Weymouth sailing today

Hot weather and hot action were the key topics for todays sailing at Weymouth.

Sunbursts, a Topper and a Beachcomber made up the fleet.

Proving the "handicappers of old" correct, the Topper managed to keep close to the quicker Sunburst, and well ahead of the slower one.

At the end of the long beat, the Sunburst was easily out in front of the Beachcomber, with the Topper a way back in third. On the downwind run home, the Topper rapidly made up ground, closing the gap on the other two boats before the finish, but not quite enough to get past.

Here's a couple of pics from afterward - sorry, my camera stays on dry land!

Love that sky!

The makings of a good racing fleet happening here! 

Members from other clubs with Sunbursts, Starlings or boats of similar speed - if your club has nothing on, check our website, and feel free to join us for a day.

Labour weekend sailing... or lack there-of!

None of the Manukau clubs have anything scheduled for this weekend, or Monday.

Early morning/late evening tides have probably put a stop to that.

One thing that could be done, subject to enthusiasm, and decent weather, is an Out and Back cruise, departing from your favourite launching place early Sunday Morning, and going out with the tide.

With a little communication and planning (eg swapping mobile phone numbers or similar), all the boats could meet up somewhere, either for a BBQ on the beach, or just raft up for a picnic, floating down the channel.

Trailer yachts would be best, as obviously the rafting-up idea wouldn't work with Lasers, but anything with a halyard could do it!

Once the tide starts to flow back in, we could all head back to where we came from.

High tide is around 7:30 am, so it's an early start from Weymouth or Mangere, but without work or school on Monday, it doesn't matter if we get back a bit late, just as long as it's daylight.

Next weekend (29/30 October, 2011) seems to be a busy one, with sailing planned at most clubs for both days.

Hot action on the water

Today saw a mixture of training and racing at Weymouth YC.

Initially Shannon was getting some one on one coaching in an Oppi, while the other sailors cruised around enjoying the weather.

Once the training was over, a few short races were held, over some windward leeward courses.

The blue Seascout Sunburst, after further tuning, proved to be the secret weapon, winning all its races with relative ease. It appeared to be faster than the Starlings, and the Beachcomber, in the 10-15 knot wind range, in all directions, even downwind without a spinnaker.

Unfortunately we did not have any other sunbursts for comparison today, but everyone involved thought it was going very well.

We have no sailing scheduled for Labour Weekend, however if the weather is good some of us will probably get out on at least one day.

Sunburst fun

Todays training session with the Weymouth Scouts was abandoned, which gave Murray and me a chance to tune the clubs red Sunburst, and the Scouts freshly refurbished blue one.

After a brief tuning session ashore, a course was set, and off we went.

The blue boat lead the way after the initial beat, although this was more due to the red boat being out of phase with the light and patchy wind. A mile of downwind running and the gap had not changed measurably.

Turning back upwind, it was immediately obvious that the blue boat had rather bad lee helm, requiring significant heel to balance things up.

The red boat showed much better height in the light conditions, although the speed seemed very similar.

After a short while, the red boat had got her nose in front, and the boats separated, one to each side of the channel, both trying to avoid the tide. The red boat then hooked into some better breeze, and pulled out a huge lead, while the blue boat sat becalmed.

At the final mark, before turning for home, the gap was around 5 minutes, and it stayed about the same all the way back downwind to the finish.

Back ashore, a little more rake was added to the mast of the blue boat, then we went back out for another go.

This time the boat felt much better, although the height was still lacking. A short beat put the red boat well ahead again.

The top batten in the blue boat was far too stiff, basically a straight line. I will be sanding it down tonight, and if I can find a tuning guide, will set it to the correct tension. This should help the leech of the sail to hook up a lot better, giving additional height and power.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be a racing day, so we shall see how it performs then. There's also meant to be a bit more wind.

Upcoming Manukau Harbour Sailing - 15 & 16 October 2011

Because sailing matters....


Saturday 15.

Weymouth training day starts 11:00

Waiuku YC opening day starts 12:00 - part of icebreaker.

Sunday 16.

Weymouth club day starts 11:45

French Bay opening day starts 12:00

Waiuku YC champs series starts 12:30 - icebreaker continues.

Manukau YMBC Summer series A starts 13:00 - Trailer Yachts.

And PLSC begins their Summer Series at 10:00 - during the summer season I will not be posting their regular events on here, or the Weymouth website, as they are not a Manukau Club, however I will publicise any larger events, such as the RSA regatta.

Todays sailing at Weymouth

Awesome sunny but calm weather and flat water gave a fantastic start to our sailing season.

Sailing a basic windward-leeward course, Gina in the Topper lead Murray in the Sunburst and Rob in the Laser at the end of the first near-drifting downwind leg. On the beat back to the finish, the Laser streaked past, opening up a sizable lead. Gina then hit the reef out in front of the clubhouse, allowing Murray to gain the advantage, which he held to the finish.

Simon ran the rescue boat, which was a very restful experience in the conditions.

Everyone really enjoyed themselves, and we are all looking forward to next weekend.

Come  on down and join in the fun any weekend through the Summer, lessons and training take place on Saturdays - our boats or yours. Casual mixed fleet racing or cruising happens every Sunday. The website and this blog are frequently updated, keeping you informed of what's on.

Upcoming sailing October 8/9 2011

Weymouth Yacht Club is sailing on Sunday, 9am start. All welcome.

Nothing scheduled for Panmure LSC or Manukau YMBC.

French Bay have Starling training both days.

Waiuku and Clarks Beach have nothing advertised.

Easter weekend.

We will be holding an invitational sprint race series on Saturday April 7, before the Manukau Regatta on April 8.

The regatta will probably follow the normal format of 2 or 3 old school olympic triangle races.

The Sprint series will be run on a new innovative idea that hasn't been tried before, but will certainly work up a sweat if there's wind. And thats just the race officer!!

If I have my way, Sprint entry will be included free with Regatta entry, or $5 just for the one event.

Todays sailing cancelled

Todays sailing at Weymouth has been cancelled due to the weather.

With the wind blowing between 20 and 35 knots, this seems the best course of action, especially considering that it is the season opener, and why risk breaking stuff on the first day.