The 2011 LSC Club Championship will be held over the Bank Holiday weekend, Sunday 29th and Monday 30th May starting at 11:00am. The format will comprise 4 races per day, 2 back-to-back in the morning and another 2 in the afternoon. Each race will have all boats on the same start and use the LCF Handicap system using average lap times, giving everyone a fair chance. Course lengths will be around 40 minutes for the lead boat.
Each day, conditions permitting, every course will be different and is likely to include trapezium, triangle, upwind/downwind and a new slalom course being trialled for the first time!
A briefing will be held at 10.30 each day .
Entry is free, but voluntary donations to the RNLI will be gratefully accepted.
End of Easter series
The first series of our sailing calendar 2011 has been blessed with summertime sunshine and rapidly rising sea temperatures. With 46 boats signed on at some point of the series, it has been an encouraging start for the season. The final results are available in the Results 2011 page.
If you take a close look at the results for the Easter series, you will notice that some sailors are awarded .5 of a point and sometimes .3 of a point. This is mostly due to the Sailwave software calculations including now the average points for duties. The slow fleet hasn't seen any major differences ("what would be the results if...") but some helms in the fast fleet benefitted from the new scheme of average points for duties. It shows what a positive impact this new initiative could have in the coming months.
Two evening talks were planned for the start of the season and the next one is due on Friday 13th May.
Friday 13th May: "Win races without sailing any faster" with Pete Matthews
Pete Matthews's talk starts at 7.30pm at the club and will be followed by food (Fish&Chips or pizza) and the bar will be open.
Pete has given talks at Lancing SC before, especially on how to handle Lancing beach. See Pete's notes in a .pdf format on this site. It might help to keep out of trouble.
Sea breeze presentation notes
On 20th April, Mike Croker explained the complex phenomenon of sea breeze in our location of Lancing and given a few tips on tactics to adopt according to the wind gradient. The slides for the presentation are now available on this site Sea Breeze presentation (2Mb), with Mike's annotations to make it easier to understand. If you need any further info, ask Mike Croker who will be happy to help.
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.
Update: a short video of some of the sailors in the first race is now on YouTube.
The first race of the Wednesday evening series 2011 will start at 7pm on 4th May. Join in and find a great way to unwind half-way through the week, with lovely sunsets, good sailing and excellent company! The bar is open and you can order Fish & Chips / Pizzas before going afloat. Can't be bad!
Our next big event on the water is the LSC Laser open, organised for Sunday 22nd May. David Trout, Laser Fleet captain and event coordinator, is keen to see as many Lancing Lasers as possible taking part. So, if you've promised yourself you'll start the sailing season soon, if you know your Laser is looking forlorn on its rack, this is a great incentive. David will be happy to help if your boat needs a facelift or if you need to brush up your skills.
If you are not a Laser sailor but would like to give a hand, your help is precious! David has pinned a grid with a list of helpers in the club foyer but seems to be short of a few names. Have a look and put your name down!
On Good Friday, almost twenty Lancing SC members took one look at the wall-to-wall sunshine and hopped on their bicycles for the traditional bike ride. Two years ago, we were soaked to the bone. Three years ago, we were fighting 25 knots of wind... Well, this year, all was forgiven as we enjoyed the most glorious ride to date. Of course, a few punctures slowed down the group but we weren't racing anyway. Riding offroad tends to take its toll on inner tubes.
Jan Hone had collected all the picnics when she dropped off Jerry in the morning and she delivered the bags to hungry cyclists at Southwater Country Park. We immediately colonised a good expanse of grass and soaked up the sunshine. After food, some of us went for a walk around the lake and others played in the children's play area. The call of the slides and zip wire was too strong to resist!
After an lovely ride back, we waved bye bye to the Shoreham people, off to sample the delights of the Red Lion beer festival. The remaining cyclists were invited for tea and cakes at Mike and Di's. Sitting in their pretty garden in the dappled sunshine, with good friends around can't be bad... Many thanks to everyone who joined and most special thanks to Mike and Di for welcoming us after the ride every year.
Photos of the event have been put together in a photo-gallery Bike Ride 2011, available on this site.
Complete novice or more experienced sailor, turn up on the day and we'll take you for a sail!
Come and enjoy dinghy sailing for a day! Many Lancing SC helms will be at the club from 12 noon to welcome visitors and share their passion for the sport.
Lancing SC can provide buoyancy aids but you will need to bring shoes you don't mind getting wet, a warm top and a towel. For more info, contact Isabelle on 01273 703512 or email webmaster@lancingsc.org.uk.
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!
On 20th April, Mike Croker explained the complex phenomenon of sea breeze in our location of Lancing and given a few tips on tactics to adopt according to the wind gradient. The slides for the presentation are now available on this site 
