Just a qiuick note to thank everyone involved in this weekends event. Jim and I had a great weekend well worth the 6 hour drive down from Fife.  Hope to make it down south a few more times next season leading up to the worlds in La Rochelle You never know Nellies new boat might givew us a little helping hand. Cheers Donald Aitken and Jim Blyth
Submitted by Donald Aitken

An excellent turnout of 20 boats participated in 5 races over the weelend.

Results can be found here:http://www.northamptonsailingclub.org/results/2011/505Inlands2011.htm
Full report to follow

Shotley 505 Open 30/31 July 2011


It was the return of “The BIG ONE”, unfortunately the wind hadn’t and we were left with a light West North Westerly. Although it wasn’t the usual high-speed sailing that we are used to, it was very exciting in terms of the racing.


Race 1 was won by Matt and Daniel Hart, followed by Terry Selfe / Alan Montague and Martin Hodgson/Adrian Miles in third.


Race 2 saw some of the usual contenders moving up the fleet with Charlie Walters / Dougal Cram coming in first, closely followed by the Hart’s and last years winners Terry Scutcher / Christian Diebitsch coming in third.


Race 3 saw the wind drop even further and at times it was a bit of a drifter. Again the racing was very close but as usual in the lighter breeze Charlie & Dougal led around the final windward mark followed by the Hart’s, Martin & Adrian and Terry & Christian, unfortunately the Hart’s went right and lost 2 places by the final leeward mark, however for a moment it would appear that they may be able to get third when Terry fell out of the back of the boat, fortunately he was able to grab hold of the transom and pull himself back in, not bad for someone his age. Again Charlie & Dougal came in first, followed by Martin & Adrian in second and Terry & Christian. The race back to shore was won comfortably by “The Pride of East Anglia” thanks to a tow from Terry’s very fast RIB but at least this time he didn’t receive a lecture from the local coastguard.


The club put on a great BBQ and a good night was had by all and thanks must go to all the ladies and gents for all their hard work.


Sunday morning we were greeted with a great breakfast and beautiful sunny skies, unfortunately no wind, our race officer Doug postponed the start for 45 minutes and his wisdom proved right, the wind slowly filling in from a South Easterly direction. As we passed Felixstowe Docks and entered the wonderful Dovercourt Bay the wind picked up nicely and the previous days flat waters were gone leaving a nice chop.


Race 4 got underway in fantastic conditions with winds between 13-16 knots.  Again racing was close and at the windward mark there were 6 boats closely fighting for top spot.  Unfortunately gear failure put Christian Diebitsch in the water and the end to their race. Throughout the fleet there were battles, going this way and that, Greg Brown with his crew Ella Nicholson who had only sailed a 505 on a couple of occasions were doing a fantastic job and battling against their fellow Southwold boat of Felden & Symes.  The battle for first place went to Martin & Adrian, followed by Charlie & Dougal and the Hart’s.


Race 5 started with slightly more wind and anyone of Charlie/Dougal, The Hart’s and Martin & Adrian able to win the most sort after title of the year. Again the fleet broke up into 3 groups each fighting to gain an advantage.  Unfortunately Terry & Christian had gear failure again forcing them to retire but I’m sure they’ll be back next year with the aim of regaining their title. The top three were amongst the leaders at the windward mark and it was obvious that none of them were going to give up without a fight. On the final lap at the windward mark it was neck and neck between Charlie & Dougal and The Hart’s. The Hart’s raised their kite first and off they went, unfortunately an issue with the kite allowed Charlie & Dougal back in. However the Hart’s with their fantastic twin poles gybed quickly and reached the leeward mark just in the lead, it was now a straight race for the line. The Hart’s tacked giving Charlie and Dougal a chance which they took with both hands to win another race, very closely followed by the Hart’s and Martin & Adrian.


Congratulations to Charlie and Dougal for winning the most prestigious title of them all. Congratulations must also go to the entire fleet for some fantastic close racing, we must also thank and congratulate Doug Brown our Race Officer for setting great courses allowing the fleet to have a great weekend of racing. With thanks also to the committee boat crew and our rescue teams.


Back on shore we would like to thank Shotley Sailing Club again for laying on such a good spread in the evening/morning and being such great hosts, can’t wait till next year.

	Shotley S.C. 505 Open 2011
Position	Boat	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Points	Discard	Final Points
1	Walters/D Cram	4	1	1	2	1	9	4	5
2	M Hart/ D Hart	1	2	4	3	2	12	4	8
3	Hodgson/Miles	3	4	2	1	3	13	4	9
4	Selfe/Montague	2	5	7	7	7	28	7	21
5	Williams/Davis	8	6	5	6	5	30	8	22
6	Scutcher/Diebitsch	6	3	3	RTD	RTD	34	11	23
7	Deane/Turner	7	7	6	4	6	30	7	23
8	H Briddon/S Briddon	6	RTD	DNS	5	4	37	11	26
9	Felden/Symes	10	9	8	8	8	43	10	33
10	G Brown/E Nicholson	9	8	9	9	9	44	9	35

It's time to focus attention on the forthcoming Nationals to be held in Rock starting Thursday 23 June.

Registration should be done as soon as possible so that you only pay the 135.00 GBP entrance fee (goes up after 15 June!) and Rock and the 505 team can complete their planning.

This information will be updated of the next few days so if you are not on the list and are going to Rock, let me know or add your name to the list.

I just need boat number/helm and crew names, your form should just be sent to Roger.

Last year we managed an impressive turnout of 46 boats - can we beat that in 2011?

So far we have 40 boats.

NOR can be found HERE

15 Boats descended on Stone SC on 14/15 May. A cool brisk breeze and blue skies greeted the fleet for some champagne sailing on the Blackwater estuary.

[ Read the rest ... ]

Carsington 505 Open meeting report 2011

Saturday saw 11 boats turn up for the 505 open meeting at Carsington Reservoir. However, none of the guys seemed keen to rig their boats due to a serious lack of wind. We all made the decision, which if by 15-00 hours the breeze hadn’t filled in evenly over the race course, and then the race officer would abandon. This meant hanging around all day! 3 o’clock came and the N flag was raised, meaning no more racing today.

However, the wind filled in half an hour after this! So Andy Smith and Tim Needham went to show off their new twin spinnaker poles!

On the Sunday the wind forecast showed about 5 knots. This didn’t show but the first race got underway and as usual Andy Smith and Tim got off to a good start, tacking out right on the shifts with the Briddon team and Tim Rush /Andy Short close behind.

Down the first run, it was whoever could get into the most breeze. Up the second windward leg Tim Rush and Andy sailed onto the left hand side, picking up a big Left hand shift which won them the race closely followed by Smithy and the Briddon’s.

Race two got under way and the start line was massively port end bias. The Briddon team tacked onto Port and sailed into the lead with Bobbie Johnson and Tony Merry in 2nd. The wind shifted even more to the left hand side which meant it was a reach to the windward mark and back down to the leeward mark. Team Briddon won the race closely followed by Andy Smith and Tim Needham with Bobbie and Tony finishing a very respectable 3^rd place.

A big Thanks goes to the Scottish boys for making the journey south and its great to see some of the not so ‘Hot shots’ creeping up towards the front of the fleet. Hope to see you all at Stone SC in a few weeks time! 

Harry Briddon GBR 8906

				R1	R2	Total
1	8906	Harry Briddon/Simon Briddon	Ogston	3	1	4
2	9012	Andy Smith/Tim Needham	Notts County	2	2	4
3	8935	Tim Rush/Andrew Short	Carsington	1	5	6
	901	Jez White/Matt Isherwood	Draycote	4	4	8
5	8834	Jim Blyth/Danny Read	Largo Bay	5	6	11
6	8860	Bobbie Johnson/Tony Merry	Burton	9	3	12
7	8432	Alistair Colvin/Alan Moss	Loch Lomond	6	7	13
8	8905	Stuart Turnbull/Jason Lunn	Burton	7	9	16
9	8780	Martin Wright/Rob Burdekin	Burton	8	8	16
10	8474	Chris Thorne/Mike Priddle	Portishead	10	10	20

Footnotes:

From Tony Merry:

By far the best sail of the weekend was between 4 and 5pm on the Saturday when Jim/Danny, Andy/Tim and Bobbie/Tony enjoyed some excellent 3 sail reaching.  There would have been a 4th boat (Alistair/Alan from Loch Lomond) but unfortunately the water was closed just as they were about to launch!

Our best result (race 2 - 3rd) should have been even better!  We managed to keep Andy/Tim out until the last leg of the race when we sailed into a hole whilst they found a nice stream of wind!

Special mention should be made of Jez and Matt in achieving two 4th place results (and they were not the lightest of crews either!).

Oh! I nearly forgot - the twin poles - it was good to see Andy and Tim working away on their new pole set up in the dinghy park.  Some good discussions and demonstrations on how it all works followed by a very impressive on water trial.  Their first gybe seemed to be completed in about 4 seconds - about the time it normally takes me to find the guy ready to attach it to the pole!  I want one (and so does Jim Blyth)!


From Jason Lunn:

On Sunday we were expecting more wind but it was very light again, but just enough to tempt us out onto the water.  As an example of the frustrations, on the second race we were going upwind and it was so fickle, that every boat overtook us from windward and leeward, with us completely stationary.  I would say more torture than fun, but that’s sailing!!

NEXT MEETING: Stone SC on the East Coast [14-15 May]

Last year we enjoyed an excellent event - hopefully there will be a good turnout again this year and, if you missed it, another chance to see the Smithy and Tim twin pole set-up again.

As a reminder of last year here is the 2010 news report.

7 names on the list already - why not add your and join in the fun - all welcome!