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Colne Yacht Club Sailing Committee NewsTHE GOOD 2008 NEWS FROM YOUR SAILING COMMITTEE. This year our premier Cock Of The River Series will be raced in two divisions for two Cock of the River Trophies. Division One Up to and including Portsmouth Handicap Number 999. Division Two Portsmouth Handicap Number 1000 and above. The series will comprise seven races on Saturday mornings over the whole season from April to October held in conjunction with races in other series. However the season will actually start with a Spring Series, comprising six races in March and April on Saturdays with starts to suit the tides for the Sweet Charity Trophy. This series will be raced in one division. (This Series will include two Cock of the River Races) This will be followed by a Summer Series of eight races in May, June, July and August. Again on Saturday Mornings. For the Commodores lady Trophy. This series will be raced in one division. (This series will include three Cock of the River Races). To finish off the season we will have a six race autumn series in August, September and October on Saturdays, starts to suit the tides for the R. Bacon Challenge Trophy. This series will be raced in one division. (This series will include two Cock of the River Races) During the course of the season in conjunction with other Clubs and organizations we will run a Regatta series. This series will be made up of the extracted CYC competitor’s results from Rowhedge Regatta, Wallet Shield, Wivenhoe Town Regatta and the Cirdan Trust Regattas all for the Zeewolf Trophy. This series will be raced in one division. As in previous years we will be running a Pursuit Race series. This will comprise six races between March and August raced on Saturdays and Bank Holiday Mondays with start sequences to suit the tide. The French Marine Trophy will be awarded for this series. For those who would like to do something other than race round the cans between May and October some Passage races are scheduled. Destinations will be decided with regard to prevailing weather conditions and start times to facilitate the passage and a possible stop over. Consideration will be given in selecting destinations to competitors who may wish to return to Brightlingsea on the same day. Special Trophies will be awarded for each race. The Colne Yacht Clubs main event of the year will be its Regatta weekend over the 13th and 14th September. On Saturday 13th we will hold the Cruiser Regatta. This will comprise an AM Pursuit Race for The Laser Trophy followed in the PM with a Cruiser Handicap Race (One Division) for the Colne Oyster Trophy. The overall winner of the Regatta takes the Maltby Cup. This is an open event, all are welcome! For those members who have more time an ambition we recommend they try the Sail East Regattas under the IRC handicap system. These events are all shown on the programme. We hope that CYC will be well represented this year. Note that three out of the five week ends count towards the overall result. In their eightieth Anniversary year the Brightlingsea One Designs really made their presence felt. In Pyefleet week thirteen boats racing regularly and for the CYC regatta there was a hundred per cent turn out of fourteen boats. All the Class races were well supported and the competition was keen. 2008 should be even better! At least three restored wooden boats should put in an appearance and it is hoped that the first of the GRP boats Gretha will be joined by at least one other brand new plastic boat! The programme of races will follow last years successful format with Sunday Class racing equally divided between the BSC line and the CYC Batemans Tower line using a committee boat. Plus there will be Regatta races from the Colne line for Rowhedge, Wivenhoe, and Brightlingsea Regattas. Malcolm Goodwin's courses proved very successful and will be used again through out 2008. BOD skippers are often looking for crews so if you would like to try a BOD please contact Tom Sargeant, Mike Hempstead or Malcolm Goodwin or see the CYC website and notice board. After a successful 2007, Cadet sailing sessions continue through 2008 on Saturday Mornings from 09-00 to 13-00 hours for young members over nine years of age. Parent helpers are very welcome. This has all been so successful and popular that the Clubs resources are struggling to keep up with demand and for 2008 the number participating may have to be capped! For details Contact Glyn Cheesman. Do not forget to Book early for Cadet Activity week from the 4th to 8th August. This will be followed by Cadet Race Week 11th to 15th August, this year as a joint venture with the BSC. There will be other events through out the year including the AGM in January. Watch the web Site www.colne cadets.org for more information. Now the Club has a wide range of dinghies including several larger ones like Wayfarers there will be an opportunity to “have a go”, learn or come back to dinghy sailing. The Mutineers (adult dinghy sailors) who run the Cadet section will be offering experience and tuition for six Saturdays during the season. The boats will also be available to experienced and responsible members at other times. The Mutineers also sail on Wednesday evenings during the summer at 18-30 hours. If you would like to know more then contact Glyn Cheesman. It is of great regret to the Sailing Committee that the once popular Club activity of Cruising in Company (Both Power and Sail) has so dramatically declined! However a previous Cruiser Captain from the good old days, Michael Sherman of the Yacht Jane has once again offered his services to organize Cruising in Company to the many interesting and attractive marinas, moorings and anchorages around the Essex, Suffolk and Kent coasts. He will be happy to do the spadework necessary for successful Cruising in company over any weekend or bank holiday or even mid week for the luck retired! What you have to do if you fancy broadening your experience is to approach Michael, express an interest and then back him up with your attendance. Please contact Michael on 01206 298930. On the weekend of June 21st the Old Gaffers Association will be visiting and racing to and from Brightlingsea. The Colne Yacht Club is happy to once again host this event. The Colne Smack and Barge race will once again start from Batemans Tower line on Saturday 6th September. All CYC members with a sailing Yacht are warmly invited to take part in the CYC Racing Programme. There are a few simple requirements for you to enter your cruiser in Club races. 1. You will need third party insurance. If you are not lucky enough to have a sailing Yacht or would like to learn the ropes with an experienced racing Skipper, skippers of Cruisers and BOD’s are often looking for extra crews so the sailing committee will try to help by offering a crew wanted and available service. You don’t necessarily need lots of experience or strength to be a useful crew; you just need to enjoy getting cold and wet! So please contact Mike Hempstead or Tom Sargeant or find us on the Club Web Site and we will try and help. (By the way –if you fall out with a skipper we will try to find you a new one!). For the 2008 season we will run one handicap system for all CYC Cruiser races based initially on RYA or Byron published numbers up dated from last year to give us LOCAL PY NUMBERS! The Handicap Committee will review all qualifying competing yachts performance after each of our seasonal series and may adjust handicaps to for fill our remit to encourage newcomers and weaker performers rather than penalizing the successful. At any time they will consider written submissions from competitors. Up dated handicap list will be regularly post on the Club Notice board and web site. All the CYC races except pursuit races have an OOD duty skipper allocated on the programme and is the skippers sole responsibility to ensure that the task is carried out and the race elapsed times given to Alan Lee who will be preparing results reports in the Club and on the CYC web site. Average points will be awarded to the OOD appointed skipper for that race. Batemans Tower Key and OOD instructions are held by Tom Sargeant (01206 302035). Jan Spikesley has kindly offered to cover some OOD duties when asked nicely, if she is available. Any member who is not racing is always very welcome to Join the OOD team, Just Contact the member list as on duty or Tom Sargeant or just turn up at the Tower! It is almost as much fun as actually racing! We are pleased with this programme and we hope you will be to but even now changes and adjustments can be made, help us and the whole Club along, we are always prepared to listen and act for good causes and on good ideas! Good Sailing 2008. Tom Sargeant Chairman of the Sailing Committee. |
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