Next Sunday, 23^rd June, is part 2 of the Fleet Championships.  Part 1 was back in March but as it was 4 out of 8 races to count and we only completed 1 race at in March the championship is still wide open.  The sailing instructions for the event are here: –

https://www.dwsc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Fleet-Championships-SIs-2019.doc

Next Sunday there will be four races with a break for lunch in between the second and third race.  The format is very similar to normal Sunday club racing.  The Spring Series prize giving should be held over lunch. 

The two morning races also count towards the Fairweather Series  – https://www.dwsc.co.uk/2019/02/15/2019-fairweather-series/.  Therefore, double the reason to see a good turnout of Flying Fifteens next weekend!

On other matters: –

1. The sailing committee recently agreed a minor update to the club sailing instructions which will come into effect at the start of the Summer Series (from 30^th June).  The main difference is that if Course 5 is chosen by the Race Officer the Flying Fifteen fleet will sail a Triangle/Sausage/Triangle/Sausage course until they are shortened rather than triangles only (which the fast handicap will carry on doing).
2. Gabrielle pointed out to me on Wednesday that he Flying Fifteen area of the boat park has just been strimmed.   This process would be sped up if we could all kept our areas free from litter – especially redundant bits of boat hardware.

I hope to see as many of you as possible on the water next weekend.

Regards

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

Flying Fifteen #4027

Below is a note we are publishing explaining our launching procedures for the upcoming open meeting. Club members please note that we will be rigging in the car park beyond the club house launching from the pontoon normally used for ribs. It would help if you could be at the club in good time so we can moor some boats out before the briefing on Saturday.

Don’t forget we have Part 1 of the Fleet Championships this Sunday (31st March) to get some practice in before this event.

See you on the water soon.

Mike Clapp, Fleet Captain

DWSC-FFW-Arrival-and-Launching

Southerns Flyer 2019

The 2019 Fleet Championships will be run in a similar form to the last couple of years.   It is planned for two Sundays in between the Winter and Spring Series and the Spring and Summer Series.  Four races are scheduled for each Sunday with two back to back in the morning and two back to back in the afternoon.  Up to four discards will be applied so it will be possible to win the Championships based on just one of the two Sundays or just the morning races.

The Notice of Race has now been published here: –

https://www.dwsc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/FleetChamps19NoR.doc

and the Sailing Instructions are here: –

https://www.dwsc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Fleet-Championships-SIs-2019.doc

If you have any questions please let me know.

I hope to see as many of you as possible racing on these days as the morning races also count towards the Fairweather series.

 

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

FF # 4027

For many years the fleet has run an additional series over the summer months in order to encourage a greater turnout on certain dates.  This is known as the Fairweather Series. At the recent Fleet AGM we decided to experiment with a slight change of format of this for the 2019 season.  We have reduced the number of Sundays this covers but increased the number of races .  The dates this year will be: –

31st March – the first two races of the Fleet Championships to count

12th May – to coincide with the “Push the Boat Out” weekend

23rd June – the two morning races of the second part of the Fleet Championships to count

and 22nd September.

The results from the Sunday morning races on these dates will be combined together to determine the Fairweather Champion using a discard rate of 6 out of 8 to count.  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.

If you have any questions about this series please let me know.  I hope to see you on the water soon.

Regards

 

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

FF #4027

 

NoR FF Fairweather Series 2019

Charles Apthorp has volunteered to lead a training session for DWSC Flying Fifteen Sailors on Saturday 16^th 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.

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.

Regards

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

FF# 4027

As we discussed last Sunday, at the fleet AGM, this coming Sunday is 13th January so we will be racing for the Castle Cup.  The boat that gets the best combined score from the two races gets to hold the trophy until the next time we get a Sunday 13th.  Hopefully this will encourage enough of you out so we meet the five boat criteria to get our own start.

The fleet AGM produced a number of interesting ideas – I will try to get the minutes to all of you as soon as possible, including to those who were unable to attend.

If anyone is aware of any Flying Fifteens that might be about to come on the market, please let me know, as I have a number of people interested.

See you on the water soon.

Regards

Mike Clapp

Fleet Captain

Flying Fifteen No 4027.

Please find below an update about our loan boats from Phil Tinsley.  With all this effort going into maintaining these boats we could do with getting them used more.  If you know of anyone who would like to try out a Flying Fifteen please let Mike Firth or myself know.

Regards

Mike Clapp, Fleet Captain

 

Dear FF Fleet members

 

Very many thanks to all the fleet’s members who have donated old sails to be sold for the benefit of the club’s 2 FF boats.

These are used to allow trial sails in a FF, and hopefully encourage the triallists to join the fleet.

We had 4 leads from the Southampton Show, one of which is proper interested and will be having a trial sail in the spring.

 

We have 2 club FF’s – a raceable silver boat 3316 “Gerry Sheard” a 1990 Porter copy of a Windebank/Ovington 9 hull, and an older more recreational hull 3024 “Flouride” a Trenowth from 1985.

Your generosity has allowed the purchase of a new cover for one boat, and the other has a nearly new cover – both branded DWSC club FF.

Gerry Sheard has a good set of Goachers, ex my silver 3341, and Flouride a reasonable set of P+B sails ex 3888.

At present BOTH club boats have garish line green/yellow spinnakers, which should act as L plates, or inexperienced warnings, to the rest of us.

There is also nearly £400 being added to the held funds for upkeep of these club FF’s – funds held by Roger our fleet treasurer.

 

Today a clear out of the club boats has revealed 8 further sails to be sold for the fleet’s benefit – thanks to all donors.

A couple of suggestions:

1. I am aware that there are some new members to the fleet, and can I suggest you review your sails – some of the most recently donated sails are ex John Hansen in 3954, and still in very good condition.  We have a good mainsail, a super 2 window genoa and a blue spinnaker for a chute, all by Hyde.

2. If any fleet member has a redundant sail which they would be happy to donate to benefit the fleet’s FFs upkeep, we would be very grateful. Please see Mike Clapp the fleet captain, or Mike Firth who oversees the Club loan FF’s
3. Lastly, this is the last group of sails I going to sell for the fleet, and therefore we need an EBay savvy fleet member to take over the sale of the future sails. I will produce a procedural note for the volunteer.

 

Regards

 

Philip Tinsley

On behalf of the FF Fleet.