Author: abersochsailingclub

Hi all,

With the start of the 2022 season fast approaching, please find below a Commodore’s Update on the forthcoming season

Sailing Programme

We are pleased to release the sailing programme for the 2022 season, which can be found on the attached membership card and on our website, linked below. New for 2022, the sailing programme includes additional sailing over the Whit Week school holiday alongside the traditional series’ throughout the summer holidays. The first weekend’s sailing will be Saturday 28th May with 2 back to back races in the afternoon. We will be using the WebCollect booking system to sign up for races again this year. Events for the Bank Holiday racing will be set up shortly.

We are also delighted to be welcoming the RS 200s who will be visiting as part of their Northern Tour circuit on the 16th and 17th of July and to see the return of the social programme (including the infamous Bar Crawl) in 2022. There is also a new date for the AGM which has been moved to Friday 12th August allowing for more people to attend in person.

Volunteer Rota

One of the highlights of last season for me personally was seeing the number of people volunteering to help run the club’s races. Ahead of the coming season, we wish to formalise the volunteering opportunities and as a result, have created a Volunteer Rota. Volunteering to help run racing is a great opportunity to learn new skills and meet new people, get on the water close to the action, and give back to the club. Whilst there is no requirement for you to volunteer, the committee encourages members to volunteer and help run racing at least once. As such, we would be grateful if you could fill in the rota, which, can be found by following the link below, ahead of the season to allow us plenty of time to coordinate racing.

https://1drv.ms/x/s!Au8ofIa8CSRwc4KxD9W35aIXc_w?e=W42vdR

RYA Racing Charter

ASC will be implementing the RYA Racing Charter from 2022 onward and will expect members to observe it whilst racing. The Charter promotes rule observance and encourages sportsmanship and good communication between competitors and organisers. We hope that doing so will allow fairer and more enjoyable racing for all whilst out on the water. More information can be found on the RYA’s website by following the link below.

https://www.rya.org.uk/racing/rules/racing-charter

ASC Development Plan

As many of you may be aware from last season’s AGM, the club are in the process of producing a Development Plan, to help guide the future direction of ASC. As part of the process of producing the Development Plan, the Committee wants to engage the membership and gather their ideas on the direction ASC shall take moving forward. We would therefore like to give you all the opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas on what you want from ASC in the coming year. Whether you would like to see changes to the way things are done, whether you think things are great as they are or whether you would like to see more of something over the coming years, we would love to hear from you no matter how big or small your idea or thought is. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with the committee on WhatsApp or the Facebook Group, or via email to abersochsailingclub@gmail.com. Alternatively, you are more than welcome to share thoughts and ideas with me, or any other committee member privately – we really would love to hear from you! The Development Plan is still a work in progress with the aim of finalising it before August. If you wish to view what has been produced so far please click the link below.

https://1drv.ms/w/s!Au8ofIa8CSRwd1vrO4g50zLQOm0?e=XntYiH

Both the Committee and I look forward to seeing you all out on the water soon!

All the best,

Ben Teague

Commodore

The secret is finally out – the new ASC line of merchandise is available to purchase for Christmas!

Over the past few months we have been working hard on creating a new line of merchandise with a design completely unique to ASC. We are now delighted to be able to share the design with our members!

The inspiration for the design came from a photograph taken by ASC member Suzanne Faithful (correction, it was actually budding photographer, 12 year old Rory Faithfull!). The fantastic shot shows a packed start line from the record breaking Sunday of the 1st Weekend Series which saw 22 boats turn out for the races. The fleet was not only one of the biggest fleets seen for a club dinghy race in many years, but the biggest ever turn out for an ASC race!

We are delighted to be able to offer t-shirts, long sleeve t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts and a 1/4 zip in a variety of colour in both adult and kids sizes. The first run of merchandise will be done in time for Christmas delivery, so make sure you place your order by Sunday November 29th to avoid disappointment!

Should you miss the deadline do not worry! We will be doing another run at Easter and another in time for Summer and the racing season.

Purchasing ASC merchandise is a great way to support the club and allows us to keep our membership fees low and help the grow, develop and our members more!

If you are interested in purchasing our merchandise, please download out catalogue and order form, and send your order to abersochsailingclub@gmail.com by Sunday 29th November.

Happy shopping!

Unfortunately we have been at the mercy of the weather gods for the past two weeks meaning we have not been able to get on the water as much as we would have liked the last two weeks! The weather has claimed the last 2 midweek pursuit races, much to the disappointment of our sails after an incredibly successful first pursuit race in week one. We remain cautiously optimistic that this week’s will go ahead and with any luck, we might be able to catch up with a lost race!

Last weekend saw the inaugural Lockdown Trophy, a series created for one year only in place of the Abersoch Regatta, which was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. Saturday brought us gorgeous sunshine and plenty of heat – but not wind – meaning racing was cancelled for the day.

However, the sunshine did mean that the conditions were perfectly set for our mid-season socially-distanced prizegiving to celebrate the achievements of our sailors thus far. In the absence of our Commodore, our Vice-Commodore Ben Teague stepped in to hand out the honours (a posh way of saying mugs with sweets in!) which were greatly received by all.

The conditions drastically changed on Sunday with clouds, rain and big waves complimenting a lovely 13 knots of breeze for our 9 entrants. The day was dominated by Tony Taylor in his AC75 Laser Pico Race who took 3 wins from 3 races to finish in a commanding 1^st place. Ffion Wood also sailed brilliantly in testing condition and despite a thump on the head from the boom took 2 2^nd place finishes and a 3^rd place to come 2^nd overall in her Laser 4.7. Charlie Whittaker and Lucy Gates in their RS200 also snuck onto the podium in 3^rd place overall following a great 2^nd place finish in race 3.

This weekend saw the 3^rd Weekend Series up for grabs. Yet again, Saturday was lost to the wind gods. Sunday was a slightly different affair with a strong 15 knots of breeze providing some more challenging conditions for our sailors. Race 1 was convincingly won by Sarah Downes in her Laser 4.7 who mastered the conditions to finish ahead of husband Charles in 2^nd. Our VC Ben also managed to take his first top three finish of the season. Following a rare good start and an outstanding first beat, we were wondering whether he would finally replicate his form of past years. However, an obligatory capsize at the bottom dashed his hopes and he had to settle for 3^rd.

Race 2 was won by Charles followed by Jake Faithful in his Aero 5 and Ben in his Laser (despite another capsize!). Overall it was a weekend of Downes Domination with Charles taking 1^st place overall followed by Sarah in 2^nd. Jake Faithful also took a well deserved 3^rd place finish.

As always, a big thanks to Sue and Paul for all their efforts these past two weeks helping organise the racing. A big thank you to Christian Blanchard who kindly volunteered his time and rib to help out with safety cover last weekend too, we owe you a beer! We would also like to extend our gratitude to all the fantastic volunteers who have spent their evenings on the beach at high tide ensuring all the boats are pulled up and remain safe. I believe two boats were saved and pulled from the breakers before being pulled up the sand dunes to safety. Without your selfless efforts there would have been some upset faces on the beach the next day!

The ASC Team

(Jan, Ben, John, Joe, Andy, Georgia, Sue and Emma)

If a year ago you had said to us that the 2020 season might not happen due to a global pandemic, we would have presumed you had drunk too much on the bar crawl. Despite it looking rather touch and go as to whether we could hold any racing a few weeks ago, we are delighted the regulations allow it and cannot wait to get back on the water.

We usually like to say the coming season will be bigger and better than the last. This year we have to make an exception to this, however, we are determined to not allow it to knock the momentum ASC had gathered over the past 2 years.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to hold our hugely popular junior race training this year which will be missed by the club’s junior members. The same can be said about the social calendar, though the sore heads the morning after will certainly not be! The Long Distance Race has also been dropped from the programme this year, but will certainly resume in 2021.

Despite this, we still have a jam-packed August of sailing for our members to look forward to. We have retained all the weekend series, with the addition of the new Lockdown Trophy which runs over the weekend of August 15^th and 16^th, as well as the Wednesday afternoon series which last year saw a staggering 21 boats enter!

As always, we kick off the season with the 1^st Weekend Series on the 1^st and 2^nd August. Last year saw the Middleton family take home a 1, 2 with Ian winning in a D-Zero closely followed by son James in a Laser Radial. John and Alice Edwards rounded off the podium clinching third place following a race 4 win. Both day’s sailing starts at 2:00PM and are back-to-back races.

If you wish to sail, please remember to sign up via our new online booking system on WebCollect and familiarise yourself with the ASC COVID Risk Assessment before you hit the water. For more information please contact Andy Teague

There are also plenty of other prizes up for grabs. The Waddington Cup, awarded to the winner of the first race of the season, is to be hotly contested as always. Last year’s winner Ben Teague is unable to be in Abersoch for the opening weekend’s sailing meaning we might see a new name on the trophy for 2020. The novelty armbands, awarded to the first capsize of the season are also up for grabs. Our Commodore Jan Frickle took home the prize last year and will be keen not to repeat the feat this year!

ASC certainly have plenty to look forward to in 2021 and it certainly looks set to be a memorable socially distanced season!

The Friday night before the 3rd Weekend Series started, the annual ASC pub crawl took place in the Vaynol. Following the traditions set last year, the social was again a walk to the pub and crawl out of it rather than a visit to multiple destinations! The turnout was fantastic with just short of 40 members (that is half the club!) lining the Vaynol’s bar, manned by incoming Social Sec Georgia Panayi as well as sister Sophia. The night was thoroughly enjoyed by all, some more than others (we’re looking at you Jamie Teague), and the event will most certainly be back on the social calendar next year.

The following day saw 8 intrepid sailors hit the water. Gusts were at times north of 25 knots. We would have had more out had it not been for the annual pub crawl in the village the night before!! There have been calls to move the race to the afternoon next year following the pub crawl which I think will be a very good idea. Performance of the day goes to Bronwen Stuttaford sailing her Pico. In what must be the most challenging conditions she has ever sailed in managed to finish the first race. Joe and Ged Dickinson also had a great race and also found the conditions challenging. Nat Pritchard Jones in his Feva had a fantastic race with his mother Debbie as crew. Daft Debbie was determined to get the Kite flying but suffered from the sheets shredding her hands but had a smile a mile wide and said they had a great time. John Edwards single-handed in a Mirror Dinghy put us all to shame when he got to the windward mark and put up the kite!! Mike and Ali Casey finished one race even with a capsize.

Sunday 11th August saw the first-ever ASC long-distance race taking place. Despite a difficult Westerly offshore breeze, OOD Andy Teague set an exciting course spanning from the Islands to Llanbedrog head, incorporating plenty of exciting reaches much to the excitement of the 10 starters.

The race started in an unconventional manner with a Le Man-style start. All competitors had their boats in the water ready to go and with one big blast of the hooter, they were away! The lighter, shifty conditions close to the beach meant there was plenty of separation between the fleet by the first mark. Ian Middleton sailing a D-Zero and Charlie Ball in his Laser got away quick and established themselves a solid lead. They battled around the bay, however, Charlie came out on top by 42 seconds with Ian finishing in second place. However, the performance of the day has to go to Tom and Nat Pritchard-Jones in their RS Feva XL. In their first-ever ASC race (which also happened to be the first time, they had ever sailed together!), they took a fantastic third place!

The race also saw a hotly competitive battle between 3 RS200s which ended with all 3 boats finishing within 49 seconds of each other. John and Alice Edwards finished in 4th as the first RS200 whilst an incredible last beat saw Ben Teague and Ottie Pritchard (who was sailing an RS200 and an asymmetric boat for the first time) hunt down Mike Casey and Mark Lind, beating them by 7 seconds.

After the disappointment of last year with the race getting blown off, the first instalment of the ASC Long-Distance Race was one to be remembered and was enjoyed by all. Bring on next year!

Result can be found below:

2019 is our second season which started on the 27th July with the 1st Weekend Series.  There were 12 entries in this series, in which Ian Middleton came 1st showing there is life in the old man still, with his son James being beaten into second place.  John and Alice Edwards came third.  A special mention goes to Jan Frickel who won the first capsize of the season and also to Andy Panayi who took line honours in race 2.

Also more importantly it was great to sea Charles and Sarah Downes on the water.

The winner of the Waddington cup (winner of the first race of the season was Ben Teague.

The second Weekend Series had 11 entries and was won by Charles Downes.  Charlie Ball came second followed by Luke Mullholland in third who sailed extremely well.  Sarah Downes came 4th but did manage a podium place in race 3.

Mid week Series Race 1 and 2 will hopefully be raced sometime in the month.  However race 3 and 4 were sailed with Georgia Panayi taking 1st place in the first race followed by Ben Teague and then James and Ottie Pritchard in their rocket fuelled Topaz.  In the second race Team Pritchard came of the start line taking no prisoners and had 1st place in their sights.  The conditions for the midweek races saw many capsizes but everyone had a great sail.  Team Pritchard taking 1st place in the second race puts them in 2nd place with everything to play for, in the rest of the series.  There was controversy and a potential protest was muted by the bad loser Ben Teague when leading had to avoid Luke when he fell out of his Laser which resulted in another capsize to which he felt robbed!!  of 1st place.  Never mind, has Ben mentioned he won the Waddington Cup!!

As the season unfolds we will continue to update you all.  In the meantime many thanks for your continued support.  It has been great to see so many people support the club on the water and off the water.  Thanks goes to all who have been on the Patrol boats and been Race Officer.  Special thanks to Chris Hunt in the first Week for his help.

Today as I write this it is very windy here in Abersoch with the forcast of 40mph winds however we have managed to clean the Ribs down ready for another week of fun on the water.