Club Sailing

A lovely warm summer afternoon provided challenging sailing conditions last Saturday because there was no wind. The sea was glass calm with no hint of a breeze anywhere. In a display of optimism over common sense, the dinghies took to the water for a race run by Richard Johns. A small triangular course was set and eventually all five competing dinghies crossed the line. As it turned out, the odd zephyr that appeared suggested the boats were on a run; also the tide had turned and was coming in, the opposite direction to that the boats were trying to go. Zig-zag tactics were adopted by some in a search for enough pressure to make way against the tide. This seemed to pay off and eventually Jon in his Phantom reached the end of the first leg where the race was finished. Some time later, the RS500 of Ed and Emily sneaked passed the Osprey of Ted and Lucas to take second, and all the little wind out of the sails of the Osprey, who eventually finished third some half hour later. The other two Ospreys elected to try to run straight down wind but failed to beat the tide and retired.

The planned second race was abandoned!

Cruiser racing

There was just enough wind to run the race last Sunday morning. A Force 1-2 E/SE gave a slow beat to the North High Cliff Buoy with a run back. All boats started on starboard with Blake Shaw in Slipstream slightly up wind. After clearing the Skirs, Denny Young in Heather tacked onto port toward south Beach with Slipstream and Phil Rees in Accolade following. Steve Lewis in Aries decided to continue on starboard, but this proved to be the wrong tack with the still flooding tide taking him away from the buoy. Heather crossed ahead of the fleet on tacking for the mark with Slipstream then over standing which meant Heather reached the NHC first with Slipstream and Accolade close behind.  Slipstream hoisted her spinnaker, but was making little headway on Heather until Blake decided to gybe onto starboard and head for Monkstone Point to try to get up tide of the finish at Tenby.  Slipstream slowly overhauled the leader, but her finishing time was still over one minute behind Heather on handicap. Congratulations to Denny for gaining first place, well deserved especially as he was sailing single handed. Slipstream was second, Aries third and Phil Rees in his first race not too far behind in fourth.

Passage Race

Tomorrow is the day of the annual race for cruisers from Pembroke Haven to Tenby. This usually attracts a good entry of 20-30 boats who will anchor in the North Bay overnight before sailing for home on Sunday. Boats are expected to arrive from mid-afternoon on, depending on the weather, and the club and harbour will be busy.

Junior Training

Last Wednesday the fleet initially had an exciting time trying to launch through the breakers but once they cleared them the conditions proved to be ideal, a good steady wind with reasonably flat sea. All groups were on the water, including five of our more experienced sailors starting an assistant instructor course with coach Steve Small. We have recently managed to increase the number of dinghy and power boat instructors at the Club which will mean we can spread the load and continue to expand our training activities. Any adult wishing to have some dinghy experience is welcome to come on a Wednesday evening. A few of our sailing members have offered to take newcomers out in their dinghies. Please contact Blake on 07717842713 for more information.

New Members

We have some of the best sailing waters found anywhere in the UK, but the number of active sailing members is static at best. We have space available for more dinghies in our dinghy park and are keen to recruit new adult sailing members. For anyone interested, we can arrange free taster sessions on a Wednesday evening (or at other times if that is not convenient); once the basics have been mastered we have a number of club boats suitable for adult use before new sailors need to think about getting their own boat. Anyone interested, please contact Blake, details above, or Ted Lewis on [email protected] or 07790 839735.

Regatta

The annual club regatta, once again kindly sponsored by local Solicitors Lewis Lewis & Co Ltd., of Tenby, St. Clears and Carmarthen, is looming. This year it will be held on June 25 and 26 and hopefully there will be about 40 boats competing. We need lots of volunteers to help, in particular Rib drivers and crew, crew for the committee boat on the Saturday, people to deal with entries and results to name a few. If you can offer some time that weekend please email Ted Lewis on the address above.