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In this issue
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A O & T regatta - 28th and 29th August
Would you believe it? The Bank Holiday weekend of August is nearly there and, with it, our traditional miniseries over the two days, the A&O. Except that, from this year, it's the A, O & T Regatta, as the Toppers are not included in the slow fleet any longer.
The fast fleet (PY 1079 and below) will compete for the Derek Atkins Trophy, the medium fleet, with a PY between 1080 and 1195 will try and win the Owen Memorial Shield while the Topper Plus fleet (everyone with a PY above 1196) will be awarded a trophy of their own. This evens out the competition as the Toppers used to race on the same course as the Lasers and, after a few laps, many were losing the will to live. Let's hope that the new arrangements will encourage more Toppers to enter the competition.
Here's a summary of the series:
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3 races per day 1 am 2 B2B pm.
- 3 fleets using PY. Fast, Med, Slow.
- Tri-Saus, inner course for slow fleet.
The guide for AO & T series is now available on this site. You'll find tips and advice provided for the Race Officers but useful to all competitors and well worth reading!
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Feva Team racing and Cobnor, sign up now!
Just like last year, Crawley Mariners YC are organising a great event on Saturday 10th September: a day of team racing and coaching with Tim Ellis, RYA coach. Both LSC youth Fevas are going to take part and we're looking for helms and crews to make up a team. If you're under 18, Georgi and Elodie will give you all the details. For more info, email topperfleet@lancingsc.org.uk.
Last year, Elodie had a brillant day and wrote her feedback in Anchorline, our newsletter.
Feva Fun
Team Racing is different approach to racing. It is very skilled and a lot of fun when you do it right! The aim of the game is to be able to get all of your team boats over the finish line before the other team.
On the 11th September, Ellie Mayes and I set off with the 2 club RS Fevas to Crawley Mariners base, Hedgecourt Lake. There was a briefing beforehand by Tim Ellis, an instructor from the RYA. He told us the basics and what course we had to do. Overall, there were enough bodies to fit into 6 Fevas.
In the afternoon, we had another briefing and we were arranged into 2 teams of three. That was when the racing started! There was a lot of close racing and good tactics (mostly using the rules against each other!) but after a few rain showers, capsizes and close encounters, we called it a day and headed in.
After a nice warm shower and all the boats packed away, there was a debrief including flapjacks and hot chocolate! A few prizes were handed out then the team racing was done for the day.
Ellie and some Crawley Mariners members said that it was a fun and successful day and they want to do another one sometime. If we get invited along again it would be good to see more youths getting involved and helping out.
Elodie Jackson
Topper Fleet Captain
Cobnor weekend in October
Crawley Mariners YC organises plenty of activities for their youth members, including residential sailing weekends twice a year, in Cobnor Activities Centre, and offers places to a few youths of our club. This time, the weekend is from 14th to 16th October and two places are for grabs! Arrive on the Friday evening, have a brilliant time and leave on Sunday afternoon, exhausted and loaded with smelly sailing kit - isn't that the recipe for a great weekend?
Plenty of Lancing SC youths have benefitted from the Cobnor weekends. For any details, feedback and general enthusiasm, please talk to Ellie, Maisie, Ella, Georgi, Katie, Elodie, etc. If you'd like to book a place, it's now or never. Diana Thompson from CMYC is gathering application forms and would like an answer before next week. Call Isabelle on 01273 703512 for an application form. A weekend worth every penny!
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Have-A-Go days
If you have missed the Have-A-Go day on 11th June or if you enjoyed it so much you would like to try again, come along to our next day on Saturday 20th August. The date has been chosen to coincide with the Shoreham Air Show, as the water off Lancing beach is the best place to be to appreciate the airplanes display.
Lancing Sailing Club will provide buoyancy aids but cannot guarantee to have wetsuits for everyone. Bring shoes you don't mind getting wet, a warm top, a change of clothes and a towel.
The club was buzzing on Saturday 11th June during Lancing SC Have-a-Go Day. Our careful preparation and advertising paid off as we welcomed many visitors all afternoon. Despite the odd capsize for some, all the would-be sailors had a great time and came back on the beach with large grins.
All visitors appreciated the club's friendliness and some took advantage of our promotional offer to become members. If you're a seasoned LSC member, don't forget to greet and help new faces!
For more info, please contact our sailing secretary Gary Austin on sailingsec@lancingsc.org.uk or call Isabelle on 01273 703512.
See you all there!
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Family Fun weekend
23 and 24 July
Saturday, there was very little wind - Sunday, there was a bit too much! On Saturday 23rd July, a fleet of Toppers and a Laser went out with RYA coach Tim Ellis to play all sorts of games and fun races on the water.
Picking up balls encouraged close-quarter manoeuvering and the occasional bruise. Tim went on to coach sailors during the afternoon, while others dug out some of the old surfboards. Equipped with paddles, those improvised rafts were the surprise element in the paddle race. Robin was the unlucky one, as his surfboard didn't have any kind of centreboard and kept rolling. The thumbs down shot in the gallery sums it all.
On Saturday night, we enjoyed the mild evening with a barbecue on the beach. Don in the bar made sure no one was thirsty and we all had a great time.
Lots of activities on the beach and in the club too, both days: treasure hunt, sandcastle building, tug-of-war, etc. delighted children and adults alike. Jade was one of our keenest participants and her dad Gavin gives us a brilliant feedback on our forum. A photo-gallery of the activities is available on this site. The images were mostly taken on the water; if you have any other picture you would like to share, please email it at photos@lancing.org.uk, thank you.
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Extreme conditions for Topper Open
It certainly didn't feel like July on Saturday 9th on the beach. With a steady WSW force 5 to 6, 30 Topper helms were watching the waves with a mixture of delight and apprehension. Three Lancing SC Toppers took their place on the start line but their unreefed sail proved to be too big for the conditions. A broken mast forced Elodie back to the beach half-way through the first lap, while Georgi and Isabelle battled the wind and waves to finish the first race. Georgi's injured finger took her to A&E for the afternoon and that was the end of our Topper helms for the day. To be honest, it was already quite a feat to finish a race.
Meanwhile, our visiting helms were battling away and, despite a vastly reduced fleet, William Scott from Island Barn took a very creditable victory in difficult conditions. Photos from mostly the afternoon race are put together in a gallery on this site.
All results on the Topper Open results in our Results 2011 page.
Laser Bonanza and Totally Topper Time
The two days dedicated to specific classes have gone exactly the same way: blown off, both of them!
On Sunday 17th July, David Trout was calling all Laser sailors to get their boats on the water. As Laser fleet captain, he was hoping to see as many Lasers as possible taking part in normal racing on the day. There were to be tips and advice for all, and coaching support for the more occasional sailors. Elodie and Georgi, our Topper people, were planning the same event on 12th June but, of course, the weather decided otherwise.
The Topper day will happen at some point this season. Because it doesn't really interfere with normal racing, the organisers will keep a close eye on the weather forecast and pick a good day with low tide; a few days before, all Topper sailors will be contacted by email / LSC forum. If you're not on our mailing list, please drop a line to Gary on lancingscnews@gmail.com and he will add your name to the list.
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Current 2011 Topper league results
The Topper league is regularly updated in the Results page, with a breakdown of points for each helm. Click on the graph to view the details. In the Topper league, helms in blue are competing for the Topper Novice Trophy.
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Midsummer series results
With four races per day, the Midsummer series gives Lancing SC helms plenty of opportunities to practice their starting technique, their mark rounding and ley-line judging, in all conditions. This year, the weather disrupted the smooth running of the series and a few races were blown off. However, the battle was fierce at the top, especially in the fast fleet, where Gary in his 700 beat Pete and Karen in their 500 only on countback. With the addition of three new RS100 at the club and Matt Carter putting on the pressure, the usual suspects (Jerry, Gary, Pete, etc.) will be kept on their toes if they want to keep winning!
In the Laser+ fleet, Jack maintained his first place throughout the whole series, despite Alan's efforts in his Streaker. In the Topper+, Elodie scored enough wins to clench the series, despite Angela's performance on the last Sunday. From July, sailors will resume racing in the AM Class Handicap in the morning and start the Summer PM series in the afternoon.
All results are regularly published on this website in the page Results 2011 and series descriptions are detailed in our Notice of race page.
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Perfect evening for the Hog Roast
What a beautiful evening that was! With wall-to-wall sunshine and a gentle breeze, that Saturday 2nd July really felt like summer. At 4pm, the first competitor in the pursuit race took the start, closely followed by an enthusiastic fleet. The Two RS 500 battled all the way through their allocated time and took the first two places. Later in the afternoon, the first hungry diners were seen drifting towards the enticing smell of the hog roast, which had been cooking since 10am. Derek, John and Jim, together with all the helpers, had taken tables on the beach and the club had the feel of a Greek taverna in the mellow sunset light. Penny Fewster kindly sent her beautiful photos. Have a look at the gallery of the hog Roast evening on this website.
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Lancing Sailing Club on Facebook
If you are a member of the social networking website Facebook, you can join the Lancing Sailing Club group. You don't need to be a LSC member to join the group, it's open to everyone. You get invites to parties and social events.
You can also upload your sailing photos for everyone to see. Scroll the list of group members and add them as your friends!
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