CYRC Report Red Wharf Bay SC
2 days of 2nd places
The 2nd CYRC of the season was hosted by Red Wharf Bay SC. Due to the alleged illogical logic of the planning department of Anglesey council Red Wharf Bay SC is not in Red Wharf but actually 5 miles to the North in traeth Bychan. This did catch out some of the 8 sailors from Pwllheli who started early and were waiting in a swarm of jetskis in Red wharf bay wondering why every other sailor were late.
2 days of racing were flawlessly run in more or less perfect easterly winds ( force 2 to 4) and temperatures in the mid 20s with the parents being treated to 2 days of sitting and watching on the panoramic sandy beach. (One parent had to be delivered to Beaumaris to participate in the annual Beaumaris to Caernarfon rowing race- congratulations to the Ladies team of Pwllheli rowing club for winning the event).
Optimist
Congratulations to Chloe Buttwerworth for coming 2nd in the Optimist training fleet who had a game plan on Sunday morning and stuck to it religiously. Indeg Owen came in 2nd place in the silver fleet to James Bowler from Shotwick who had just returned from 3 days of Oppie training at Pwllheli during the previous week, and used his newly honed skills to good effect. 2nd place in the Gold fleet went to Gethin Owen with first place going to Daniel Whiteley (Welsh Optimist squad and Felinheli SC) who scored a flawless 6 bullets.
Topper
This CYRC was part of the North West Topper traveller series with 14 entries. Tom Williams (Shotwick) scored 5 1st out of 6 with the best placed Pwllheli sailor being Mathew Butterworth in 5th and Josh Davies competing for both Nefyn and Pwllheli coming in 7th. Josh had attended 5 days of training during the previous week and the improvement in his technique was quite obvious.
Laser
Rob Foreshaw again scored a 2nd for Pwllheli with Tom Piggott (Shotwick SC) achieving 6 1st out of 6. Siwan Roberts and Will Filby only competed for 1 day using the excuse of important exams on the Monday thus were out of the running for podium places.
All in all a very enjoyable weekend with Pwllheli sailors putting in a lot of effort and richly rewarded by being able to sail in an exceptionally picturesque setting, Pwllheli should now set their sights on taking on the very talented Shotwick sailors.
Results available here http://www.welshsailing.org/eventswal/north/Pages/NorthWalesCYRC2009.aspx
Optimists - Abersoch Dinghy Week
Sul Gorffennaf 26ain - Gwener Gorffennaf 31ain
Sunday July 26th – Friday July 31st
Suitable for beginners and intermediate sailors. 2 Races in the morning
Launching 10.30 a.m First Race 11.00 Entry fee £38 including beach parking
Committee boat starts Inshore racing
Please contact
Half twelve on Friday afternoon, Matthew and I left school ready for a long 7 hour journey to Derwent Reservoir in Consett Durham. Thankfully we got there early enough to get a spot on the camping field for our motor home and the Butterworth’s new caravan.
The second Nationwide of the season, with 204 sailors ready to compete, on the biggest Reservoir in the North East.
Saturday morning with all sailors rigged and registered ready for the 10:30 briefing given by Charles Glover our Topper Class Chairman. On Saturday the sailing kicked off around 11:30, ready for an 11:55 first fleet start. Matthew and I were both in the yellow fleet and first start for the first 3 races.
With the Wind guru predicting light winds for the weekend, Saturday came as quite a shock, as it blew up to around 16 knots gusting more than this at times, a lot heavier and colder than everybody expected.
Both Matthew AND I had good starts that afternoon on a start line of 102 boats in our flights. Matthew pulling one out of the bag on the first race with a 30th burying me after I made a wrong decision on the 2nd beat and was hung out to dry on the far left hand side of the course when the gain was on the right.
Finally cruising over the line with a 50th, luckily that was my discard for the weekend and I was able to learn from that mistake, as we both banged right in the next three races and tacked close up next to shore to get the port lift into and starboard lift away from the headland.
An excellent first result for Matthew as it was his first Nationwide. With Matthews best result a 30th and mine a 23rd we were then relieved when the fourth race of the day came to an end and we could retreat back to a warm shower on land. With a good social in the evening, the club provided a quiz night for competitors and families.
That night I stood on the result board as 70th and Matthew around 130th, both of us getting a good night sleep ready to better our results in the morning.
Unfortunately Sunday was not very promising as it was light winds as Wind guru predicted. After slowly but surely sailing out to the race area for and earlier start, racing was postponed for a short period of time.
Poor Matthew was not feeling too well that morning and sailed in after our general recall on the first start. Finally I started in the 2nd flight and was ready to do an inner loop. After I got a good start I was buried on the first beat as I decided to tack up the middle of the course and was stuck in a zone of no wind with others passing me on both sides. After rounding the mark in an embarrassing position of about 10th from last I worked hard to gain back my places.
James Patience, one of my fellow Topper Youth Squad members AND I decided to go round different gate marks ready for the second beat, we raced each other back up to the windward mark with me working the right and him the left hand side of the course. With the sailors in front drifting slowly with hardly any wind I decided to foot off and gain some speed close to the land. Luckily I made the right decision and gained at least 40 boats as I rounded the mark 43rd. Thankfully the race officer decided to shorten course at the top reach mark and we paddled and air rowed back in taking at least three quarters of an hour.
After reaching the shore sailing had not yet been cancelled for the day and they where debating whether to send us back out for another race. Luckily at around 2 o’clock the AP over A flag went up and the sailing was finished for the Nationwide.
With me dropping 7 places and Matthew dropping 18 with 4 races after a discard, we both finished in 77th and 148th position. Derwent was a real family affair and after a successful event, and saying our good byes to our m8ts both of our families set off back home with ‘ midged to death ‘ dad itching all the way back to Pwllheli!!
Full article by Aimee - follow this link
Three young CHIPAC sailors, Aimee Saracco-Jones, Siwan Roberts and Catrin Drake are representing Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli Sailing Club in the Laser National Championship in Paignton, Devon.
After three days Siwan is currently leading the field in the 4.7 Ladies category.
Good luck to all the girls.
Follow their progress on the following website.
More information to follow.
A Busy summer for CHIPAC sailors
The summer is rapidly passing in a blur of clouds rain and strong winds. This means that CHIPAC sailors will have had an exhilarating and exciting summer of sailing. The main events that CHIPAC sailors have taken part in are :-
Follow this link for the full CHIPAC Newsletter which contains much more information on the activities of CHIPAC.
Good luck to everybody who is competing at Pwllheli this weekend, there are currently 15 CHIPAC youngsters registered - fantastic. If you have any questions or unsure about the format then please get in touch with me - 07789 320675. Everybody is welcomed to the BBQ and bouncy castle on the Sat night.
We have already sold 2 CHIPAC Optimists - if you want one then contact me asap.
Jane Butterworth is organising the winter open training at Pwllheli. Please could you register interest with Jane asap at Firmhelm or by email
Don't forget about the CHIPAC prizegiving evening and annual Sausage and chips bash on Friday October 2nd. Please order food with Gwyndaf and to confirm that you are coming (we need to prepare certificates etc).
If you would like to order the very fashionable green CHIPAC hoodies then place your order with Eleri this weekend.
Diolch
Eifion
The last CYRC of the year was held at Gresford SC on Saturday 4th October. 6 CHIPAC sailors made the journey and were richly rewarded by a very competitive days racing. Gresford SC or the Flash as it is known locally is the roughly twice the size of the dinghy parks in Pwllheli but does makes sailing a true spectator sport. The wind shifts were about 90 degrees and over the race course the wind varied from 25 knots to 2 knots - a truly novel sailing experience.
The prizegiving ceremony for the year which has included events in Penamenamawr , Traethcoch ,and Pwllheli were held at the end of the day in Gresford. For those who travelled from Pwllheli all were awarded prizes. The final results were
A fanatstic achievement for sailors and a true reflection of the quality of sailors coming through the system here at Pwllheli sailing club.
More pictures available from http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ndpeirianneg/20090310Gresford