The RYA October course has had some interesting weather, ideal learning conditions on Monday, but Tuesday, although warm was a little windy at times, with a number of unintentional capsizes, including. asst commodore in a stratos. So quite a bit of theory and everyone tried a capsize.

Meanwhile further down the lake the windsurfers where enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and winds. A few photos below.

Wednesday was a little lighter but thankfully the lightening didn’t appear. Thursday was gloriously sunny, but with a gusty wind, so the majority managed Stage 1, with one Stage 2, but everyone enjoyed the sailing and are keen to join us next year.

It was sunny, windy, light winds, 45′ shifts followed by a rainbow. The safety crew were busy as many decided to test the water temperature (yes its still fairly warm !) in th wind, and the windsurfers enjoyed some great conditions after the racing finished early afternoon. Both university sailing and windsurfing club were out enjoying the day with taster sessions, to get the freshers into sailing, we hope they came away enthusiastic, they seemed to be.

A few photos from the bank (boats were far to busy to go out on them)

NCSC held the annual Solo open, part of the Midlands circuit. Unlike 2019 when there was no wind this was not the case this year, in fact the forecast was for gusts up to 26 knots on Saturday 2nd October, it was however lighter and wet, the forecast and petrol shortage undoubtably reduced numbers, however we had visitors from Northampton and Ogston.

The Race team set up a course to provide all points of racing challenge, beats, reach and broad reaches covering most parts of the Lake.

Two back to back races were held with the visitors dominating both races. Martin Honnor from Ogston SC taking two bullets. Meanwhile the four Notts County Sailing Club boats were battling it out for places. After lunch Race 3 saw some more lively forecast weather complete with rain squalls. This time the race leader was visitor Kev Hall from Northampton SC who led from the off and looked unlikely to be caught. Fun and games at mark 8 with a gybe but the wind dropped, leaving sailors wondering which way to head. Clive Gimson from NCSC held on to 3rd ensuring a one point lead to secure 3rd overall.

Overall winner was Martin Honnor who thanked Notts County the host club and those that competed despite the forecast and potential lack of fuel to travel.

Photos and report Kathryn Hinsliff-Smith 

At the September sailing committee a number of items came up some of which we would like feedback on:

Sailing Committee matters

Review of class fleets

Class fleet status for the Sunday series – there are no clear grounds for adding or changing the fleets for 2022 based on the numbers qualifying in each race series. This will be reviewed again when all the Main Series race results are published. One suggestion made is to combine the Lasers and Solos into one start whilst scoring the results separately. This would speed up and simplify the Sunday start sequence. Please let any member of the Sailing Committee have your views on this in the next few weeks before we finalise next year’s arrangements.

Sunday race times

The Sailing Committee discussed the experiment with the timing of the Sunday Wadsworth race this season. We noted that the average number of competitors is down to 6 from 10 in 2019. There has also been negligible take up of the opportunity to cruise on the main lake in the afternoons. We are also aware that the requirement for duty crews to arrive before 9am is unpopular and a reason not to volunteer on Sundays. We believe we should revert to the 3.15pm start time. If you have views about this please talk to any member of the Sailing Committee.

Race Officers: Course setting.

This season has had a high number of races in light wind. Buoys 1, 3 and 5 are particularly tricky to negotiate when the wind happens to put them directly in the lee of the clubhouse and trees on the nearby shore. In the worst case the race order can be completely disrupted as the fleets round them. If this not your intention please can we use the 3 moveable marks 

It is with great sadness that the family of Sheila Hood announced her passing after a brief illness, on September 14th 2021

Sheila passed away peacefully at her home and will be lovingly remembered by her husband David,  son Matthew and members of the sailing club in particular the winers and ladies who launched.

Sheila taught Chemistry at South Notts College and on retirement took up the sport of sailing which she thoroughly enjoyed, (having been one of Dave’s poster girls for the clubs calendar).  Her husband David was her reluctant crew or she would sail her wanderer on her own.  Her enthusiasm for this sport is totally evident in the above photo.

Details of the funeral are yet to be announced.

There will be four online training sessions on race management. These sessions are open to anyone who helps on the committee boat and not just race officers.

The sessions are:

13 Sept – Flags, what they all mean. Video of presentation

20 Sept – Starting procedures Video week 2

4 Oct – Monitoring the race and finishing procedures Week 3 video

11 Oct – Preparation, Notice of Race, Sailing Instructions, arranging protests and other paperwork. Week 4 video

Start time 7.30 pm. Each session will last about an hour. More details will be provided nearer the time. Contact racemanagement@ncsc.org.uk if you would like more information.

zoom link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88963641403

Rope4Boats RS400 Northern Tour at Notts County Sailing Club

Early Saturday morning it didn’t look promising; light to zero wind and overcast.  Was there going to be any racing?  Undeterred, the RS400 teams readied themselves and at around 12pm, the allotted start time, the wind appeared. It wasn’t from the direction expected, and kept swinging, but after a short delay the first race was on under the watchful eye of Ken Twemlow, the Race Officer. RS400s use a windward / leeward course started.  

The first race in the final of the Rope4Boats series saw Richard Catchpole and Gary Coop from Leigh and Lowton play it safe up the middle of the course to win. The second race, after a black flag start and a few BFD’s recorded,  saw Chris Pickles and Matt Sharman take the win, and they went on to dominated the rest of the day with another two wins, ultimately giving them the Open. Richard Catchpole sailed a consistent set of races and was second overall after the first day.

A full open event social in the clubhouse, the first for many many months, included the traditional roast dinner and some party games to help the digestion with a late bar to try and blunt the skills of the visitors.  

The Sunday racing saw more light wind which caused a 45 minute delay to the start of racing as the RO waited for it to settle.  In the meantime the sunshine broke through making it feel like the late Summer’s day it was.  A big shift on the first race of the day mixed up the front runners, or was it the effects of the late bar? Youngsters Ollie Groves and Sam Walker from Beaver SC sailed a great race to take the first win, while further down the fleet the first Notts County boat was Jonathan Lye and Nicola Webster, closely followed in 7th by Ross Ryan and RS400 newbie from the resident Scorpion fleet John Tailby – apparently he learnt fairly quickly it was a gennaker not a spinnaker!  Richard and Gary ended as they’d started to take the win in the final race. 

Notts County Sailors saw Jonathan Lye & Nicola Webster in 5th overall, with Ross Ryan and John Tailby 7th.

At the prize giving, the Ropes4Boats sponsorship provided the winners of the raffle, Chris Pickles and Ollie Groves, with a £20 voucher and a £10 voucher.  With two discards in play, Chris, sailing with Matt, took the trophy as overall winners.  Responding politely to the quip that he’d had a ‘shocker’ on day 2 he went on to thank the club, the race team and all the competitors for another great event, looking forward to the next event on the Northern tour – the GNAC at Bassenthwaite SC on 25 and 26 September. 

Results

Yachts and Yachting report and photos

Photos from Saturday below (if we have inadvertently put someone in who doesn’t want to be on the site please let us know so we can remove it right click for ref number)

In 2016 we produced a limited run photo magazine with a history of the club in photos (generally of people over the years). We have updated this with extra pages so it now has 34 pages.

There is a copy on the bar which if you see any mistakes please correct (or let me know).

If you would like one costs will depend on numbers but £10 should cover it if we have a few orders, the cost of postage and quantity discounts varies price. If there is a surplus we will put it to Sailability.

Contact info@ncsc.org.uk to order a copy by 1st October 2021.

We are very lucky at NCSC to have a dedicated team of enthusiastic members who all selflessly give their time to instruct new sailors and then hopefully welcome them as members to the club. One route often ignored by those who have just learnt is to crew, you can learn allot from an experienced helm, many of the older instructors at the club used this route.

Back in June 2018, following an Adult Beginners Course, Nichola Willars, then Scorpion class captain along with her husband Jon, was passed the details of a group of students in the hope that she might be able to encourage some of them into competitive sailing.  

Nicola’s mind turned immediately to one desperate Scorpion helm Nick Orgles (who is also one of the instructors on many of our courses), who’d been left without a crew after his wife Sue, a popular member at the club had unfortunately been forced to retire from the sport due to a serious shoulder injury. Nick was introduced to Lisa Rollin, one of a number of students who’d gained their RYA levels 1 & 2 around that same time and following an initial spell out on the lake one sunny August afternoon and a few more practice sessions after that, Lisa was finally taking part in Sunday Main Series racing!  

Fast forward to 2021 and this now, not quite so novice crew finds herself at the helm of  a Volvo Open 70 Racing Yacht ‘Telefonica Black’ which finished 4th in the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race. Pictured here at her home berth in Gosport UK.   Lisa said “Never in my life could I imagine that I’d be able to enjoy an experience such as this, especially being so new to sailing, but the confidence I’ve gained through being a member of NCSC and the way in which the club has welcomed me has enabled me to do just that.  The whole weekend spent out on the Solent learning all about this boat and getting the chance to be involved in handling it is something I’ll never forget. I’d encourage anyone with an interest, regardless of sailing experience to have a go”  So it’s a big thumbs up to all those involved in the training section at the club, many of whom have had to navigate through some choppy waters this past year, keeping courses running and instructing students amid Covid 19 restrictions.

Thanks to all this, perhaps many more students like Lisa, will go on to realise a dream.

The weekend started with Discover Sailing, thanks to all who helped, the club was buzzing with around 200-300 visitors (we will update when we have checked).

After signing on at the hard working Reception / Training team led by Sarah & Martin Read, Chris Holt and Sue Orgles. All the stands had a good day, the fleets had interest, windsurfing let by Russ Towns and Dave Baldwin with Ollie Beadnall had quite a few takers. Meanwhile Cake by the lake with Mandy Davis leading and many young helpers took over £340 from cakes donated for charity, well done, further along the balcony was Membership with Kathryn Hinsliffe-Smith and Rachel Repper giving away packs.

The lawn saw Paddle Boarding organised by Moira Hart with Help from Russ & Judy Morton, Vicki and Matt, which saw large numbers trying Paddle boarding. The Open Water Swimmers also had a stand with many interested.

Finally there was Sailability at the top of the slip and a huge team (sorry will forget someone) led by Ian Firth, Martin Hart and Glyn Ritchie getting the queues of people out in Stratos and Coble. The buoyancy aid team where kept busy collecting, cleaning and distributing them. Meanwhile the team of instructors taking out families and individuals in the boats were very busy. Thanks to all who put time in, I think the smiling faces on visitors said it all.

Sunday evening Photos below. An enjoyable evening with an great band playing, and getting many up dancing later on, provided a superb background, with lots of chatter and the odd pint, picnics and at 7pm a speech from James Logan the Commodore, with some sparkling wine and the cutting of the cake. Apparently the bar shut late.

Monday started in overcast conditions which hung around till after sailing, a light and occasionally moderate northerly gave some good racing. 24 boats entered the David Stevens Memorial race, the donations totalled over £200. Sheila Stevens was down to give out the prizes. Jamie Mawson won in his RS600, with Tim & Tor Harrison second in an RS400, and youth Ben Paling third in a laser. The Juniors saw Katherine Gunn win, followed by Chloe Grayton and Sammy Mason.

The afternoon was taken up with a Team Medley Relay, each team had an adult and junior single hander and double hander (4 boats) and had to swap a batten (a milk bottle) at each lap when the next boat took over. Needless to say there were dropped battens, the odd capsize and some smiles with cheering from the balcony.

The winning team or orange consisted of: Sammy Mason, Stephanie Gunn, Alex and Neil Chadborn, James Ling, Phillipa Logan.
Ross Ryan won a bag of smarties for putting his spinnaker on upside down, The Litter Pickers of Alex & Jake won a deserved box of chocolates, the Endeavour went to Oliie Piggot, Capsize to Simon Ling, who managed to hold onto the batten whilst righting the boat, worst handover to Katherine Gunn, Martha and Isobel Ritchie, the best smile was Raif Piggot (much to the surprise of his parents!) and a special prize for Tracy Attcliffe who sailed her first race, first time in a boat.

Results David Stevens memorial race -Monday

Photos from the three days below, if I have inadvertently included someone I shouldn’t please let me know so I can remove it.