South West Sailing

Sunday saw the Victory Inn at St Mawes host the victory cup races for working boats.

In lovely conditions of sunshine and a force 2/3 breeze both B and C classes enjoyed tight racing.

The course of West Narrows, Black Rock provided a stiff challenge with a strong flood tide pushing both fleets up the estuary and away from Black Rock.

In B class local boats Helen Mary (Doug Clode) and Demelza (JA) enjoyed an excellent scrap with Rebecca (Phil Slater). Rounding Black Rock without getting swept off the mark by the tide proved to be the key.

Rebecca managed to round the mark in one tack from the Pendennis shore where Demelza fell agonizingly short and had to have another tack.

Rebecca took both line and handicap honours with Evelyn (Malcolm Hitchens) just pushing Helen Mary into 3rd place on handicap.

C Class was won by Girl Sarah (Adam Davies) from Muriel (Brian Trenoweth) with the Victory providing splendid hospitality for all crews ashore.

The weather is a topic of conversation dear to the heart of nearly every Brit and sailors are no different with the too much wind and rain ruining the peak sailing months of July and August.

Come September of course and the reverse is the case with the RYA Zone championships being held across the UK in 7 different venues all being badly affected by little or no wind.

At Weymouth Truro windsurfer Nick Sylvester won the 3.5 fleet taking 3 wins in the limited racing completed on the Saturday, Adam Grayston also from Truro repeated the feat in the 5.5 fleet and Saltash sailor Louis Morris came good in the 7.8 fleet.

Chew Valley Sailing Club was the venue for the South West Zone dinghy regatta but a complete lack of wind meant that no racing was possible on either Saturday or Sunday.

Despite a lack of breeze frustrating many of the 1000 youngsters taking part in the Zone championships selection for Zone and Home Country squads will not be seriously affected as criteria such as open training, key competition and performances over the summer will be taken into consideration.

The inaugural Laser SB3 World Championships concluded last Friday and the event held at the National Yacht Club in Dublin attracted some 135 entries.

Winner was Geoff Carveth and his crew from Hayling Island Sailing Club from Craig Burlton 2nd, Mike Budd 3rd, Tim Fells 5th and ex-Restronguet sailor David Lenz back in 6th spot.

Carveth, Budd and Burlton have all raced in Falmouth over the past few years in 1720s, Melges 24s and J80s and Tim Fells is the current B14 dinghy World Champion a title he won at Restronguet last year.

Given the British domination of the event the portents are for a stunning SB3 UK Nationals to be held in Falmouth next June with close on 70 boats expected and so extremely talented crews in the mix.

RCYC member Peter Knight competed in Dublin and together with Mike Miller and Roger Ford finished 40th in the silver fleet but with the Nationals coming to town next year hopefully more members will be encouraged to jump aboard these fabulous little sportsboats.

Penryn dentist Donal O’Halloran nearly won the inaugural SB3 Nationals when the event was last held in Falmouth in 2003 and Jonathon Money also competed in the regatta before selling his SB3 to Geoff Carveth.

It promises to be one of the highlights of the 2009 sailing season and certainly something to look forward to over the winter months.

The Torrey Canyon is a named etched in the history of shipwrecks off the Cornish coast as the first major super tanker disaster to spark a major environmental crisis.

The Torrey Canyon piled onto a reef off the Scilly Isles in March 1967 at a time when such a disaster was regarded as almost impossible. There was no infrastructure in place to cope with such a major oil spillage at the time so the UK Government resorted to bombing and napalming the wreck to burn off the oil.

Likewise detergent was widely used to break up oil slicks with no regard for the impact on wild life.

Next Monday there will be a lunchtime lecture on the Torrey Canyon and the aftermath of its sad demise on Pollard’s Rock on the Seven Stones Reef at the NMMC with the lunch and lecture costing £12.50.

Bookings can be made on 01326 214546.

The NMMC has a whole season of winter talks on a host of maritime related subjects offering something for everyone.

This talk by Sam Willis sounds particularly interesting and definitely worth attending.

See you there!

After the disappointments of the round Britain solo attempts by Hilary Lister and 16 year old Jonny Moore I am delighted to report that Jack Daly sailing Padiwak a 1985 vintage Corribee Mk II has finally made it back to Ramsgate the port he left on 21st June.

Daly celebrated his 17th birthday on Friday arrived home last Saturday after an epic 12 week circumnavigation of the UK and enters the record books as one of the youngest single-handed sailors to complete the voyage.

The youngster is raising money for the RYA Sailability charity and if you are so minded to donate to this worthy cause visit his web site www.sail-the-dream.co.uk

Padiwak visited Falmouth a couple of weeks ago and I sadly missed the opportunity to meet this remarkable teenager but I can only applaud a wonderful achievement.

Couldn’t start this week’s column without a word about Pendennis Shipyard’s impressive 20th anniversary celebrations at the Monaco Yacht Show last week.

Just how do you impress the rich and famous at one of the world’s top superyacht gatherings? Toby Allies of Pendennis Shipyard organized a show stopping, head turning moment by booking the Red Arrows to help celebrate the Yard’s 20th anniversary celebrations.

Hosting a champagne reception at Port Hercules in Monaco Harbour the Company arranged for the Red Arrows to strut their stuff in the skies overhead.

Flying over the Monte Carlo skyline takes some organizing as of course it is foreign airspace but Pendennis worked the miracle and as usual the Arrows performed with style and panache.

The Pendennis Cup regatta over Falmouth Week was a pretty impressive event as an appetizer but the Red Arrows over Monte Carlo is some main course.

If I am ever organizing a party or celebration I think I might have to talk to Pendennis as Style Councilors as they certainly know how to throw a party and it is really great that a Cornish shipyard can show such initiative and class.

Roll on their 21st next year!

The Tornado World Championships are being held this week at Takapuna Beach in New Zealand and Cornish interest is centred on Andy Walsh and Tom Phipps and their crews in the 51-boat fleet.

Walsh and his crew Ed Barney after 4 races have had their usual maddeningly inconsistent regatta. On the opening day they posted a 5th and a 4th to lie in 3rd place overall and look well placed for a cracking event.

The pair were well up with overnight leaders the Germans Gaebler and Struckman and Dutch crew of Booth and Nieuwenhuis but the following day Walsh and Barney posted a 21st and 28th to add some 49 points to their overnight total.

In contrast whilst not winning either of the two races both the Germans and Dutch crews posted top 10 finishes to open up a 35 point plus differential lead over Andy and Ed.

Consistency and consolidation the key to winning an international regatta and something Andy and Ed maddeningly seem to lack just when they seem in a strong position to win a major event.

I accept there has been no discard yet in the 10 race series but the UK pair have dropped from 3rd to 14th overall and although it is barely halfway through the event the chances of a podium finish are remote.

The only consolation is that despite languishing in 14th the pair are leading the UK challenge as none of the other leading UK crews have fared any better.

Tom Phipps and his crew Marcus Lynch as one of the junior UK crews in New Zealand are having a roller coaster of an event and started with some gear failure in Race 1 to finish 43rd and have to retire from Race 2 to fix the problem.

On the following day whilst leading Race 3 the pair capsized to finish 22nd and then followed up with a 19th in Race 4 to lie 35th overall.

Full results next week.

Weymouth Sailing Academy hosted the first of two Olympic Class regattas organized by the RYA and a compulsory event for all RYA Olympic Development and Transition squad members.

Fleet number across the classes were small but as usual racing was competitive with the RYA coaches and staff present to monitor progress and development of the potential Olympians of 2012.

In the 470 class Ally Martin crewed by Truro’s Rosie Chapman won the women’s event finishing 5th overall in combined mixed fleet and counting a 2nd and 3rd in the 6 race 1 discard series.

Ally Martin is a highly promising 470 helm and Rosie was replacing her regular crew Lottie Clay.

If the change was permanent it might make sense for Rosie, as competition is ferocious in her chosen class the Laser Radial for the 2012 Olympics.

On the other hand the women’s 470 class is not keenly contested at present with only Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark the UK crew for Beijing regularly competing in UK and International 470 events.

Restronguet’s Ed Powys and Will Morgan competed in the 49’er class and had a disappointing weekend but hopefully things will improve for the next round in the Series, which is to be held at Hayling Island Sailing Club over the weekend of the 10/11th May.

If all this talk of Olympic sailing has wetted your appetite for improving your racing performance this season then Windsport International are hosting the annual Dart 18 2008 Teach-in.

Your host and main coach will be cat guru Brian Phipps and two weekend training sessions have been arranged. On the 19th-20th April there will be a “Start Racing” course to help newcomers to the Dart 18 and those keen to start racing in the class at club or open meeting level.

The second weekend is due to be held on the 26th-27th April and is titled “Develop your Racing Skills” and is aimed at those racing at club and open meeting level but wish to compete at national and international events.

Numbers are limited so early booking is recommended with each weekend being priced at £138.00 per crew to include coaching, boat trailer and car parking from Friday through to Sunday.

Full information can be provided by Windsport 01326 376191or Jenny Lloyd the UKIDA Secretary at UKIDA, Brynhafren, Leighton, Welshpool, Powys SY21 8HG.

Truro Laser sailor James Tilley is the RYA Champion Clubs Liaison Officer and the programme originally launched in 1997 has just under a revamp and major relaunch via a new web site at www.rya.org.uk/vcc.

The site offers a multitude of best practice tips, downloads and case studies of some of the 143 current Champion Clubs in the UK.

The principle aim of the CC programme is to encourage young sailors and windsurfers to learn how to sail and develop their skills through quality RYA race training programmes run by participating sailing clubs.

The benefits of applying to become a Champion Club include increased revenues, membership and a hopefully full access to training programmes to the benefit of all members.

All clubs need to attract new members in order to survive and continue and the RYA Champion Clubs programme is designed specifically to encourage youngsters to sail and youngsters are the lifeblood of any club.

Speak to James and get on board if you as a club haven’t already joined.