Yeadon Sailors down under !

Hi everybody,
The Lulham-Robinsons and the Fosters send their Christmas wishes to every body at the Club. They are sunning themselves in Albany, Western Australia as they get ready for the Mirror World Championships which are being held straight after Christmas. They even made the local TV news – see attached link

http://albany.igwn.com.au/index.php/news/prime-news/sailing-regatta-in-albany-video

Peter has set up a website so you can check on their progress

http://lulhamrobinson.webplus.net/

or keep a check on the Mirror Worlds Website

http://www.mirrorworlds2011.com/

Or look for updates on the Yachts and Yachting Website.

Hope everybody has a great Christmas and hopefully see lots of you at the Club on New Year's Day for a fuddle and perhaps some sailing, ice breakers at the ready !!!!!!!!
:-)

New Years Day Gathering and Race

Club members are invited to come along on New Years Day to welcome in the year, and if you have a boat built like an ice breaker, maybe do some sailing.

The first race will start at 12noon, and then we'll have lunch at 1pm. If you have any leftovers then please bring these along.

Merry Christmas!

Tarn frozen for a second week

A frozen tarn prevented sailing in the Frostbite Series for a second week !

The ducks had managed to keep a very small area of water to swim on but it wasn't be enough to sail on. We shall have to see what this weekend brings, a thaw is rumoured but who knows !

To recognise outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing Neil McInnes is given by HRH the Princess the RYA Volunteer Award

On the 18th of November Neil McInnes attended a ceremony in London and he was presented by HRH The Princess Royal the RYA Volunteer Award to recognise the outstanding contribution he has made to the sport of sailing.

Neil has encouraged many new members to take up sailing and has enabled them to learn and gain confidence in a safe and secure environment. Existing members have also benefited by becoming involved in training and further developing their own skills. Most especially, Neil has developed the junior members of the club – rapidly getting them to a stage of being able to race – further developing their skills and encouraging them to become involved in regional race series, zone squads, etc.

Most of the club members, committee members and officers put in many hours for the club, however few have put in the sustained effort Neil has since joining the club and, in particular, over the last 18 years. His impact on the development of the club and its members has been extremely beneficial, however his impact on the junior members has been exceptional.

Postponed: Laying Up Supper

Due to the current weather conditions, it has been decided to postpone the Laying Up Supper until further notice. Please retain your tickets. Please inform anyone who you sold tickets to.

Froestbite racing stopped by early extreme weather!

Hoping against all the odds keen Frostbiters arrived ready for an afternoon of racing and jacket potatoes only to be met by a frozen Tarn.

Not to be deterred John began breaking up the ice with his bare hands.  The plan was to clear a hole that was big enough for a boat to be launched into and then the boat could be used to break up the ice. But it was to no avail as the ice was 3/4" inch thick! 

In true Yeadon Sailing Club spirit cheerfulness prevailed and members spent the time chatting, packing up boats and walking around the frozen Tarn before saying their good byes and going home for an afternoon in front of the fire.

Sailing Secretary's Report (From Newsletter)

By the time you read this we will have finished our summer series and plunged headlong into the icy waters of the Frostbite. Those of us hardy enough!
In terms of activity on the water the season has been mixed: Wednesday and Sunday being slightly down on recent years. Saturday is slightly up. Full graphs will be circulated for your confusion at the AGM. Similarly the Laser, Streaker and National 12 open meetings were well attended but disappointingly few Topper, Mirror and Solo sailors visited.
We will hold a Fleet Captains brainstorming meeting sometime in December so if you have any ideas that might help get the numbers up let me know. (Or if you would be prepared to act as Fleet Captain...)
Thanks are due both to non-racers who turned up to do their AOOD duty and to the frequent-racers who stood in when there was a gap that needed filling. I hope that 'first time' race officers witnessed how non-intimidating the racing is at Yeadon and will consider taking part themselves sometime in the future.

Patrick Gaunt Hon. Sailing Sec.

Club Survey 2010 - Please take part

We would welcome your input to help your club grow from strength to strength.

Please take part in the club survey... follow the link below, you could win a prize!

Launch Survey >

A message from your commodore (Autumn 2010 Newsletter)

Another summer's sailing season is nearly over with just a few weekends left before we start our 'Frostbite' season on 7th November.
Each year I promise myself I will do each and every single frostbite race, and each and every year so far, I've missed more than I've attended, however, this year I have set myself a target to miss only two - one Sunday because I am acting in a play and have a dress rehearsal that day, and the other Sunday is reserved for that one day, I don't know exactly when it will be, but it will be the same day when it is really, really cold, possibly even raining, with no wind.
There may be fog and Mrs Kennedy will have found a dozen jobs for me to do at home, jobs that I can normally put off, but won't because I'd rather do the DIY than squeeze my rather large body into my shrunken wet and clammy wetsuit. Then slide my frozen sail onto my frozen mast, drag my frosty boat down to the water, crunching over the frozen grass and tarmac.
Finally breaking the ice on the tarn so I can launch my boat onto the windless calm frozen water of Yeadon Tarn to once again be beaten into last place by people who are much older than me.
I know I must be mad, but somehow, just writing about it, seeing it down on paper (or on the screen) I'm starting to think that sailing on such a day won't be all that bad. In fact, it could be a lot of fun. This year I've had a great time at Yeadon Sailing Club. although, I haven't raced as often as I would like, I have done quite a lot of sailing, and watched a lot more.
The Tuesday night sessions have been great fun this year. We seem to have a lot more adults taking part than in previous years, and there seems to be more people taking part overall. I especially enjoy taking people out who have never sailed before. Sometimes, they get really scared and scream a lot, but the kids are usually a lot more relaxed and just enjoy the thrill of being pushed along by the wind blowing through the sails.
We bought a new training boat this year and called it 'Free Spirit' in memory and celebration of a dear friend who passed away in early June. Yvonne McInnes had been a member of Yeadon Sailing Club for many years and will be sadly missed by her many friends.
I sailed 'Free Spirit' a few weeks after she arrived and found her to be great fun. I know that we will all receive a lot of pleasure from seeing her take onboard new and existing members all of whom are keen to learn how to sail and then to improve their sailing skills by sailing in her during the coming years.
Quite a few of our Junior sailors have been doing rather well this year and I must congratulate them all on their wonderful achievements and wish them well for all their future events especially the boys who will shortly be setting off for Australia (more elsewhere in this publication).
It has been a terrific year for me as Commodore of Yeadon Sailing Club. We have a wonderful little club, but it still takes a lot of organising, and we couldn't do it without our Committee who have all been a tremendous help this year. My thanks go out to all our com-mittee members (too many to name here) and to the many ordinary members who tirelessly give up their time.
My personal thanks must also go to David Statman for being a wonderful role model, great storyteller, and a great friend who wasn't feeling well one day and I somehow managed to beat him.
David also happened to be the person who took my son and I out on a boat on the Open Day way back in 2001. If it wasn't for David we wouldn't have joined, and I would have missed out on so much. So thanks David you're a star - and see you at the Frostbite - the DIY can wait.

Gerard Kennedy
Laser

Laying up supper tickets on sale!

Tickets for the social event of the year are now on sale.

Saturday 4th December 2010

7pm - Welcome

7.15pm - 2010 Prize-giving

8.15pm - Sumpstuous buffet served by Cranberries of Adel

9.30pm - An evening of family entertainment with the Rear Commodore

Yarnbury Rugby Club, Brownberrie Lane, Horsforth

Great Company ... Great Food ... Great Time

Ticket: Adults £12, Children £6, Family £30

If you would like a local distributor to come to you then email using the contact form with you name, address and how many tickets you would like.

View Larger Map

Call for New Committee Members

Would you like to contribute to the running and continual development of the club, then why not become a committee member?

We are looking for keen and enthusiastic club members to spare a little extra time and help out with the running of the club. Committee members are voted in to post on the committee and are asked to attend monthly meetings, and attend club organised events.

Its an excellent opportunity to put something back in to your club and the experience can help enhance an individuals personal development and look good on their CV.

If you are interested in joining the committee at the up coming AGM then contact the club secretary at the following address:

secretary@yeadonsailingclub.co.uk

Greetings from Keith Wear, former Commodore 1975

An ex YSC commodore from 1975 called into the club to wish the YSC and its members well. Keith Wear sailed Heron 108 Fidget which he is pleased to see is still at the club.

Keith now lives in North Lincolnshire and if any old friends would like to get in contact, please email Tim Burnett at the link below.

Keith's eldest son, Peter, now lives in France on the Riviera and Phillip lives in Lincolnshire.

webmaster@yeadonsailingclub.co.uk

Team Racing Development Day

28 young people were greeted by grey cloudy, breezy and cold conditions as Yeadon SC held its second team racing development day on Saturday. The day attracted sailors from across Yorkshire with strong support from Mirror Squad sailors, sailors involved in club training at Yeadon SC and at Otley SC and sailors from the Yorkshire Dales SC’s GYBE scheme. This was an introduction to Team Racing for those who have not haven’t done it before, while for those who have team raced before it was an opportunity to practice this branch of sailboat racing.


With a wide spectrum of sailing experiences within the group the teams were pre selected to try and evenly match the teams and to give a mix of experienced racers, club racers and those new to racing in each team. With a number of people new to racing taking part some of the more experienced squad sailors were appointed as team captains and we asked them to manage their team, to make sure they were around at the right time for their races, understood what was going on and were incorporated into the day’s activities. Hence it was also an exercise in working together and to mingle and mix for all the young people from a variety of clubs and sailing circles.

In addition, certain jobs to assist in the running of the day had not been manned up in advance in order that we could also include a number of the parents who had come down with the sailors and get them to be involved in running a sailing event.

With 28 sailors taking part we formed 6 two boat teams (4 or 5 people to a team) and each team raced each other in a round robin league. For those with 5 in their team the team captain had to also ensure everybody got a fair turn. The event was raced in Picos which were a great leveller for all the sailors. The boats were from the Yeadon and Otley training fleets and Yeadon members own boats as well and we are indebted to those people and to the Clubs for the use of the boats.

There was close racing all day

Everybody mucked in to get boats sorted, fuelled by bacon butties and we then held a brief introduction training session to explain about Team Racing and the Day’s programme. At the end of the session the team captains were introduced to their team and to their team colour / bib colour (which for some teams didn’t quite match – Dark blue and purple are almost the same, aren’t they ?) Then it was time to get on the water !

There was some initial teething issues first with the course and then with very enthusiastic team racing manoeuvres. The OOD team on the water sorted any confusion with the course and the team captains were reminded about giving ‘time and opportunity’ and to consider that most boats had someone new to racing in them as well so the helms had to ensure that their crews understood what was going on as well the other boat so they could react as well!

Downwind action

The OOD set a good course for team racing with a beat, broad reach, beat, run and short reach to the finish. The sailors soon got in the swing of it and good to see tactics and the rules being used to good effect in all the races. Most races were closely fought with defeat being occasionally snatched from the jaws of victory when people forgot that Picos don’t respond and accelerate like some of the race tuned boats they may normally sail !

The Beachmaster team did well keeping the teams informed on where we were in the programme and who was sailing next, or when they could have a food and warm up break in the Club House.

It was especially encouraging to see how the team captains, Ben Lulham-Robinson, Ed Grayson, Emma Grayson, Matthew Lulham-Robinson, Oli White and Will Hide took to their roles and organised their teams and generally helped things run smoothly.

In the end it was Ed’s team, sailing with Vanessa, and crews Edward, Ellie and George who came out on top with 5 wins, then Will and Oli teams tied on 3 wins with Will taking 2nd on tie break.

To finish the day off we ran a race for the team captains and their choice of crews. We formed 2 three boat teams loosely based on the final order of the main event and with 2 pairs of siblings being kept on opposite teams there was more than pride at stake ! The race didn’t disappoint and as could be predicted the sibling pairs battled for family honour all round the course. In the end the result couldn’t have been closer with the team of Will, Emma and Matthew just beating Ed, Oli and Ben by 10 pts to 11 pts.

Judging by the smiles and the chatter, all in all it was a great days sailing, racing, mixing and making new friends, enjoyed by the sailors and everybody who helped out run it, whether volunteering before hand or co-opted on the day - It looks like we will have to do it again next year !

:-) Neil and Heather - The organising team




Two cold OODs




The bacon butty team - They were great !!!



National 12 Open Meeting

Heavy rain did not deter a good fleet of National Twelves from launching for the National 12 Open Meeting this weekend despite some crews talking about garden centres and other less wet distractions.

Race one got underway in a North Easterly shifty breeze, two boats were recalled but local crew Neil and Katie McInnes made a clean break in N3216 to reach the first mark in the lead hotly pursued by John and Allison Cheetham (N3468) also drawing on their local knowledge then, Brian Kitching and Gale Kaye sailing N3356. Philip and Helen David in N2545 having recovered from being over the line powered their way up to the leaders and as the breeze died and returned the fleet positions were constantly changing, John and Alison were the winners with Philip and Helen close behind followed by Brian and Gale.

With the bad weather race 2 was due to run back to back with race one however the bad weather turned into horrendous weather with heavy squalls, bouncing rain and the wind doing circuits and bumps! A start was made as soon as the weather settled slightly and Brian and Gail were first to the first mark but after more major wind shifts and some confusion about the course the race was abandoned in favour of lunch.


Race 2 restarted after lunch with the wind still very light and constantly shifting direction so race officer Bill Wilson and his team opted for a shorter course and the hope that at least one leg would be a beat. Howard Chadwick made a good start on port with John and Philip further down the line but in more wind a strategy that paid off well as John took the lead. At the second mark however John stumbled during the gybe and capsized creating a hazard against the mark and allowing Howard to re take the lead closely followed by Brian and Philip. Philip took the lead for a while but John was soon back in the hunt and as Philip chose a backing shift John pulled through to lead with Howard in second, positions which they held to the end.


In race 3 John headed for an early shower with two wins in the bag and the rest of the fleet, now down to five boats went out again to yet another wind direction and another course. Neil got another excellent start and was first at the first mark with Philip second and Howard third. Philip however managed to break through and pull away leaving Neil and Howard to fight it out, seldom more than two boat lengths apart. On the last lap Howard and Vanessa managed to get an overlap on Neil and Katie at the start of the last beat and they held this position to the end.


A great days racing in atrocious conditions! Thanks are due to the race team for making the best of the constant wind changes, David Hinks for his notes for this report and especially to the catering team who kept us going with hot food and didn’t complain when we dripped water all over the clubhouse floor!

Overall Results

1st N3468 Pillow Fight John and Allison Cheetham
2nd N2545 Little Meg Philip and Helen David (Also 1st Vintage)
3rd N2266 Triarda Howard Chadwick and Vanessa Kennedy
4th N3356 Squidgy Bits Brian Kitching and Gale Kaye
5th N3216 Twice Shy Neil and Katie McInnes
6th N2359 Shotgun Angus Beyts and Patrick Gaunt
Locals Denis and Jo Beard finished a creditable seventh place in their first ever National Twelve Open Meeting having borrowed an ageing Paper Dart N2769 Barrow Boy.

Furthest travelled prize went to Angus Beyts who had come down from Scotland picking up his borrowed boat in Derbyshire and returning it before going home to Scotland, runner up was Brian Kitching who only came from Bristol.

Photo by Brian Herring “John Cheetham giving the fleet a chance”


Howard Chadwick 4-10-2010

Shorebased Sailing courses at Otley Centre - Leeds City College

If you are looking to expand your sailing knowledge, then why not take part in a shore based course at Otley College.

Courses on offer include Costal Skipper, Day Skipper and Marine Radio.

Hurry as some start in November.

http://www.leedscitycollege.ac.uk/courses/?s=rya

Blue-green Algae Update

The blue-green algae risk is now believed to be low. The recent weather conditions should have helped reduce the amount in the water. Sailors are requested to review the situation before sailing and take precautions not to swallow the water. Sailors are also requested to avoid the concrete T jetty where the algae was last spotted as a precaution.

Please also remember to wash your hands once you leave the water. Further information on Blue-green algae can be found on this environment agency leaflet:

http://www.pawsonthelevels.org.uk/public/for_info-blue_green_algae%5B1%5D.pdf

Streaker/Solo Open Sunday 26th of September

YEADON SAILING CLUB

STREAKER/SOLO OPEN SUNDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 2010

A cloudy, cool day with a northerly wind, gusting Force 4/5. A good turnout of boats, with 5 visitors and 8 home contestants who competed alongside the two Solo contestants.

Race 1.Nick Lovell, who had travelled all the way from Kings Lynn, got off to a wonderful start, and held that lead throughout the race. David Butler, from Welton, trailed him all the way to the finish line, but could not catch him. Yeadon’s John Goodyear established himself in third place for two laps, with Chris Wright from Ripon on his tail. But Peter Tyerman from Pennine was gaining ground (or water) rapidly, and took a well earned third place.

Race 2.The wind veered, and lessened somewhat. Peter Tyerman had a better start, and behind him a duel began between David and Nick, with Nick gradually achieving second place, and eventually forging his way into the lead, which he then held. David had to accept second place, with Pe

ter in third.

Race 3.The wind then backed, a Yeadon prerogative, and making our visitors think hard. Nick and David established themselves first and second from start to finish. S.J. Chilton from Yorks Ouse fought bravely into third position, only to be overtaken by Peter, who kept that place until the finish.

FULL ROLL CALL

11541Lovell NickOuse Amateur

21618Butler DavidWelton

31586Tyerman PeterPennine

41374Wright ChrisRipon

51470Goodyear JohnYeadon

61481Southall John “

71527Beard Dennis “

81621Chilton S. J.Yorkshire Ouse

91482Hattersley TimYeadon

101367Smith Trevor “

111597Crossland Rob “

121471Metcalfe Paul

131563Hinks David “

Race Officer Howard Chadwick

Domestic Report

As is often the case, the heroic efforts of our local heroes often go unsung, eclipsed by the necessity of formulating our Race Reports for national exposure, mainly for the benefit of our most welcome visitors, who are often almost full time sailors.

So what happened at the back of the Fleet?

The star was without question John Goodyear, who, in a borrowed boat, achieved 5th place throughout the three races. What a pity we had visitors!

Denis Beard showed great promise, until he tried to jibe his boat like an Enterprise. He must enter again next year, and be more careful.

John Southall, in spite of his great age, showed great consistency, and came 6th. It’s time he sold that Laser.

Tim Hattersley started off very well, but lost ground as the wind abated.

Trevor Smith was also very consistent, a bit like Ben Ainsley.

Paul Metcalfe was also very persistent, but perhaps the initial gusty conditions did not suit him.

Rob Crossland started off nicely, had a bit of a rest in the second race, but attacked the third with renewed energy.

And David Hinks was just settling down to it in the second race, then perhaps fatigue prevented him from doing all three.

The most significant feature was that most of our local lads were not proper Streakers, but sailing in borrowed boats, and so must be congratulated on their performances, even if they were coerced into entering, at great cost!

Well done, Chaps!

The Solo Open was once again poorly supported. This year it clashed with the Northern Series meeting at Leigh. Our one visitor, this year from Hollingworth SC, gave Bill Wilson some good competition until he capsized in the first race. The flukey winds after that were not kind to him.


Bill retains the Solo cup for the third year running. Peter Appleby came third having sailed only two of the three races.

Blue-green algae warning

Traces of blue-green algae have been located in the tarn. Although there is no indication that the levels are dangerous, tests have been conducted to ascertain whether the tarn is safe to use. The results will be published once they have been received. Please consult the YSC website for further information.

Please follow standard procedures when using the tarn:

Avoid swimming in the water.
Avoid drinking the water.
Wash your hands before consuming food & drink, and wash them after you have finished on the water.

If you feel unwell following activities on or near the water please consult a health professional and notify a member of the committee. If you have any concerns or have a medical condition which may increase the risk then please do not use the tarn until the all clear has been given.

Neil McInnes is to be given RYA Volunteer Award for Lifetime Commitment to the Sport of Sailing

It has recently been announced by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) that Neil McInnes – Sailing Coach at Yeadon Sailing Club – is to be awarded an RYA Volunteer Award for Lifetime Commitment to the sport of sailing.

The RYA Volunteer awards are the MBE's of the sailing world and recognise outstanding contributions made by volunteers throughout the UK. The award will be presented by the RYA President, HRH The Princess Royal, at an awards ceremony to be held in London in November.

Neil’s award is in recognition of his long term contribution to the training and development of sailors at Yeadon Sailing Club. Through his commitment Neil has encouraged many people to take up sailing and the training that he provides enables new members to quickly reach a degree of competence that allows them to feel confident and enjoy sailing on the tarn and participating in club races.

Most especially through Neil’s encouragement and enthusiasm many of our juniors have quickly progressed from learning to sail, to racing, to competing in regional, national and international competitions. This year five of our juniors qualified for regional and national training squads and competed at National, European and World Championship level.

Neil has been YSC Sailing Coach since 1997 and over that time has taught many people to sail and race. He has made a significant contribution to the sport of sailing in this region and the award is well deserved.

Working Party / Junior Training / Get new members out on the water / Racing / Free Sailing Session / Barbeque / Social Evening

Dear All, just a quick reminder about this Saturday – It’s going to be a busy one !!

From 10 am please come down for a working party to help tidy up the club and the grounds or help Gerard with the bacon butties !

The juniors, from 12.00, can legally escape the work party as we are running a Junior Training session 12 till 2, so it would be good to see lots of you down for that showing the Adults how well you can sail.

In the afternoon we will be holding the afternoon races at 2.30 and 4.00 as normal, with the last Junior Race of the season incorporated into the 2.30 race. With the afternoon’s races what we want to do is get members who have previously just sailed on Tuesday Nights teamed up with other members and take part in the racing so come down and get out on the water !.

After racing we shall leave the safety boat out so if anybody wants to have a free sailing session they can do while we shall get the barbeques fired up. So bring down something to cook for tea and we shall a social evening too !

See you there !!!!!!!!!

Mirror Success in Europe

After a week’s racing at Sligo Yacht Club in Ireland Matthew and Benjamin are European Junior Mirror Champions !

Matthew and Ben, who are also the current North RYA Volvo Zone Champions and Scottish Mirror Champions, were surprised to claim the title, as crew Ben explains: “I don’t know how it feels [to win] really, we were quite surprised how well we did – we were probably expecting to come top three junior and tenth or fifteenth overall. Our plan was to try and get the kite set quick go the right way up he beat and get constant results really and that obviously worked!”

In the overall event there were 75 entries and they were 5th overall. They were improving all week ranking impressively well against the senior competition in the fleet. The last day was blown off due to too much wind but they won the last race sailed the day before so they may have finished even higher if racing on the last day had been held ? They were also the only non Irish boat to win a race ! Helm Matthew added: “We’re really, really pleased to win the junior title and come fifth overall. We’ve been working for this for a long time so it’s good all the works paid off training with the national squad over the winter. It was quite difficult and we had to work really hard to get the result all week. Training for a variety of conditions so we could be sure we could cope with anything that happened helped.”


RYA Mirror National Junior Squad coach Catherine Putt was bowled over their and a number of the young Zone and National Squad sailors performances, she said: “This has been a fantastic display of what great talent we have in our Junior and Zone squads. Matt and Ben did fantastically well – they have trained really hard over the winter and it’s all clicked together for them securing such a good results against some real adversities too which was great.”

This could, of course, end being quite costly for them (Well, at least for Peter and Heather !) as the next major event is the Mirror World Championships which take place just after Christmas in Albany, Australia !!!!!

Other Juniors from the Club did well also. Matthew, sailing with Ed from Beaver SC was 25th overall and Will, sailing with Oliver from Ripon SC were close behind in 26th place overall

A great series of results and well done to them all !

Photo of Ben and Matthew at the Prizegiving

with the first Junior girls Emma and Rachel from Beaver SC who were 13th overall

With thanks to Steve Wilkinson, the RYA and Yachts and Yachting.com for the quotes and photo

The End of the Wednesday Night Sailing

The Wednesday Night Race series came to quiet conclusion this week. As the sailors gathered OODs Phil and Tim were desperately looking for the wind, Paul and John tried to help by launching early, but sailing in the same direction with one running and one beating everybody knew it was going to be one of those nights. The OODs decided the most consistent wind direction, set the course and 14 boats decided to take up the challenge. Some miss judged the time it took to get from the shore to the start so the second start was busier than it should have been, meanwhile Vanessa was still looking for a bung for the Topper !


It was a pleasant drift around in the diminishing light, except for trying to get round mark nos 6 and 1 where the wind was generally weird and very light and and would catch boat and keep them stuck there for a while. Attention needed to be paid to the burgee as the wind direction would flip 180 degrees and you needed to tack the boat over without changing direction to keep the sails filling and prevent the boat stalling.

Bill, of course, managed to keep moving throughout and lead the fleet by a country mile, while Rob kept the pressure on the Lasers in front of him to be ahead of them of handicap. At one stage it looked like Bob in his Otter was going to be well up as well but he seemed to lose time towards the end. Paul from Tuesday Nights joined in the racing in a Pico and was doing well but was progressively getting slower and lower in the water until a shout came from the OOD box “Have you got your bung in ?” Ooops !



Thanks to the OODs Phil and Tim, ably assisted by Glenis and Becky

As the boats were taken off the sky was turning a fantastic pink colour – “Red Sky at Night, .... ” and all that !
What do we do on an evening now ?????

National 12 'Ribbie' Sailing

he fleet of 5 Ribbed National Twelves dating from 1936 to 1953 gathered again at the Club on Sunday 15th August for the 3rd ‘Ribbie’ event of the season. The previous event 6 weeks before had to be curtailed due to fairly strong winds, one bent (metal) mast and an unwillingness to find out the extent that wooden masts can bend! This time the assembled sailors were greeted by sunshine and a light northerly breeze. Tim Gatti had worked hard getting the boats ready (four of these boats belong to him) and sorting helms and crews for the event (not helped by it being the holiday season and injuries to some of the regular teams).

Each competing team was allocated a boat for the first race and five short races of approximately 20 minutes each were to be run. After every race crews change boats and all races count for the day’s results thus each team has equal chance of success. Ken Goddard and Ann Britton from Trent Valley SC had come up for the day to experience ‘Ribbie racing’ for the first time, whereas the rest had participated in at least one of these events beforehand.

The Race Officers Neil and Rachel set a short course with a 3, 2, 1, Go! start sequence to keep things moving, however the first start was slightly delayed whilst cordial relationships were maintained with other users of the Tarn (fishermen and the Model Boat Club) and the course adjusted to suit

Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson sailing in N341 Mat, an Uffa King built in 1938, led off the first start and looked to have the race in the bag but John Cheetham and Gail Kaye sailing N711 Sinner, a Gnome design built in 1949, kept pushing and got inside berth at the last leeward mark and held a slender lead to the finish. On the first leg Ken and Ann sailing N1183 Tessa, a Procter Mark 2 built in 1953, managed to find a major hole in wind at the windward mark and trailed the rest in!

What should have a quick turnaround between races was somewhat extended while Tim Gatti and Vanessa Kennedy played with the steel centreplate on Sinner to get it to hang properly.

After a brief delay the now slightly damp pair rejoined the rest of the fleet and race 2 got underway. This time Philip David and Tace Morgan sailing Mat won the start but John and Gail sailing Tessa got the shifts right as they closed the windward mark to take the lead, closely followed by Howard and Helen sailing N493 Laughter, a 1945 Holt 500 design. Philip and Tace caught Howard by the windward mark the second time around and they held that order down to the leeward mark finish.

Some frantic balling was required in all boats to empty them before a quick turnaround for the third race. The practice of two starts already meant that everybody was on the start line with John and Gail getting the best start in N2 Goldcrest, a Barnt Green design built in 1936. Tim and Vanessa, sailing Tessa tried to find more wind on the other side of the tarn to the rest and for a while it looked promising but when they tacked back in they arrived mid fleet. Philip and Tace sailing Laughter chased Howard and Helen in Sinner. The remaining three had a close race all the way round with John and Gail just crossing ahead of Tim and Vanessa and Ken and Ann sailing Mat on the last tack.

A quick break was held because by this point we were running out of time to get the next two races in before normal Club racing was due to start at 2.30. Unfortunately the wind hadn’t read the script and it went light and patchy.

Ken had halyard issues, but that gave everybody else chance to do more bailing before the start of the fourth race. Tim and Vanessa sailing Goldcrest were too eager and were over the line at the start so they had to chase the rest in a dying breeze. Philip and Tace, sailing Sinner, coped with the conditions best and lead the fleet round to the finish.

With the Club fleet starting to get ready for the afternoon’s racing the turnaround for the last race had to be a quick one. Luckily for the OOD the breeze returned for the start of the last race but went again by the time the fleet got to the windward mark. Tim and Vanessa sailing Mat lead round the windward mark but then for some reason ended up spinning around as the wind did something strange to them. This allowed John and Gail sailing Laughter into the lead. Philip and Tace, in Tessa, managed to slide past the other two at the windward mark, and then glided past Tim still trying to get Mat pointing in the right direction! By the leeward mark the fleet closed up again. The beat had become a fetch but John and Gail managed to maintain their narrow lead and lead the fleet round the next two marks to finish the race which was shorten at the wing mark. This allowed the bare minimum time for Neil and Rachel to be able to finish the Twelves, and then set up the start for the Club Race a few minutes later!!!!

Big thanks to Tim for organising the event and for keeping the fleet in fine condition, to Gerard Kennedy and Ian Morgan for feeding us bacon butties and mugs of tea and to Neil and Rachel for managing to get the 5 races in just before the normal Club races were due to start.

Unfortunately the final event of the season due for October has had to be cancelled as Tim is due to start his boat building course shortly and will be spending most of his time over the coming months either in Lowestoft, or travelling between Lowestoft and Bradford, and every body wishes him the best of luck with that!



The Results

The Crews:-

1st John Cheetham and Gail Kaye 9pts

2nd Philip David and Tace Morgan 9pts

3rd Howard Chadwick and Helen Nicholson 12pts

4th Tim Gatti and Vanessa Kennedy 21pts

5th Ken Goddard and Ann Britton 24pts



And for the Boats:-

1st N711 Sinner – Gnome design

2nd N493 Laughter – Holt 500 design

3rd N1183 Tessa – Procter Mark 2 design

4th N341 Mat – Uffa King design

5th N2 Goldcrest – Barnt Green design

STOP PRESS

Mirror Europeans at Sligo Yacht Club
After 3 days of racing and 7 races completed in the Mirror European Championships at Sligo in Ireland Matthew and Benjamin Lulham Robinson are lying in 8th place overall in a competitive fleet of 73 Mirrors.
Also Will Hide sailing with Oliver Williams of Ripon are in 26th place and Matthew Foster, sailing with Ed Grayson of Beaver, are close behind in 29th place overall - Well done to them all !

For further updates see http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/

In Memory of Yvonne McInnes Yeadon Sailing Club launches ‘Free Spirit’ its new training boat

The thunder and lightning accompanied by heavy rain on the evening of the 20th of July had been dreadful but then just at the right moment the storm stopped and Commodore Gerard Kennedy with Mary Dawson were able to name the new boat, a beautiful blue Wanderer, with a name that had been especially chosen for it in remembrance of Yvonne McInnes.

Yvonne had been a member of Yeadon Sailing Club for a very long time and recently lost a brave fight against cancer. The boat was duly doused with brown ale by Mary and named ‘Free Spirit’ as these are the words that remind us of Yvonne. The boat was then launched onto the Tarn by Gerard and taken for its maiden voyage by Tim Burnett and Felix watched by a cheerful crowd of onlookers.

The Wanderer, a perfect training boat has been purchased with the aid of a grant through an initiative promoted by the Royal Yachting Association called ‘More Adults Sailing More Often’. The idea being that more adults will continue to sail and practice their sailing skills after they have completed their initial sailing lessons. The boat that can accommodate two to three people will be mostly used on a Tuesday evening as this is when the club’s main training sessions are held. Sessions run from April through until August although the Wanderer will also be available for other training events.

Thanks go to local RYA representatives Suzie Blair and Liz Wrigglesworth who are from the Yorkshire and Humber region as they kindly assisted us with the completion of the equipment grant application form.

Thanks also go to Hartley Laminates who supplied the boat and allowed us a discount as the boat has been purchased specifically as a training boat.

YSC Awarded RYA Grant for New Boat

YSC have received the fantastic news that we have been successful in applying for a grant for £2000 to fund a new boat for training. The committee took the decision on behalf of the members to purchase a new Wanderer, which will be ideal for taking out adults and juniors for training and open days.

Well done and thanks to all those who helped in preparing the application and thank you to RYA and Sport England for the grant. We look forward to launching the new boat on its arrival in mid July with the traditional brown ale launching ceremony. The new boat will be a welcome addition to the club fleet.

Enter the competition to name the new boat at the Commodores weekend 26th and 27th June.

For more information on the boat visit the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_(sailing_dinghy)
http://www.wanderer.org.uk/

For more information on the grant, visit:
http://www.rya-yorkshire.org/documents/RYA_Small_Grants_Programme_Guidance_Notes_and_Application_Form__Final_Version_.pdf

Ribbed Boat Racing in the Sunshine.

A fleet of Ribbed National Twelves dating from 1936 to 1953 gathered at Yeadon Sailing Club on Sunday 23^rd May to be greeted by glorious sunshine, bacon butties and a gentle breeze.

Five boats assembled with crews from Yeadon, Ripon and Winsford Flash, four of these boats belong to current National Twelve Owners Association Chairman Tim Gatti who had been working hard to get his boats to the club for the event as well as coordinating entries etc.

Each competing team was allocated a boat for the first race and five short races of approximately 20 minutes each were run.  After every race crews change boats and all races count for the day’s results thus each team has equal chance of success.  The Race Officers Howard Chadwick and Ian Morgan set a short course with a 3, 2, 1, go start sequence to keep things moving and as soon as the bacon butties were devoured racing commenced.

Race 1 saw John and Cathy Cheetham in excellent form sailing N493 Laughter, a 1945 Holt 500 design, to victory hotly pursued by Neil McInnes and Rachel Dean in N341 Mat, an Uffa King, built in 1938.

Race 2 began as soon as boats were swapped and was a closely fought battle with John and Cathy in N711 Sinner, a Gnome design, built in 1949 and Tim Gatti and Vanessa Kennedy sailing Mat closely followed by Bernard and Ellie Clark sailing N2 Goldcrest, a Barnt Green design, built in 1936.  As the winds shifted Bernard went out to the opposite side of the course on the final beat pulling off a master stroke taking him from 3^rd place to a comfortable first place.

Race 3 was slightly delayed by some frantic bailing as the boats had dried out over the winter and some were getting very full indeed.  Although all boats had bailers only two had pumps which were being shared!  The jetty briefly resembled a formula one pit stop area.  Once underway Bernard and Ellie were the dominant pair in N341 Mat, however John and Cathy now sailing N1183 Tessa, a Procter Mark 2, built in 1953 were chasing hard and finished second.  Tim Gatti pulled up the minute he lost at the start through sharing a pump to finish 3^rd with Neil in 4^th and Brian Herring struggling slightly with N2 and making derogatory remarks about her being better for moving flour, like a barge,  than racing.

After a brief lunch and more bailing crews were back on the water for race 4 where Bernard and Ellie were again the pair to beat, this time sailing Laughter, Ellie’s favourite, although Tim and Vanessa in Sinner were a close second followed home by Brian and Katie in Mat.

Race 5 began after yet more frantic bailing and on a new course to match the shifting breeze.  Brian and Katie McInnes were fast off the line this time in Laughter and Brian used all his 75 years of experienced coupled with Katie’s nimble crewing to stay ahead of Bernard and Ellie, now sailing Sinner and Tim and Vanessa now in Tessa.  Brian managed to maintain and then increase his lead to claim victory in this the last race, which finished only 20 minutes before the first of the club’s afternoon races was scheduled to start.

The event was once again a great success and had created much interest amongst club sailors in addition to being thoroughly enjoyed by all the competitors.  The final team positions being as follows:-

1st	Bernard Clark	Ellie Clark	8 Points
2nd	John Cheetham	Cathy Cheetham	13 Points
3rd	Tim Gatti	Vanessa Kennedy	17 Points
4th	Brian Herring	Katie McInnes	18 Points
5th	Neil McInnes	Rachel Dean	19 Points

Thanks to Howard for the article

and Howard and Mike for the photos