Fairweather Series
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog, flying-fifteeen | 0

As mentioned in my previous post about the Fleet Calendar the fleet has an additional series over the summer months in order to encourage a greater turnout.  This is known as the Fairweather Series and is starting a week on Sunday.  The dates this year will be: –

29th April

20th May

24th June

8th July

5th August

and 23rd September

The results from the normal Sunday morning races on these dates will be combined together to determine the Fairweather Champion using a discard rate of 33%.  This is defined in the Notice of Race shown below.

This series is targeted at fleet members who cannot commit to racing every Sunday but would like to target their attendances on days when there should be a better turnout.  I have therefore tried to select dates when there are not major open meetings on elsewhere or other major club events.  I have, though, made the two races on the Sunday morning of the second part of the Fleet Championships part of this series.  Even more incentive to make 24th June a date to get sailing!

If you have any questions about this series please let me know.  I hope to see as many of you on the water as possible a week on Sunday.

Regards

 

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

FF #4027

NoR FF Fairweather Series 2018

Flying Fifteen Open Meeting – Next Weekend
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog, flying-fifteeen, Latest Club News / Blog | 0

Our club Flying Fifteen Open Meeting for the Mercedes Trophy is next weekend (7th & 8th April). I hope as many of you as possible are planning to attend.

The Notice of Race is available from the menu above under Racing > Open Events. One thing to note is that it is £10 cheaper if you enter before midnight on Tuesday. You can do this by going to this webpage: –

https://www.kbsuk.com/events/datchetsc/index.asp?EventID=26

This form is a little over complicated so please feel free to enter a few random letters if you don’t have all the information to hand. Please enter 01/01/2018 as your date of birth if you are not after the youth prize!

One other thing of importance is that the briefing by the Race Officer is planned for 10.30 as the Wayfarer’s have their first start at 11.30. As our first start is not until 1 pm I will probably present a second briefing at 12 noon in case anyone wasn’t there for the first one.

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards

Mike Clapp

Flying Fifteen Fleet Training Day – Postponed until Saturday 19th May
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog, flying-fifteeen | 0

Unfortunately the previous date I proposed for the training day proved not to be very popular.  We have therefore postponed it until Saturday 19th May.  This will also make it part of our “Push the Boat Out” weekend.

As a reminder of what we are proposing: –

“John and Helen have volunteered to lead a training session for DWSC Flying Fifteen Sailors to help prepare us for the sailing season ahead.  After an initial on-shore briefing and discussion, exercises will be performed afloat which are likely to include start practice; tacking and gybing practice; etc.  If there is any particular skills you want to hone up on please let us know before the day.  The intention is to video these sessions and provide a debrief over lunch and at the end of the day.

“I have agreed with the club that this training day will be free to club members as long as we can find a qualified volunteer (or volunteers) to drive the Rib.  Please could any volunteer please let me know if they are available and willing to help out as soon as possible.  If we can find multiple power boat drivers we can organise to swap around during the day.

“We will kick off with a discussion in the Wet Bar starting at 10.00 am.  Please be rigged but not changed by this time.”

Please could you let me know whether you would like to join us for this training day.  If you have any questions please call Michael Clapp on 077 6468 1410 or e-mail mike.clapp@btconnect.com.

 

Mike Clapp

FF 4027

Fleet Captain

Fleet Championships 2018
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog, flying-fifteeen, Latest Club News / Blog | 0

Part 1 of the 2018 Fleet Championships is coming up fast.  As with last year this is being held over two Sundays – the first between the Winter Series and the Spring Series on 25th March and the second between the Spring and the Summer Series on 24th June.  The plan is to run four races on each Sunday with a total of four races out of eight to count.  That means some could win by attending just one of the two events but they need to be brave to not attend the second Sunday as the tie break favours the last race.

The Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions are below.  Their will be a briefing at 9.30 on each Sunday.  The first race is at 10.30.

See you all on the water.

Mike Clapp

Flying Fifteen Fleet Captain

FleetChampionshipsSIs2018
 FleetChamps18NoR

Fleet Calendar
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog, flying-fifteeen | 0

Thanks to Mervyn and Alastair please find below a copy of a Fleet Calendar we have assembled for the upcoming season.  This contains three main columns:   the first shows the club series and the other major club events;  the second shows a list of Flying Fifteen specific events at the club and the third shows some of the major away open meetings from the Class Association Website.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting about many of these events.   In the meantime if you have any questions please let me know.

Regards

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

FF 4027

 

FF DWSC Calendar - 2018

Flying Fifteen Training Day – Saturday 24th March, 2018
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog, flying-fifteeen | 0

John and Helen have volunteered to lead a training session for DWSC Flying Fifteen Sailors on Saturday 24th March to help prepare us for the sailing season ahead.  After an initial on-shore briefing and discussion, exercises will be performed afloat which are likely to include start practice; tacking and gybing practice; etc.  If there is any particular skills you want to hone up on please let us know before the day.  The intention is to video these sessions and provide a debrief over lunch and at the end of the day.

I have agreed with the club that this training day will be free to club members as long as we can find a qualified volunteer (or volunteers) to drive the Rib.  Please could any volunteer please let me know if they are available and willing to help out as soon as possible.  If we can find multiple power boat drivers we can organise to swap around during the day.

We will kick off with a discussion in the Wet Bar starting at 10.00 am.  Please be rigged but not changed by this time.

Please could you let me know whether you would like to join us for this training day.  If you have any questions please call Michael Clapp on 077 6468 1410 or e-mail mike.clapp@btconnect.com.

 

Mike Clapp

FF 4027

Fleet Captain

 

Flying Fifteen 4027

Autumn Series Improvement Ratings
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog | 0

The Club Autumn Series finished on Sunday with some very close racing on the water.  Two of the boats managed to get a 1st and a 4th or 5th in the two races.  This did not change the overall series positions so first are John and Helen, second are Mervyn and George and third are Mike and Peter. The prizes will be presented at the club Christmas Dinner.

Roger has now managed to calculate the Personal Handicap ratings for the series.  So the Ridgeway Consulting Trophy goes to Alastair and Jeremy.

PIR Autumn 2017 final mod

A few notes from Roger about this calculation: –

“In each race the winning boat’s time is given the scratch rating of 1.000. All other boats’ times are divided by the scratch boat’s time to establish their ratings for that race.

“The various boats’ ratings are averaged over the series and compared with their rating from the previous series. The helm from the boat with the best improvement is the series winner and is awarded the Ridgeway Consulting Trophy.”

See you on the water soon.

 

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

#4027

Datchet Flying Fifteens – Keelboat Fleet Racing near London

FF AGM, new Fleet Captains & Fleet Champs
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog | 0

The DWSC Flying Fifteen fleet AGM was held after sailing on Sunday 3rd December with 11 members in attendance.  The main item on the agenda was the election of the new Fleet Captains. Mike Clapp is now Fleet Captain and Alastair Stevenson is Fleet Vice Captain. Some very positive discussions were held about the development of the fleet – more to follow …

We also awarded the Fleet Championship prizes from the event held over a couple of weekends in March and June and the Crew of the Year award which went to Alex Abbey-Taylor.

Fleet Captain Mike Clapp and Vice Captain Alastair Stevenson (left and right flanks) with 2017 Fleet Champions Isabel & Tom Hall, runners up Richard Jones & Howard Shawyer, and 3rd place Mervyn Wright (George Caspall ill in bed!).  Chloe Hall joined the celebration – practising for when we see her name on the trophy with Isabel?

 

FF club boat upgraded!!!
by | posted in: Flying Fifteens Blog | 0

A motley crew of Flying Fifteen sailors spent the weekend smoothing out the wrinkles on The Gerry Sheard – one of the club loan boats – so it should be easier to step into and sail now

Sunday’s motley crew

Howard, Mervyn, John & Mike x 2 decided to set sail in the boat-park as the Oppie’s were using the water.  Alastair, Roger and a couple of younger hands washed the boat and checked the mast setting in the rain on Saturday

Thanks to all involved – including Phil for providing parts

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