Datchet Saturday 7 February

[Erling]

3 or 4 boats from Shanklin have ferries booked.

[Gordon]

I'll be there and George and Keith Chidwick say they're going.

Never sailed at Datchet before and I live 20 minutes away. Looking forward.

Gordon

[Steve Sawford]

Oh Yes I`ll be there

[Bob Carter]

Just to let you know I spoke to Datchet this week and they are looking forward to welcoming us on Saturday.

It would be great if we can get 10 plus boats, the wind is looking like 15 to 17 mph / 11 to 15 knots which would be great for a blast.

Paul

Hi Paul,
Have you told someone that they will be required to write the report? You would be my selection
It works much better if the person knows ahead of time that it is their job. That way they watch out for things to report
It is not our first open meeting at Datchet. We had an event or two there in the 1990s. It is good to study the sailing instructions carefully. One time we visited there they set the finish line off to one side of the course so you had to sail off the normal lap to finish once the course shortening was displayed. William Howden was a country mile ahead in the race but he failed to sail off to finish. He consequently sailed an unnecessary last (extra) lap and went from 1st to last place.

[Bob Carter]

PS. Have fun.
Cheers
Bob

[pegums]

early start for me tomorrow, will pick up boat at 9, should be leaving Oxford by 9 so hopefully at Datchet for 10, will be ready for coffee and bacon sammy by then, forecast looks good, see you all tomorrow
stew
All that Jazz
1918

[Paul Craft]

Hi All

Numbers look great, we could get around 15 boats, and the wind is still showing 16 to 20 mph and a barmy 6 degrees.

Hi Bob
Thanks for the heads up regarding the sailing instructions; I think Barry is race officer so we should be ok.

With regards to the report, I was going see if I can twist the chairman’s arm for our first visit since the millennium, he does live locally and has never been.

Wish me luck twisting his arm.

Paul

[Andy B]

It's going to be a no show from the Bunyan's unfortunately as a wheel bearing has just expired on our trailer on the drive back to my house from Stewartby to be ready for the morning
Have fun guys.

[Kevin Dutch]

I'm thinking about popping up to spectate.

[Bob Carter]

Hi Bob
With regards to the report, I was going see if I can twist the chairman’s arm for our first visit since the millennium, he does live locally and has never been.

Wish me luck twisting his arm.

Paul

Good show. He must need something to do now he has retired.
Cheers
Bob

[George Stephen]

My first Traveller since Stewartby 2013. Good to be back , better to have been welcomed back , great for it to have been at Datchet - not 'cos Datchet is close to Queen Mary but because Datchet is such a nice Club (unless the wind is broadly southerly and medium+, when the concrete beach looks to be boat unfriendly!) Really nice people , well run races , they seem happy to have hosted the event and it looks like we could be back next year!

I think there were 15 of us, so a shame that Team Bunyan couldn't get to Datchet, but what happened to Team Finch - I thought they were coming too.

Well done Stuart Snell, Steve Sawford and Paul Grattage (in that order, so Paul clearly has to get some more experience on his spanking new 2018 to sail it really fast!).

[Liam]

Alan's pictures are on the site at

http://www.sprint15.com/pics/viewer.php ... 72&stage=2

Will email some to the writer of the report. Am looking forward to reading it. There may be discussion of the "when boats meet" section of the rules. I hope he doesn't bare a grudge against anybody.

[George Stephen]

Alan's pictures are on the site at

http://www.sprint15.com/pics/viewer.php ... 72&stage=2

Will email some to the writer of the report. Am looking forward to reading it. There may be discussion of the "when boats meet" section of the rules. I hope he doesn't bare a grudge against anybody.

It's a shame that Alan didn't manage to hitch a ride on one of the ribs - when taking pictures from the shore of a big pond the results tend to lose definition in "grey" conditions, however good the telephoto element of the lens used.

As regards "when boats meet", I would like to thank my fellow competitors for giving me loads of room most of the time, and for their impeccable sailing when we were in close quarters - I hope they can say my rusty sailing showed similar observance for the rules.

[Liam]

Results:

Rank Sail Club Helmsman Race 1 Race 2 Points
1 2016 Grafham Stuart Snell 1 1 2
2 1733 Rutland Steve Sawford 2 2 4
3 2018 Shanklin Paul Grattage 4 3 7
4 1594 Queen Mary George Stephen 3 4 7
5 67 Worthing Paul Craft 7 6 13
6 1351 RYA Robert England 5 9 14
7 1957 Shanklin Liam Thom 6 8 14
8 1267 Thorpe Bay Howard Hawkes 13 5 18
9 1714 Netley David Groom 8 10 18
10 2007 Shanklin Erling Holmberg 12 7 19
11 1918 Oxford Stewart Pegum 9 12 21
12 1916 Shanklin Stuart Pierce 10 11 21
13 2004 Queen Mary Gordon Goldstone 11 14 25
14 1840 Queen Mary Keith Chidwick 14 13 27
15 1970 Oxford Simon Hare 15 15 30

[George Stephen]

Good to read the race report so promptly after the event.

Also that the reporter was too far away to have seen my boat handling error that enabled Paul to overtake me at the start of the last fetch to the finish of the second race! If he had been closer I might not have got his very kind mention - instead it would have been oh so tempting to say it showed how out of practice I was....... I am still kicking myself, because I had previously been able to hold Paul off more than once on that leg.....