Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club

The NOR and SI will be available on 1st June but entries are now open.

Cargreen Yacht club have kindly agreed to open their Bar & will light their barbeque for us to use.

Please bring your own food – the safety boats will take food along for any dinghies requiring it.

Yachts can pick up moorings & the safety boats will ferry people ashore.

This is a fun race to Cargreen from the RPCYC start line & is an open event for Yachts / Keelboats & Dinghies to Cargreen YC.

Cargreen Yacht club have kindly agreed to open their Bar & will light their barbeque for us to use.

Please bring your own food – the safety boats will take food along for any dinghies requiring it.

Yachts can pick up moorings & the safety boats will ferry people ashore.

Dates

6th June 1000

Entry form

On line entry or download blank form

Entry costs

Entry fees are £5 for dinghies / £15 for Yachts

(Note this is a minimum entry fee as all monies raised go to the Oncology Department at Derriford Hospital  – please donate as much as you can – its in a very good cause).

Notice Of Race

Pigeon Trophy NOR 2010

Sailing Instructions

Pigeon Trophy SI’s 2010

Apologies Results for this weeks racing will be here soon eg early next week. Just a small technical hitch to overcome.  Jon was talking about being busy in the meantime moving Gdynia Fountain,  so fixing Sailwave should be easy by comparison.

Sadly due to the presence of Fog and the current met office forcast we have had no option but to cancel tonights race on safety grounds.

Follow RPCYC on Twitter and SMS Sailing updates including Cancellations.

Jon Buckler – RC Sail

Where has all the wind gone ??

Tonight’s racing started well with a reasonable light wind at the start of the fifth race of the spring series. The wind stayed favourable albeit shifty until the onset of a few light rain showers which resulted in the wind turning into something which resembled a patch work quilt.  Despite the conditions thirty four dinghies took part in the race with positions changing throughout the race with gains & losses occurring minute by minute.

The Laser / Laser Radial class has seen a real resurgence with new entries coming along on a weekly basis. Due to the large number of Lasers / Laser Radials we have decided to split out the respective entries from the Fast Handicap fleet into a combined Laser fleet as promised in the series NOR .

Tonights results can be found by clicking here with the Overall Results here

Thank you to all that have taken part & to all that have helped run the series.

If anyone can help on the start line / committee boat / safety boats please email sail@rpcyc.com with your availability / contact details, a rota list is also available at the club behind the bar (willing volunteers are more than welcome – any previous experience is not essential).

Phantoms Go Dutch

After a long period of planning and organisation the Phantom Class announces that the inaugural Europa Cup will be held at Medemblik in Holland over the bank holiday weekend at the beginning of May, 2010.   Never having ventured this far with his Phantom, RPCYC member John Bower, accepted the challenge and entered, joining the current and ex national champions and other notably quick sailors.

After a 6hour drive from Totnes to Burnham-on-Crouch, “phrantic springer” is loaded, the last of six, onto a monster trailer for the journey to Holland.  At the end of 1.5 Hours to Harwich, 7 hours on the ferry and 4 hours in Dutch traffic jams, the regatta centre at Medemblik comes into sight.   All of the boats are safely unloaded and rigged and the class members settle in for a barbeque at the “Sundance Bar”.  Our esteemed class secretary has safely arrived in his motor home and the beers are flowing well.

So to day one, and three races are scheduled on a trapezoidal course with an extra loop on the outer leg.  The weather is grey and the wind blowing f3 to 4 to 5, and so 23 phantoms launch and head dead downwind for the start yacht.  After a while we note that the yacht does not seem to be getting any closer, I think it was moored half way to Denmark!  Eventually all are ready and we get a clean start in a heavy f4 with a nasty short chop.  Powering upwind we all look for the windward mark and discover it must be over the curve of the earth, it is so far away.  After what seems to be miles, a relief to bear-away onto a flying reach and then downwind.  This is fun, a bit, “ rock and rolly,” on the run but survive in time to go upwind again, this time only a few miles but still the wind blows.  Back down the run with a few hairy moments but all well down the final reach to the finish boat.  Great joy in finishing 8^th, 1^st time for a top 10 finish in a major Phantom regatta.  So back to the start boat and off we go again.  An even better first beat, and 5^th at the windward mark.  I need to pinch myself, things just do not go this well.  Back down to earth on the 1^st run with a massive death roll and spectacular splash landing, catapulting your correspondent into the water.  Eventually getting the boat upright but not able to get back on board.  After suitable assistance from the safety boat it’s back to the starting area to await the next attempt.  Final race of the day pans out much as the first with another 8^th place and a very happy helm.  That is until I realised that I had a 2mile beat back to the slipway.

Some very tired, aching, but happy phantom drivers join the OK bunch to celebrate the Queen of Holland’s official birthday and many toasts are drunk, along with great assortment of other brews.

And so on to day 2, and it appears that one or two sailors are operating on “autopilot”.  The wind has decreased slightly but not much.  After two more tiring, exciting and long races 2 9^th places are registered and dreams of a top 10 finish are starting to be considered.  With the wind now shifting more the third race was a change.  Previously it had paid to go left from the start and then back to the windward mark.  Race 6 and most go left, a few not having had too good a start go right and when they are all at the top of the fleet at the mark, the rest of us are struggling.  Some great racing all down the fleet to a 15th place finish and another 2 mile beat back to the slipway.

That evening it is a meal down the pub and again the beer and the beverages are consumed to great effect.   It cannot be suggested that the Phantom class are backward about coming forward when a social event is occurring.  After a suitable refreshing sleep it is back to the regatta centre to find a very solid f4 with horizontal rain.   The OK and Solo fleets have started to pack up declaring their events complete.  Not so for the Phantoms.  With a tie and count-back looming for 1^st place, 5 intrepid Phantom drivers take to the racecourse with a sixth following a little later.  Yours truly decided that discretion was the better part and “wimped” it out in the dinghy park.   Eventually the brave few return to the slipway and we find that our current national champion, Charlie Cumbley, has added the Europa Cup to his mantelpiece, followed closely by class stalwart, Simon Childs then Nick Craig and Jim Hunt in fourth.

With the boats packed and stacked on various trailers the class departs the Medemblik Regatta Centre and catches various ferries back to Blighty.  Yours truly very happy with 11^th overall and 1^st aged over 50.  I am certain that the class will run the Europa Cup again in the future, maybe in warmer waters, and I am also certain that if able, I will be attending.   I have many very good memories of the event, faultless race management, results posted even before competitors get ashore, quaint Dutch small town, and most of all, the camaraderie, mickey taking, socialising, and all round friendliness of the members of the Phantom Class when venturing into a wider sailing world.

John Bower,  aka “Rita”  but that’s another story.

At last some wind !!

The fourth race of the RPCYC Spring Series saw 39 dinghies racing in a gusty NNE wind which saw a few swimming lessons & the occasional spectacular wipeout. All the crews came back with big smiles on their faces following the race which saw a committee boat start in Jennycliffe Bay which proved popular with all the competitors.

The asymmetric fleet was somewhat decimated by the gusty conditions whith saw four retirements during the race. Cawsands Bay sailor Charlie Glasspool revelled in the gusty conditions to circulate the course a near light speed proportion in his Hobie Tiger to claim a well deserved first place ahead of Plymouth Youth Sailings Jamie & Betsy in their Laser 2000 with Russell Brown & Zoe Kendall also from Plymouth Youth Sailing in third place showing the rest of the fleet how it should be done – well done to all.

The fast handicap fleet saw some very close racing throughout the race with Lasers dominating the top six positions. Nigel Clatworthy unfortunately misread the course & sailed two legs in the wrong order but still finished a credible seventh place despite his mistake. The fourth lap saw Max Robinson in his Standard Laser finally pull away from Dan Ellis  in his laser radial who was leading Max Robinson for the early stages on the race.  Despite Max’s best efforts Dan Ellis fought to keep his laser Radial in contention & was rewarded when he beat Max by just one second on corrected time to claim first place  with Max Rbinson in second place &  Chris Lloyd in third place in a Standard Laser …… (NOTE these results have been corrected from the previous report due to the laser radials results being calculated on 2009 PY handicap instead of 2010 – apologies to Dan & Max)

The Enterprise fleet as you would expect saw very close class racing with Peter Hickling & Phil Pascoe in “Dyskenetic” making up for a pre start waterbourne excursion (capsize to everyone else !!) by taking first place by just 5 seconds over Pete Ganderton & Alan Scarlett’s enterprise “Tacamahaca”. Dave Michell & Anna Mills fought off the rest of the class to claim a well deserved third place in “Hell Bent”.

The slow handicap fleet saw a number of new entries in the form of Toppers which excelled in the conditions to claim the top three positions in the fleet with Robbie Robinson taking first place ahead of Ben Rollinson in second place & Emily Lloyd in third place.

For today’s results please click here & for the series to date results please click here

There are also some spectacular photos taken by Nkki Buckler which can be found below.

Congratulations to RPCYC member John (Rita) Bower who raced this weekend in the inaugural Phantom – Europa Cup at Medemblik in Holland. With a strong field of entries that included multi national champions such as Charlie Cumbley & Jim Hunt, Rita – (Sorry John*)  came a very credible 10th & was the top placed sailor in the over half century rankings

*John travelled to Holland with his wife’s (Rita) passport & only got discovered on his way out of Holland !!

According to John it was a great weekends racing in some very strong winds with a long trapezoidal course

John will hopefully provide a fuller write up on his return.