Staunton Harold Sailing Club
THE STAUNTON HERALD Spring 2013
Welcome to the new Staunton Harold SC newsle=er, and, for our longer standing members, a sense of deja vu as we’ve decided to resurrect the Ftle of “The Staunton Herald” to replace “Update”. As we discussed at the AGM last year, strengthening the club’s markeFng is essenFal to conFnue to a=ract new members, and this re-‐launched newsle=er is just one of the iniFaFves you’ll see this year. If you’ve been down to the club (sailing in the Icicle series or helping at one of the working parFes), you will see that work is progressing well on the extension to the changing rooms. The builders have had some challenges with the weather, but we sFll hope that they will be complete by April, with just the final fiUng-‐out to sort out. This will be a big improvement in space for changing, and will also bring the decor up to the same standard as the rest of the club-‐house. With all the wet weather the reservoir is now nice and full. The Icicle series has a=racted a good number of intrepid sailors and we can look forward to slightly warmer condiFons for the rest of us as we get into the Spring season. You’ll also see some changes to the Social programme as our new volunteers think up new ways for us to enjoy Fme off the water. CongratulaFons also to four SHSC sailors who have been selected as part of the RYA 420 transiFonal squad – Sam Smith, MarFn Wrigley, Emma Kindon and Ella Stoggall. Finally, I’m delighted to be able to report that the club was nominated as a finalist in the RYA “Club of the Year” for the second year in succession. We didn’t quite manage to li_ the trophy this year, but had the result been based on the support in the hall we’d have won easily! Thanks to all our members who made the trip to Alexandra Palace and we can reflect that geUng to the final five out of the 1,200 RYA clubs twice is a great achievement.
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 1
U P CO M IN G EV ENTS
March 27th
Wednesday Evening Racing Starts
March 30th
Spring Saturday Series Starts
April 1st
Easter Egg Race (11am start)
April 26th
Quiz and Sausage night
April 26th
Friday Night Club Starts
May 11th
Sailability Day Sat
May 12th
Staunton & Melbourne Cup Sunday (11am start)
May 26th
Inter Club BBQ Bananza
May 27th
Inter Club RegaPa
June 28th
It’s A Knockout!!
June 29th
Club RegaPa and Junior Club Champs
June 29th
Summer Shindig
June 30th
THE BIG BREAKFAST
June 30th
Club Championships
h=p://www.shsc.org.uk/social.htm Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 2
NE WS SHORTLISTED STAUNTON HAROLD SC RUNNERS UP FOR 2013 TOP BRITISH SAILING CLUB AWARD Staunton Harold Sailing Club was once again recognised as one of Britain’s top sailing clubs a[er being shortlisted for the pres\gious RYA Club of the Year Award for the second year running. Sailing’s na\onal governing body, the RYA, presents the annual award in recogni\on of clubs who excel at promo\ng the sport of sailing, encouraging people on to the water and making their ac\vi\es varied and accessible to the community. The overall 2013 winner from the shortlist of five was revealed by Skandia Team GBR’s Kate Macgregor at the RYA Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace, London on Saturday 2 March. Staunton Harold SC narrowly missed out on the top prize last year. But a hugely successful 2012, during which the club made the most of capitalising on the London 2012 buzz and laying the founda\ons to build on the Olympic legacy, has seen the club shortlisted again. Throughout 2012 the club con\nued to make strides with its diverse programme of junior, youth and adult sailing and social ac\vi\es, while the club’s training courses sold out. The club’s post Olympics Open Day also saw over 200 people taking part and sailing at the club. As an RYA OnBoard club, Staunton Harold SC has developed produc\ve rela\onships with schools in Ashby, Ticknall and Melbourne plus The Pingle School in Swadlincote. Loughborough Grammar and Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College also sail and undertake courses at the club. In 2012 Staunton Harold SC won the na\onal Community Sport and Recrea\on Alliance ‘Green Thinking’ Award, having embarked on an eco-‐friendly programme of moderniza\on and improvement to its main facili\es. The past 12 months have also seen the club awarded a £50,000 Sport England Inspired Facili\es grant to improve its changing facili\es, doubling capacity, to meet the needs of the club’s expanding ac\vi\es.
Nick Waters, Staunton Harold SC Commodore, said: “We put a lot of effort into promo0ng the club and encouraging newcomers to come along. We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for our post-‐Olympic Open Day, when people took advantage of free ‘have a go’ tasters, which resulted in 20 new memberships. This was a success beyond our expecta0ons. “We work extremely hard at ensuring our ac0vi0es are varied and appeal equally to newcomers and sailors with many years of experience, whether they want to race or cruise. Most importantly we are commiIed to being a friendly, family-‐orientated club that is well-‐managed and professionally run, with a visionary development plan for the next 10 years. We are delighted to have again been nominated as RYA Club of the Year 2013 finalists and look forward to aIending the RYA Dinghy Show next month.”
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 3
MOR E NE WS Jackie BennePs, RYA Volunteer Development Officer and awards coordinator, said: “We are delighted to announce the finalists for 2013 RYA Club of the Year Award that celebrate the outstanding achievements of the people who work to create vibrant clubs in the UK. Without the ongoing support and commitment from individual members, clubs would not exist and certainly would not offer the range or quality of ac0vi0es which is crucial to the con0nued success of both clubs and our sport.” The other four nominees for RYA Club of the Year 2013 were Felpham SC (West Sussex), Holywood SC (Co Down), NoPs County SC (Nomnghamshire), and Papercourt SC (Surrey). The RYA Club of the Year Awards are supported by Gallagher Heath Insurance Services. We offer our congratula\ons to the winners (Papercourt, Surrey) who had to raise the money to buy their land and lake to keep their club afloat.
For more information about sailing and windsurfing opportunities in Derbyshire visit www.rya.org.uk/regions/eastmidlands or find out more about the RYA Dinghy Show visit www.dinghyshow.org.uk
hPp://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/PapercourtSailingClubcrownedRYAClubo[heYear2013.aspx
Woohoo!! Club ge7n down wid da youff!! You'll be pleased to know that we have a club Facebook page open to all. Go to "hPps://www.facebook.com/StauntonHaroldSailingClub" to sign up and contribute.
SECURITY UPDATE Afraid we’ve had a couple of break-‐ins to the out-‐buildings on Wednesday and Thursday nights, but fortunately nothing seems to have been stolen. They did manage to get into the boat-‐house, which triggered the alarm, as well as gemng into the Bosun’s store and small mower shed. Just to let you all know what’s been done/going to be done: • Police have been no\fied. They visited and inspected the damage. We have an incident number and they will get us a crime number. • Terry has fixed the damage and reinforced the boathouse door. • Tim has engraved the outboard motors/covers. • CCTV security systems have been significantly improved. • Terry has asked Eagle to phone 999 and quote the case number if the alarm goes off (as advised by the Police – and they have it logged as needing urgent response). • Chris has informed the insurers. • Andy is going to send a g-‐mail reminding members of the importance of ensuring the club is always locked with the alarm set. • If you have any good ideas or suggesHons regarding security, please let somebody from the commiNee know.
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 4
CLUB STUFF BRITISH MOTH 2013 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS This summer Staunton Harold will be hos\ng its first ever Na\onal Championships. The club have been asked to host the 2013 Bri\sh Moth Na\onal Championships. The event is taking place from Wednesday 7th to Saturday 10th August. The Bri\sh Moth is a very tradi\onal single handed dinghy. The class can trace its origins to a date before the 2nd World War and therefore is one of the original UK dinghy classes The class however has not stood s\ll and boasts a variety of deck / interior designs, a highly adjustable rig and embracement of modern materials such as Carbon Fibre.
There will be a func\on on the Wednesday evening to welcome the class and mark the event. The Moths will be racing each day with a prize giving on the Saturday. More informa\on will be available nearer the \me and don't forget to put these dates in the diary. At the \me of wri\ng there looks to be a good chance of Staunton being represented on the water. (Providing Diana approves!) Nigel Pepperdine
NOT A BRITISH MOTH!!
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 5
MOR E C LU B ST U F F Message from R.C.Sailing With the reservoir brim full of water plus our best ever facili\es, 2013 promises to be a great year for sailing at Staunton Harold. In addi\on to our new commiPee boat we now have a new safety rib courtesy of Sport England and soon we should be enjoying newly enlarged changing rooms thanks to an Inspired Facili\es grant. The 2013 programme for racing, cruising, training and social events is now on the website so please fill your diaries! OOD/AOD/safety boat/powerboat experience If anyone would like to gain more experience in the above roles there is an opportunity to have a few hours mentoring by experienced OODs and safety drivers. You would be invited to come along for a morning or possibly all day as an extra pair of hands on the commiPee boat or assist the safety coxswain in a rib and follow the process during club racing. This may be ideal for someone looking to do their first OOD duty, but wan\ng to brush up on the process first, or someone who is a powerboat driver and would like to gain more hours on the water and refresh their knowledge of safety duty. For more informa\on contact sailing@shsc.org.uk
Latest OOD Top Tips Finish flag When you are on sta\on in posi\on for finishing the race please try not to put the blue finish flag up un\l the leaders are on their last lap. If a sailor sees the finish flag he may adopt a different strategy for the last couple of legs than if he knew he was sailing another lap. Shorten course (S) flag The S flag plus 2 hoots can be signalled at any \me before the 1st boat crosses the finish line. We used to display the shorten course flag as the 1st boat rounded the penul\mate mark but now it can be any\me, even on the last leg. Square line Always try to make the start line 90 degrees to the wind direc\on to ensure a fair start. There is a windex on the commiPee boat with a 90deg sight s\ck to make this task easy. Don’t forget to stop the 3 min horn a`er the last start The automa\c \mer will sound the horn every 3 minutes un\l you press the green and blue buPons together to stop the sequence. (Don’t turn the \mer off – black buPon – else you’ll lose race \ming) Use plenty of anchor warp Try using twice as much anchor warp as you think you should. This has mul\ple benefits – bePer anchor holding in strong wind and allows you to adjust the line easily. Good Seamanship saves backache When retrieving the anchor motor slowly towards it allowing the crew to easily pull the warp onboard. Agree signals between you so the crew can guide you to a posi\on where the anchor warp is “straight up and down”. If it won’t release from the mud easily gently motor forward over the anchor to break it free. The crew should only need to li[ the weight of the anchor. We are in the process of fimng a larger anchor plate and securing pin so that the anchor can remain on the deck fairlead rather than being li[ed into the locker. Make the most of your team If the wind is light and you have 2 safety teams why not see if 1 of them would like to enter the results or clean the jePy, floa\ng garage or the racing marks. Maybe your assistant could use the bucket and deck brush on the commiPee boat? It all helps.
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 6
E V E N M O R E C LUB ST UF F Portsmouth YardsHck Changes for 2013. Laser Sailors read this!!!! Several handicaps have changed this year. The RYA changes to the PY numbers announced at the dinghy show have been adopted. But in addi\on we have adopted the "Great Lakes PY numbers" for a handful of classes The Great Lakes PY numbers are derived from 10 years worth of data taken at the big inland events held at such waters as Grazam, Rutland, Northampton, Queen Mary, Draycote and Chew. Classes handle, plane and surf differently inland compared to the sea so these Great Lakes PYs are supposed to reflect this. Below are the main changes. Remember the higher the PY number the greater the advantage in a handicap race. r CLASS PY CHANGE FROM 2012 ase d L w 420 1100 +13 e a h m s Comet 1190 +11 i l po ed to Fireball 970 -‐10 e .... . m ! \ e GP14 1130 +3 n!! s lik the k o g n Enterprise 1130 +13 Lo n\ hu t LASER 1118 +33 o p go LASER Radial 1140 +30 an d LASER 4.7 1205 +30 Merlin Rocket 980 -‐26 Miracle 1200 +5 RS200 1053 -‐4 RS Feva 1210 +10 RS Vareo 1052 +7 Scorpion 1042 -‐11 Solo 1148 -‐2 Streaker 1153 -‐9 Topper 1313 +12 For the full list of changes and pursuit start \mes please see the Club no\ce board.More later.... See you on the water! Andy FoskeP R.C.Sailing STOP PRESS!!
W
T? A H
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*************************** FRIDAY NIGHT CLUB starts May 3rd Cruising, Informal Training, Fleet nights, Junior training, Onboard, Bar & BBQ Social Every Friday from May to the end of August Something for everyone from 6pm
Has anyone seen this bear? The rare Cheshire Bear has a gregarious and avuncular nature and responds to the offer of a Boddingtons. Probably hiberna\ng
LEARN TO RACE -‐ IntroducFon to Racing -‐ Starts Sat March 30th 12pm 10 sessions on various Saturdays, Sunday mornings and Friday evenings email Andy Foske=: sailing@shsc.org.uk for more details
currently!
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 7
T R AI NI NG Improvers training – from the sailing school Once again this year the ‘improvers training’ sec\on of the sailing school con\nues to expand. We are running a Sailing with Spinnakers course, which hasn’t been done for a very long \me at the club. This is taking place over the first 3 weekends of March, and will probably be nearly finished by the \me this edi\on is published. We are also running a series of 10 sessions working towards the RYA Start Racing cer\ficate. These sessions will be suitable for people who want to progress to racing confidently at Staunton Harold. We will cover the RYA Start Racing syllabus. Ideally par\cipants will have completed their RYA Level 3 before taking part in these sessions, but this is not essen\al due to the length of the course. These sessions would be suitable for sailors who are nearly at Level 3 standard (ie. have completed Level 2 recently and done quite a bit of sailing since then as well). The dates and \mes for these are shown below along with the provisional course plan. 1
Sat 30th March
9am-‐12.30pm
Introduc\on & Get Back on the Water
2
Sun 7th April
9am-‐12.30pm
Boat Prepara\on & Adjus\ng the Controls
3
Sat 13th April
9am-‐12.30pm
Star\ng
4
Fri 19th April
7pm-‐9.30pm
Rules
5
Fri 26th April
7pm-‐9.30pm
Tac\cs
6
Mon 6th May
9.30am-‐3.30pm
7
Sun 19th May
9am-‐12.30pm
Boat handling, rounding marks, teamwork and the 5 essen\als. Clear air, gusts and lulls.
8
Sun 26th May
9am-‐12.30pm
Tuning the boat
9
Fri 31st May
7pm-‐9.30pm
Race strategy inc. weather forecasts.
10
Sat 8th June
9am-‐12.30pm
1
Poten\al par\cipants need to contact becky.priest@yahoo.co.uk in the first instance. This course has a charge of £50 to club members and the maximum number of par\cipants is 12. Please book early to avoid disappointment. Of course, I am looking for instructors to help run these sessions. Please do get in touch if you are able to run sessions or help out. You do not need to be qualified to help, just willing and keen.
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 8
POWE RBOAT T RAINING Powerboat Training – from the sailing school This year’s powerboat and safety-‐boat courses are adver\sed on the website. We have to plan these around boat usage so they tend to take place during the winter months. We have added a couple of refresher sessions (informal and with no charge) a[er the success of last year’s one of these. I keep a list of people who are interested in taking part in any type of powerboat training and if demand is very high then I will endeavour to run addi\onal courses during the summer wherever possible.
Dates for 2013
Refresher Sessions Refresher Sessions RYA Safetyboat
Saturday 9th March and Saturday 26th October 9.30am -‐ 12.30pm (informal, free of charge, can aPend one or both) Saturday 30th November and Saturday 7th December 9am-‐5pm (£40 charge, need to aPend both days). Saturday 9th November and Saturday 16th November 9am-‐5pm (£40 charge, need to aPend both days PLUS refresher day in October).
RYA Powerboat Level 1 & 2
Jan / Feb 2014
I wonder if this bloke has a PB Level 2?
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 9
BEYOND STAUNTON HAROL D SOUTHPORT 24 HOUR RACE 7th and 8th SEPTEMBER 2013 A[er 4 years organising our teams at the annual Southport 24 hour race I have decided to hang up my spurs and pass them on to somebody else. It is fantas\c event for us to be involved in, and I can safely say that all who have taken part in the last few years has had a great \me....and our boats have beaten our expecta\ons without fail. Very many thanks to all those worthy souls who have helped to make it such a success in my \me. So now we are looking for a volunteer to take it on for the coming years. I can assure you that it is an intensely rewarding and sa\sfying experience...and great fun. Only criteria are a strong cons\tu\on....pa\ence...and the ability to herd cats (nice cats). I anybody is interested in taking it on please contact me at the club, or on email at "york3724@gmail.com".
Context is a wonderful thing!
First of the Year Race at NoNs County The Geoff Parker Memorial Trophy is held annually on New Years Day at NoPs County SC to raise money for the Air Ambulance. Several SHSC sailors braved the cold to join the 40 boats that took part in the 2013 event, although some of them not in the boats that they are normally seen. The fleet was split into two; fast and slow handicap, but the results were adjusted back into one fleet at the end. The racing took place in rela\vely light winds / marginal planing condi\ons which proved ideal for the SHSC con\ngent. A[er sailing and a short wait in the rela\ve warmth of the bar the results were announced. Staunton Harold featured in all of top three prize winning posi\ons with Nigel and Di Pepperdine sailing their Enterprise into first place, Richard Pepperdine crewing for Tim Rush (NCSC) in an Albacore second and the Laser of Craig Williamson coming third. Just outside the prizes were Rachael Rhodes and Simon Forbes in their Scorpion and Peter Gray following in15th in the Pepperdine's Solo.
Paul Williamson
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 10
F L E E T NE WS Fireball Fings 2013 promises to be another exci\ng year for the Fireball class across the globe. Following the 50th anniversary of the class in 2012 we have yet another ac\on packed year full of club races, open mee\ngs and championships. Please see the Fireball sec\on of the ‘recommended classes’ part of the club website for details. Once again the Staunton Harold open mee\ng starts the year off with a bang, 10 short races in just over 24 hours and a social on the Saturday night. We have fleet training planned for 2 Sunday mornings, 19th May and 7th July from 9am. For those wishing to go further afield – and I strongly recommend you do, it’s great fun, a good way to meet other Fireball sailors (not there’s anything wrong with the ones we have at Staunton of course!) and improves your sailing no end – there are some local (ish) open mee\ngs at Budworth and Burton and later in the year the Inlands are at Draycote and there’s an end of season open at Northampton too. The Na\onals are in Looe this year – fantas\c venue if you’ve not been before – everything is nearby, sailing area is close straight off the beach. The Europeans and Worlds are in Slovenia in September and the French Na\onals in Carnac. If you have any ques\ons whatsoever about Fireballs or Fireball sailing please do contact me becky.priest@yahoo.co.uk or on Facebook or at the club at any \me. If you’re looking for a helm, crew or boat, please let me know, or if you’re thinking of joining the Fireball fleet but don’t know where to start – why not come along to one of the training mornings and we’ll try to get you a sail. In the mean\me, I’ll leave you with the following \p about sailing a Fireball…… …….work out your boat’s top speed….. Sail for as long as you can on one tack (upwind or downwind) and focus only on how fast the boat is going, listen to the sound she makes through the water, look at the shape of the sails (especially down the leech – back edge), feel your boat through your hands, feet, legs and boPom. Repeat again and again in different wind strengths and on different points of sailing. Don’t compare your speed with others, once you’ve found your boat’s top speed, it will be faster than them – but it will take \me to find it, be pa\ent. ‘Happy Fireball sailing for 2013!’ -‐ Becky Priest
TEXTBOOK STUFF!! :)
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 11
MOR E F L E E T NE WS LASER NEWS My first job as new Laser fleet captain must be to thank the outgoing fleet captain, Alan BenneP, for his hard work in promo\ng Laser sailing at the Club over the last few years. Fortunately for us Alan is s\ll happy to run some of his excellent training sessions, specifically for the Laser fleet, over the coming year. The first training session, which will be suitable for both new and more experienced Laser sailors, will be on the evening of Friday 3rd May – make a note in your diary. We will try to run a second training session, probably on a Satu rday, later in the season and also a ‘Try a Laser’ session some \me over the summer. Mike Jones, for many years a stalwart of the Laser fleet, Famous Spanish has now succumbed to the Sculpture delights of a Solo. As you can see from the accompanying photograph Laser sailing has taken its Laser Fleet Captain toll recently. We wish Mike Richard BarneP all the best with his endeavours in the Solo. I’m looking forward to some exci\ng Laser racing this season with good fleet turnouts including the Laser fleet regulars and the new Club members who bought Lasers in 2012.
SOLO NEWS 2012 was a great year for the Solo fleet at Staunton Harold. The fleet has con\nued to grow from 10 at the beginning of the year to 17 at the last count and we’ve seen lots of fleet members compe\ng in the various club racing series with a good measure of success. We held our first open mee\ng for many years in October and it was a big success with 25 entries and some top class sailors. The 2013 open is scheduled for 19th October and we’re looking forward to another great event. As last year, it will be the final event in The Midland Traveller Series so should be an exci\ng finale. The Solo class is a large friendly class na\onally which is s\ll growing, there were over 90 new boats built last year and there’s a thriving second hand market. The class has a programme of major championships both inland and on the sea including the Na\onal Championships at Hayling Island on the south coast in July and the Inland Championship at Rutland Water in September. In addi\on, we have the Midland Traveller Series for those who would like to develop and test their racing skills, the series comprises eleven open mee\ngs around the midlands culmina\ng in our own open at Staunton Harold. So we are looking forward to the new 2013 season and some great sailing. There will be some shiny new Solos at the Club this year alongside the more mature boats and I’m sure that you’ll see lots of Solos out on the water cruising, training and racing throughout the year. This is a rapidly developing and friendly fleet at Staunton Harold. You would be very welcome if you would like to join us. Nick Threadgill
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 12
E V E N M O R E F L E E T NE WS Finn sailing 2012 -‐ One Finn leads to another I had sailed Finns very seriously back in the 70s when I had made a wooden Fairey Finn into a reasonably compe\\ve boat. However, since gemng a 1963 Fairey Finn seven years ago I had avoided the tempta\on to get all compe\\ve again, trying to be sensible about my lack of strength and fitness and limi\ng my sailing to classic events. However when I found out that the 2012 Finn Na\onals would be held in Falmouth, just prior to the Worlds and also leading up to the Olympics I knew I had to take part. The event was run from the sailing centre next to the Mari\me Museum and 87 boats entered, the largest fleet ever in Britain and it included over 30 entries from Olympic squads around the world prac\sing for the Worlds at which some s\ll had to qualify for the Olympics. There were only 4 classic boats entered with 3 of them wooden. Racing was held out in Falmouth bay, which would normally be expected to be sheltered by the Lizard peninsula but strong Easterly winds meant that the seas were quite large. I had many people compliment my boat, including David HowleP who I used to race against and several of the Olympians. Despite my original inten\on to simply be there I ended up comple\ng all the races, usually finishing among the back of the modern fleet, leading the classics and about 10 minutes a[er the winner. On the windiest days the sight of the leaders pumping single part off the boom downwind whilst I was struggling on 3:1, trying not to be pulled through the blocks was amazing, and I found that I s\ll remembered how to surf fast downwind using my lack of weight to make up a bit for what I lost upwind. Finding a gap on the line at the start only to then find Ben Ainslie filling in the space on one side and Giles ScoP on the other was another highlight but needless to say I didn’t suffer from their dirty wind for very long! A[erwards I decided I wanted to take part in the Finn World Masters to be held in La Rochelle in 2013 so started to look around for another Finn. The Enterprise and Laser were sold and I bought a modern Devo\ Finn that was used by Andrew Simpson to come 3rd at the worlds in 2003, just losing out on the 2004 Olympic slot to Ben Ainslie. This boat is drama\cally faster than my wooden one but the rig is very different and at the moment I haven’t really got much of a clue how to set it up. I entered several more classic events in the wooden Finn and a windy Finn Masters at Hayling in the Devo\ where 35 knots were GP BREAKING WEATHER SHSC 2012 recorded but the highlight of the year was spending a week in Weymouth, watching the racing on the big screen on the beach and from a friend’s yacht. I watched all the Finn races which were fascina\ng, par\cularly as I had spoken to many of the compe\tors at Falmouth. The duel between Ben Ainslie and Jonas Hogh-‐Christensen was incredible and we shouted ourselves hoarse on the Nothe for the Star and Finn medal races. So now I have 2 Finns, 39 years a[er buying my first and I’m looking forward to the next season! Peter Vinton
Staunton Harold Sailing Club, Calke Road, Melbourne, Derbyshire DE73 1DL page 13