allen reached the windward mark ahead of Stella Nygard and Megan Hardiman however by the time they were back to the leeward mark Megan had passed Stella and her match racing tactics forced Harrison high and gave her rights at the mark to get ahead. This battle slowed the group down considerably allowing Millie Hardiman sailing her Topper for the first time to catch up to the back of the group and beat them on handicap. In the end it was the laser full rig of Tom who beat Josh and Sean in his Supernova into 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

Race 4 had many battles throughout the fleet; Josh, Tom and Sean were close throughout with Josh winning the battle in the end, in the 4.7 / Radial fleet Harrison made sure it didn’t go all Megan’s way taking the honours while Stella and Eva upped their game closing in on them. In the Toppers Millie, Cecily Webb and Tiarnan Smith fought well with Ben Hodgetts keeping them honest as he steadily improved as the day went on in his first regatta. Theo kept the Optimist driving forward and took third place behind Harrison and Megan after the results were processed.

The final race was a battle of the full rigs with Josh and Tom equal at the finish and Megan remaining consistent to take 3^rd.

The team de-rigged and dried off with a welcome piece of John’s birthday cake to replenish their energy for the prize giving.

The regatta prizes were awarded to:

1^st           Megan Hardiman             Laser 4.7              141464                  Bartley S.C.

2^nd          Tom Williams                     Laser                     186251                  Bartley S.C.

3^rd           Josh Oates                          Laser                     180713                  Bartley / Barnt Green S.C.

1^st Under 12                        Theo Smith                         Optimist               5483       Bartley S.C.

1^st <2yrs experience       Ben Hodgetts                     Topper                 40647    Bartley S.C.

The Series Prizes were awarded by Don Munro to:

1^st           Megan Hardiman             Laser 4.7              141464                  Bartley S.C.

2^nd          Harrison Allen                    Laser 4.7              213555                  Bartley S.C.

3^rd           Cecily Webb                       Topper                 42852                    Bartley S.C.

4^th           Millie Hardiman                RS Tera                 2122                       Bartley S.C.

5^th           Greg Cornes                       Laser Radial        197694                  Chase S.C.

Team Prize:                                         Bartley S.C.

1st under 12                                       Theo Smith         Optimist               5483                       Bartley S.C.

1^st <2yrs experience                       Ben Hodgetts     Topper                  40647                    Bartley S.C.

We wish our juniors continued success as they take part in the RYA Midland areas championships this weekend. Sean, Josh, Harrison and Megan will be in the RS Feva XL Championship fleet, Millie and Cecily are in the Championship Topper fleet, Theo in the Championship Optimist fleet, and Ben in the Topper Regatta fleet - good luck to all.

David Badger gets a bottle of wine and a cup to drink it from!

Well done to David Badger for winning the End of Series Regatta on Sunday with Howard, Chris, and Jeremy very close behind. Sean sailed his new Supernova well to take the youth prize.

 

Sean gets his name on the Junior / Youth trophy

Summer series prize winners were:

 Saturday Handicap 1: 1st John Ling, 2nd Steve Hawley, 3rd Mike Gibson

Saturday Pursuit: 1st Steve Hawley, 2nd John Ling, 3rd David Badger

Saturday Handicap 2 : 1st Steve Hawley, 2nd Jeremy Shinton, 3rd John Ling

Sunday Series: 1st Andy Bownes, 2nd Roger Pass, 3rd Paul Fowell

Well sailed all series and fleet winners, it has been great to see so many of our saiors enjoying the conditions over the Summer months.

 Steve Hawley shows off the Silverware

That can mean only one thing - The Autumn Series starts this Saturday! No need to dust off the drysuit just yet as the weather looks warm, sunny and with a lovely breeze. Make sure you don't miss out on the first race of the new season.

Hi All

The sailing committee met last night and it was felt to be a good idea to run a try a boat day.
The reasons behind it were many but included , Tuesday, Wed and Thursday night sailing has ended as a result of this there are sailors who do not know what to do next, how to try a different boat , or what different boats handle like.
K20 will have finished and there may be young sailors looking to sail for the winter season.

Some people may enjoy crewing who currently do not have a crewing job and some club members may just like to try a different boat to usual. It may even be an opportunity to boost your fleet.

This would only work if members were prepared to turn up, rig their boat and let others have a go in it, in return for having a go in different boats if you wish. It is necessary for the weather to be decent to permit this and the wind to be reasonable there is no intention to run this in boat breaking weather.

The sailing season of open meetings is coming to an end and with the availability of the sailing committee generally it was felt that Sunday 27th October would be a good day to try this with times to be confirmed but I would suggest 10.30 to 1pm..

We currently have offers to use all of the club boats which include picos, fevas, laser 2000 and others , a phantom, a gp14, a solo, a laser, any other offers would be very welcome.

We may ask BEN if the sup team would be prepared to lend a board or 2 as well.

Who will be the lucky winner of this trophy on Sunday? One thing is for sure you have to be in it to win it so calling all juniors - please come along and support the event!!!

There will be aditional prizes for first under 12 helm, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, medals for fleets, and a prize for the first K2O helm with less than 2 years experience.

There will also be the series prizes awarded and as it stands Bartley will get the individual series win and the team prize - now lets keep it that way with some great sailing on Sunday!

First race is at 11.00. Participants to be ready and rigged by 10.00. £7.50 entry fee for single handers and £10.00 for double handers. There are 5 races of 30 to 40 minutes each planned and the weather looks great - sunny with a gentle breeze from the South West - so what else could any junior sailor possibly want to do?

Notice of race and sailing instructions are on the 'open meeting' tab but if all that is too complicated then all will be explained at the briefing on the day. If you know any juniors from other Midlands clubs then remind them where they need to be on Sunday...

Any Sunday sailors wondering if there will be club racing then the answer is 'yes' if enough turn up - either in a separate area or on the same course as the juniors with a different start time depending on numbers (just please keep out of their way / don't get mixed up in their race!)

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.

.

The beautiful sight that greeted the Supernova fleet on Sunday morning

It has been a busy weekend of sailing / drifting for club travellers. The Supernovas went to Northampton for the inland championships with mixed conditions i.e. wind on Saturday and not so much on Sunday. However they managed to get 5 races in and with the Bartley fleet just outside the medals on Saturday evening the Sunday drift proved crucial enabling Mike Gibson to creep up to 3rd place overall and 2nd Master. In a fleet of 46 the Bartley team came in as follows:

7th Steve Hawley, 9th Chris Hawley, 16th Garry Butterfield, 32nd Dave Stephen, and 41st Stuart Stephen who was also 3rd Bronze fleet. Well done all.

The UK Laser Association Sailingfast youth series gets under way at Poole Y.C.

Further South the conditions were similar for the UKLA youth series and 4.7 class ladder event; a good breeze on Saturday and no racing on Sunday with the AP falling limp over the clubhouse all morning. Luckily the race officer decided to pull a race forward from Sunday to Saturday providing 4 good races. Megan Hardiman entered the 4.7 fleet for Bartley gaining a 14th place out of 32 with her highest placing 10th in race 1. Not a bad start against the country's best and sailing by far the oldest boat

Finally the Lasers went to Trimpley on Sunday for the Midlands Traveller Series which really was a drift... The light wind master found his way to the front with John Ling taking 1st from George Fereday in 2nd. With only a few events left Joe Scurrah from Carsington and John are tied on points for the series with John just ahead now on countback. It should make for a fantastic series finale at Bartley on October 13th!

 

A busy start line for the bottle race - looks pretty dark already!

Its official, the summer is over as the nights draw in and the Tuesday evening sailing comes to an end for another year. What a great series it has been this year, as popular as ever with Bartley sailors and those bringing their boats from other clubs for a mid-week Bartley fix providing close racing boat to boat and even closer in the personal handicap.

Well done to all sailors and we hope you enjoy the prizes (including the rubber chicken with matching towel). Unfortunately there is no Solo Open this year but the lasers need to put the 13th October in the diary as the series finale for the  Midlands Traveller - a must for all Bartley Lasers.

The club house tilts at 45 degrees to slide the sailors closer to the bar...

Fantastic food

Solo Squinting competition

Great to have the legend that is Les back in the fold this year

Thanks to Jennifer Foort for all the photos - many, many, many more on the whatsapp Laser page

“There's nothing––absolutely nothing––half so much worth doing as messing about in boats.”

Most Open meetings are similar formats - turn up at a small lake with a club house and launch area, 3 to 4 races and a prize giving. Then there is Trent Valley S.C. which is the only river sailing event on the Midlands Laser circuit. For spectators it is just the best! The fleet pass within inches of you, the start is the width of the river so no room for error, and then throw in a few barges and pleasure boats and there is alot to get excited about. Even getting there is an adventure - 2 railway crossings, past the farm, over a humpback bridge, through the field of cows and sheep to a club in the most unlikely place imaginable! I love it. 

On Sunday the Lasers made their annual pilgrimage to the river with John, Jennifer and Megan representing Bartley and George a an honorary Bartley Laser as he has been thrashing us all season on his Tuesday evening ventures to Bartley from Earlswood. With the wind nice and strong by the club house the Race Officer set a course up the river with 3 loops at the extremity which unfortunately had no wind at all! 40 minutes later one competitior had had enough and returned, a further 20 minutes and the leader appeared. After 1 hr 40mins Joe Scurah sailed back up the course to see if Megan was still alive or had found the river's source. Luckily she was happily sunbathing in the doldrums but the promise of 2 races before lunch had to be abandoned and the full ploughmans was attacked with gusto whilst the race officials adjusted the course to shorten the upriver leg and keep the racing out of the wind shaddow.

Races 2 and 3 were alot more like it - lots of wind, random gusts and close racing. For the spectators it was like watching motor racing at a chicane, the boats went screaming to a buoy but there was a severe wind shift just before it that caught plenty out! Joe Scurah in the lead nearly put his boom through a pleasureboat window as he tried to control a death roll, Local legend James Dalby tipped it in to windward and dredged the Trent to give him a nice river weed burgee, and George Faraday tipped it in right on the mark. The spectators were having a blast!

So how did the Bartley sailors get on? Well John came 2nd, George came 3rd, Megan came 8th, and Jennifer was 2nd Radial :) Joe Scurah from Carsington won the event (and the gentlemans award for bringing Megan back from her trip to Burton)

I guess you either love or hate river sailing, all I can say is that it is great fun for the spectators.

Next Midland circuit event is Trimpley this weekend followed by Barnt Green the week after - lets keep the Bartley numbers up at the front! (I hope to be back in the saddle for Shustoke if my back gets fixed in time)

Megan trying to catch George after his capsize

Jennifer speeds downwind

Starboard! John tries to get on the right side of Megan...