Dinghy News

Miracle North Eastern Area Championships 2008

The event was hosted by North Lincs and Humberside sailing club over the weekend 12-13th April. As the forecast had promised inclement weather, it was a pleasant surprise for the club to welcome 11 visitors. This made the fleet 15 strong, including 4 local sailors. True to the forecast Saturday's races were sailed in 20 knots, gusting to 28
as the squalls moved down the Humber.
With the wind in the southwest, the course for first race was set by the OD (Bert Taylor assisted by Roy Smith) with a line start, and included a
screaming spinnaker reach the full length of the pond. As the fleet made for the conventional starboard start, Richard Brameld opted for the port end, flipped onto port and led the fleet up the first beat.
As the race progressed, Ian Kelly, crewed by Geoff Phillips of Welton sailed into the lead. After needing to unwind to include the start/finish line onthe second lap, Richard fell back to 5th and remained there until the finish.
Meanwhile Wayne Atherton and Liz Kemp of Leigh and Lowton SC sailed into a clear second followed by Jon and Philip Aldhous of Beaver Adrian and Helen Cripps progressed to 4th, and that was the finishing order.
Saturday's second race was almost a replay, same wind, direction and
course. The result was almost the same, only with Peter Cuthbert of Leigh and Lowton SC replacing Adrian in 4th position.
As a footnote to Saturdays strong winds and close competition, it was
satisfying to note that the rescue team was totally superfluous, only one capsize recorded, and that before the start!
Sunday, with 3 races, was a completely different story. What wind there was had reversed direction, and dropped away to zero. After a 1-hour delay the OD got the race away, starting this time from a committee boat stationed in the SW corner of the pond. Ian Kelly again led the fleet round, followed by Wayne and Adrian.
Ian Kelly, with a prior engagement, and having now won the event, left the scene for the minor places to be settled. With the wind filling nicely there was a repeat of the mornings course. Wayne Atherton led all the way, finishing ahead of Peter Cuthbert and Carl Cripps.
First and second places had now been settled, and with the last podium place at stake, 6 dinghies headed to the start. Wayne again finished first, With Peter second and Jon third. This result settled third place in favour of Peter Cuthbert.
Geoff Phillips thanked North Lincs and the support staff (especially those
who supplied the tea & butties!)
Overall result:
NE Area Champion Ian Kelly & Geoff Phillips 4006
Runner-up Wayne Atherton & Liz Kemp 3383
3rd Place Peter Cuthbert & Steve Hope 3747
4th Jon & Philip Aldhous 3794
5th Adrian & Helen Cripps 4009
 

Miracle Fleet Captain's year-end Report 2007.

So - the title ˜Fleet Captain" might be slightly misleading, as we didn't actually muster a fleet start in 2007.
However, we have about 17 registered owners in the club, and as some boats have recently changed hands - I have high hopes that we will improve in 2008.
The quality is certainly there - Andy Farrow and Richard Brameld each took a Handicap series in 2007, and in fact the Winter series went right down to the final race of the year, with Andy proving master of the conditions.
Richard braved extreme conditions on Hornsea Mere where he was the only one to on the water (and should therefore been awarded the trophy by default!) In September Michael Robinson was joined by Richard for the Inland Championships at Draycote where they finished a very respectable 14th & 15th out of 30.
Which brings me to the next point. As there have been dark mutterings from other handicappers of the plastic persuasion, I have decided that there should be a special adjustment to the Miracles PY number for the 2008 season.
Following the example of the Heron a Miracle will sail off 1178 crewed and 1161 single-handed (for club handicap races only)
My expectation is that this will make little difference to race results anyway!
It does mean however, that there is a small adjustment to the wording of the criteria for qualification in the Grand Spinnaker free draw.

Here are the venues so far for the 2008 Opens, Area and Nationals:

12th-13th April North Lincs - NE Area Championships
19th April Taplow - Open Meeting
3rd - 4th May Burton - Midland Championships
10th-11th May Delph - Northern Area Championships
24th - 26th May Bala - Welsh Areas and Cruise Event
31st May - 1st June Girton - Puddleduck (Date Changed)
22nd June Deben - Open Meeting
12th-13th July Margate - Southern Area Championships
19th - 20th July Staunton Harold - Open Meeting
3rd - 8th August NATIONALS - Brixham YC, Devon
30th August Thornton Steward - Open Meeting
31st August Killington - Open Meeting
20th-21st September Draycote – Inlands


I hope to join you on the water in the New Year in my new locally built and
equipped Miracle- See you then!

Stan Lubner
Miracle Fleet Captain
 

Topper Fleet Captain Report. North Lincs Sailing Club 2007/8

 North Lincs Club Sailors to Nationals and Worlds Competition.

 2007 has been a good year for Topper sailing at North Lincs. In September 2006 one of our young sailors, Will Hackney, attended his first open meeting at Beaver Sailing Club. The result was a thirteenth place but most important was an insight into competition sailing. The next event was South Shields on the following Saturday. The North East Topper rep was present and a ninth place overall was sufficient for the scout to engage the North Lincs young sailor into applying for the Topper North East Zone Squad. The RYA sponsor 18 young sailors with potential from 10yrs upwards in a pathway class such as the Topper. The training comprises six weekends and with one RYA coach per six sailors the programmes develop the skills of competitive sailing and map the route to further success.

 Topper open training was held at North Lincs in November. Seven young sailors were put through their paces by Richard Benson RYA race coach.

 The winter training completed and the first big event of the calendar was the Topper Inlands Championships at Grafham water. Three hundred boats competed and a 57^th place was a result. The Nationwide series followed at this time.

Oliver Clegg and Chris Morton both joined the enthusiasm. Oliver had his own boat and Chris managed to be sponsored by Youth sailing and a Topper was collected for his own club and competitive use.

 Oliver and Will competed in the Schools Nationals which were held at Plymouth. The NSSA are a well organised and established organisation. The camping was at Plymstock Sports College and the championships, held in Plymouth Sound, attracting 350 young sailors from across the country. The Topper fleet alone was 65 in number and very competitive. Will managed a 9^th place and Oliver 23^rd the Yorkshire and Humberside team were 4^th in the country with sailors from Ulley and Ripon making a good contribution.

 Will and Oliver were asked to attend pre nationals zone squad training at the North Berwick Topper nationals. With a fleet of 280 boats the series went well and Will secured a Gold 41^st place and Oliver competed in the Bronze fleet. The depth and quality of youth sailing in the Topper class is something to behold. Zone, National and Youth squads engage over 100 sailors on intensive winter racing programmes. These young sailors are very competent and their coaching on the rules, meteorology, tactics are at world class level delivered by world class coaches.

 The Topper Worlds in Italy was the pinnacle of the year. The boat was transported on a trailer to the event at Malcesine on Lake Garda in Italy. We flew out for preworlds coaching two days before the event. The Italian Garda ‘Ora’ wind failed to blow through and the first two days of the event were no sailing days. The race committee opted to sail early which meant that the 6am up and 7am off on the start line was the norm for the rest of the series. The 61^st Gold fleet place was the final result from a total entry of 185.

 The NSSA team racing championships were held at Delph sailing club in early Oct. The team of Ollie Wright, (Rotherham) Jack Weatherall (Beaver) and Will Hackney (North Lincs) won the National Team Championship both at senior and junior level. They won 7 of 8 races to beat allcomers competition. Oliver Clegg competed in the B team and scored a creditable 11^th place from the 27teams. The prize of this event is all expenses paid entry to the Eric Twiname  junior team racing at West Kirby Sailing Club in November. Which is our next event. Both Will and Oliver will complete in this national event sailed in RS Fevas

Will is now in the Team GBR National Youth Squad and starts a programme of winter training. The programme for 2007/8 is Nationwide series, Nationals Paignton and Worlds at Trallee in Ireland.

 Will, Oliver, Chris and their parents wish to thank Bert Taylor for his endless energetic enthusiasm and support.

 This years Topper open training will take place at Beaver sailing club.