by Simon Hinnigan

Last weekend’s weed control was a huge success, if that is the right word!  I think we’d all have preferred not to find any, but the photo shows what we recovered west of a line between 10 and 6.  There is certainly more to remove and more than we have seen for several years.  Growth so early in the season might suggest the weed continued to grow through the winter.  We’ve made a great start but there is more to do, weed does not grow evenly across the lake so if you spot any growth then please try to triangulate the position and mark on the map on the activity board (at the race hut).  We’ll then continue with targeted weed control, and we have the lake weed cut booked in for July 15^th to 17^th.

Many thanks to Rachael, John, Phil, Tom, Sheila, Steve, Robin and Andy for the help on Saturday, it was very appreciated.

Also on Saturday, our Youth team was away competing in the Cotswold Water Park Interclub Regatta at Whitefriars.  Sarah has written up the race report below.  Well done to all involved!

On Sunday we were very grateful that Neil Crosby stepped in to cover a lack of OOD.  He delivered three fantastic races.  Typically an OOD will reach out to the race team two or three weeks in advance, this didn’t happen since there was no OOD and we were really lucky that our AOOD’s and safety boat team didn’t let us down.

Many thanks to Neil, Steve, Vanessa, Stuart and Jon for a fantastic racing Sunday, the wind was almost perfect and it would have been a shame to cancel.

The members who volunteer as OOD’s are a hugely appreciated group at Bowmoor, we want to make their efforts as enjoyable and stress free as possible.  The Sailing Committee has written up an enhanced course guide for OOD’s and we’re putting in place course advisors to support them, please read Neil’s article below and follow the links.

Course Advisors: Infrequently we need to remind all sailors that the race hut and the committee boat are out of bounds, please do not approach the OOD with requests for changes or to give advice.  We have course advisors in place (link here) and you should speak to them as they support our OOD’s.  OOD’s and Course Advisors can escalate to the Sailing Secretary (Neil), Rear Commodore Sailing (Tom) or me as required.

OOD’s – your feedback is requested, please speak with Me, Neil or Tom and email sailing@bowmoor.com.

As you can see, it’s been a big week for the club’s member volunteers, thank you for everything you do at Bowmoor.

See you at the club,

Simon

From Sarah Davies (Youth Manager)

On Saturday, June 8th, 13 young sailors from Bowmoor participated in the Interclub Regatta, hosted by Whitefriars Sailing Club. This event was the second leg of a three-way competition.

The Interclub Regatta is open to young sailors from GCSE year and below, aiming to create a fun, safe, and friendly atmosphere for young sailors to develop their skills through a day of races. The event saw a good turnout with 33 boats.

Bowmoor sailors were warmly welcomed with bacon butties on arrival, and loan boats were already rigged and mostly launched, making it a relaxed day for sailors and parents alike.  Whitefriars has a raised bank where boats can be conveniently tied, allowing some sailors to stay quite dry.

Whitefriars boasts a large Junior section, reflected in their fleet of 11 new Teras and 9 Fevas. This made it easy for visitors, as many did not need to tow their boats to the event.

The regatta featured four races, providing plenty of sailing action. Spectators had great views of the start line, the beginning of the windward beat, and an exciting gybe mark. Everyone enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch and ice lollies in the afternoon.

In the Laser fleet, Aimee Bulkes finished 4th overall, narrowly beaten by Whitefriars' leading Laser sailor, Toby.

Among the Feva's, Alex and Jasper paired up following the Nationals and secured wins in all races. However, due to computer errors, they were not recognized at the prize giving. The corrected results show them 3rd overall. Poppy and Grace continued their successful pairing, closing the gap to the leading Feva, keen to learn and improve in each race. Special mention goes to Tilly, Milly, and Cairen, a trio of girls who completed all four races with smiles and great communication, coping well with the increasing wind.

In the Tera fleet, Jay had a strong performance throughout the day, finishing 2nd overall, ahead of his sister. Archie Hillam and Oscar Nelson followed closely, with Oscar improving in the after gaining some valuable tips.

The event concluded with a prize-giving ceremony, where Bowmoor achieved four sailors in the top five. The next leg of the Interclub Regatta will be hosted by Bowmoor on Saturday, September 7th. Parents of those competing are encouraged to get involved in running the event and we welcome any additional support to help Bowmoor host a great event. Please contact youth@bowmoor.com if you would like to support on or off the water.

Results

From Neil Crosby (Sailing Secretary)

Being Officer of the Day (OOD) is sometimes a thankless task with a responsibility for making the racing at Bowmoor as good as it can be given the conditions.  Most of us have to do it only a few times during the season because we have many members willing to step up and take it on.  Without that, the most experienced sailors would end up officiating as much as they are sailing.

We have had a few occasions recently where OODs have not been treated respectfully but also some occasions where OODs have not been willing to listen to guidance from even the most experienced sailors.  Coupled to that we have a new committee boat which we are trying to make just as easy to use as the hut as there is no doubt that the boat gives OODs the ability to set better courses than possible from the hut in the vast majority of wind directions.

The sailing committee has therefore decided that we must support OODs with better guidance, especially regarding course setting, and with using the committee boat. We have produced two documents which we hope will help OODs in using the boat and in setting courses. 

The advice regarding course setting (detail guide here) can be summarised as:

• Course setting is the most important part of the OOD task. OODs should go out on the water to set the course.  Setting from the shore rarely works.
• There is a book of suggested courses in the hut and on the committee boat.  Please use them at least as a guide.
• All OODs can benefit from advice from fellow experienced members. OODs should discuss and agree their proposed course with at least one and preferably two designated course advisors.  If course advisors or OODs cannot agree, the Sailing Secretary and/or Rear Commodore Sailing will adjudicate.
• Please use W and V as windward marks which increases flexibility and quick reorientation of the beat where that becomes necessary.

The main part of the guidance is that we are trying to set up a process whereby OODs discuss their planned course with a course advisor from the one or two of those listed in the guidance. In the case of any disputes, we hope that one of either the Rear Commodore Sailing or the Sailing Secretary will be present to resolve.  We have only put this in place because recently there have been the odd occasions when a referee would have been useful! 

Regarding the committee boat, we are setting up some training sessions on Sunday mornings before racing to supplement the guidance (Committee Boat Handbook) and are taking note of suggestions from users regarding making it even easier to operate.

From Dave Lynall

Twenty four years ago I did my last event in an RS200 at Fraglia Vela Riva at the very north of Lake Garda so I was super excited to be invited to join a team for ‘Act 3’ of the RS21 cup on the 7-9th June. If you haven’t been to the Italian lakes, please put them on your bucket list and if you are to have a sailing bucket list, doing an event at Riva has to be at the top. It is simply stunning as a venue and the natural venturi shape of the lake coupled with the high mountains in the north provide a reasonably reliable katabatic breeze or ‘Ora’ from about lunchtime onwards. This makes for relaxing mornings, taking in the harbour views with a coffee and a pastry. The RS 21 is a 3-5 person one design asymmetric keelboat which is great fun to sail and has really taken off in Italy. We had 4 in our team, Alex Newton Southon on mainsheet, Alex Mathieson on Spinnaker, Joe Bradley on Bow and Tactics and myself on the tiller. Hiking out in a 21 is not allowed so for us not so fit gentlemen of a certain age, this was very civilized. It was the first time the four of us had sailed together so expectations were mixed! The entry list consisted of 35 boats of which 22 were in the pro category with paid sailors and 13 (including us) were in the ‘Corinthians’ or amateurs. I think I prefer non-professional! Our boat was chartered from the Italian RS dealer and there were also teams from Poland, Germany and the UAE. We were the only Brits.  

On our practice day out it was evident that our bow man Joe was going to be an extremely useful asset. Apart from being 23 years old and fit, his attention to detail and preparedness was quite outstanding.

Our opening result of 32nd was a bit of a rude awakening but we were learning quickly and we soon followed this with a 20th and a 16th. Starts in a keelboat such as this are quite different from Bowmoor! It meant getting on the ‘Train’ at 4-500 metres from the line around 3 minutes to go and gradually timing your approach and defending your lane. By the end of the regatta we were getting proficient at this with the help of Joe’s coaching I might add! An interesting aspect was that all boats had an instrument on board called a Vakaros RaceSense. This gave speed, bearing, automatic race timing, announcements and distance in meters from the line. There was a lot of scepticism and mutterings of VAR nonsense but after the first day’s racing everyone was marvelling at the simplicity and accuracy. As you would expect there was no sag in the line and very few were over. On the second day we were 5th round the windward mark and held on to this down the first run. Sadly, we gybed too early for the gate and ended up wrapping the jib and doing a bad spinnaker drop. This took us back to 12th place but by the time we completed the second lap we managed a 10th, our best result. At this point, we were still counting our 32nd result so had to try and pull something out of the bag on the last day. The usual reliable Ora was quite fickle on the last day and only one race was completed. We did manage a 24th however which gave us 2nd overall in the non-professional crews and 21st overall. Despite there being around 4 jury boats, it was evident that there was some blatant disregard for the racing rules and very few penalties were taken. On one occasion, one of leading Italian boats tacked onto port in front of the committee boat and swiped another boat onto port in the process. Despite a lot of gesticulation and possibly some Italian swear words, nobody took a penalty and the offending boat sat in our wind lane for most of the beat. Being a minority, we kept our head down and politely queued as is the British custom. Perhaps the rules don’t apply or the stakes are too high if you are being paid!

In Riva, apart from the stunning scenery and superb sailing, there is a world famous institution called the Oca Bar which is also a must if you are lucky enough to do an event there – the bar staff are superb at cocktails and the walls are crammed with sailing memorabilia. I suspect Matt and David may have visited during their recent RS600 event. As a scratch crew of mostly old friends, we had the most amazing time in a truly special place and did not want to get back on the plane! I hope it isn’t another 24 years before I visit again!

Wednesday 12th June
19:00 Club Racing
Saturday 15th June
Adult Level 1, Safety Boat, Member Training
Sunday 16th June
11:30 Spring Series AM
13:30 Spring Series PM
15:00 Spring Series late PM
Wednesday 19th June
19:00 Club Racing - Spring Series Ends
Saturday 22nd June
Adult Level 2, Safety Boat, Cruising Saturday, Ladies Who Launch, Social Sailing, Otters and Sprints
Sunday 23rd June
Adult Level 2, Spring Series Ends
11:30 Spring Series AM
13:30 Spring Series PM
15:00 Spring Series late PM

The full calendar is published on bowmoor.com/calendar/