Castle Cove

All pictures courtesy of RoloVision Inc

The plan was to have an open meeting as part of the dinghy section of Weymouth Town Regatta, but unfortunately the event was cancelled at the last minute. This did not deter brave local Cherub sailors Matt and Mark Grant who put together an open meeting package complete with committee boat, rescue boat, marks, and all the requisite people to allow for the Cherub show to go on in a very short time indeed - Nice one boys!

It blew its nuts off all weekend: On Saturday the 12 noon start was put off until 2pm in an effort to allow the wind to go down. It didn't, but the strong turnout of Cherub sailors, including a total of six new faces, hit the water anyway.

It was messy, and before any races could be started the committee boat started to drag. Prudence overtook duty and racing was abandoned, but a little thing like that did not get in the way of some monster blast-time for many cherubs. The couple of tow-ins were very ably managed by rib-driver-to-the-stars Nick Spicer, to whom many thanks.

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Once everyone was suitably knackered it was curry and pub o'clock.

Sunday dawned windier but less gusty and the hardy set out for their start on time. Dog 2645 Cheese Before Bedtime with owner Paul Croote and special-guest-star crew Tom Kiddle led from the start, with Will and Lucy Lee in Atum Bom on their heels. Ridiculous shifts meant challanges for all in staying upright, but a slightly quicker tack aboard Atum let them through to the lead, only for them to capsize on their next incautious tack. At the top mark the teams were together, both optimistically waiting for a lull between the continuous psycho gusts (anemometer recorded a gust of 34.1 knots with average of 26 - graphs coming) to get the bear away in. Atum went for a gybe set and hit the light speed button, and escaped to win after a couple more laps of careful sailing where the main aim was to prevent the stern from overtaking the bow. Tim Unerman, the emergency-stand-in race officer, also had a fine camera lent by the appropriately named Cherub newbie Roland Trim with which he took some stunning shots.

After this the windward mark went off on its own bid for freedom, so the racing was sensibly called off. Some extreme blasting was enjoyed by all until it was definitley time to pack the boats up and go home with grins sufficiently topped up for another week in the office.

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Special mention must go to complete cherub newbies Roland and Hayley Trim. They looked at the weather, decided that they were probably a bit new to manage it - and went out sailing anyway! They propelled their boat Flying Trifle 2652 “Oops (again)” very ably in a variety of directions before coming in. On Sunday they did just the same, only this time wiping out and inverting on the start line before conquering the beat and then going back in under their own steam. They had an excellent weekend and enjoyed blastability with a goal in sight - to finish a race next time it is that windy!

Results:

Place Design Name Number Helm Crew Designer
1 Slug Atum Bom 2688 Will Lee Lucy Lee Simon Roberts
2 Dog Cheese Before Bedtime 2645 Paul Croote Tom Kiddle Simon Roberts

Wind Graph:

Notes:

  1. The graph shows the average, minimum lull and maximum gust over ten minute samples continuously from midday Friday to midnight Sunday.
  2. We have shown the times we were sailing.
  3. The wind did not go down between midday and 2pm on Saturday.
  4. There was a 40.1 knots gust during the blasting on Saturday.
  5. The wind generally seemed to be greatest while we were sailing!
  6. There was more wind with less gusts on the Sunday, and is was definitely easier to sail.
  7. An average of 25+ knots of wind for any period is a lot of wind.
  8. The wind was in the north, Weymouth's gustiest and shiftiest direction.
  9. We were in the top of the harbour, the gustiest and shiftiest bit.
  10. The testsail on Monday (see below) was sailed in perfect conditions.
  11. Data from Weather File with thanks.

graphs-20060812a.jpg

Dinghy Sailing Magazine Test Sail

Our friends at Dinghy Sailing Magazine organised one of their now-infamous two-boat tests yesterday: Cherub vs 29erXX. I can tell you it was lots of fun for everyone, but for the full details you'll have to wait for the paper mag published on the 14th September, but watch this space for a sneak-peek mpeg.

  • news/2006/0815.txt
  • Last modified: 2023/03/01 19:01
  • by jp233