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Barnt Green Sailing Club - Laser + Radial + 4.7   

 

Laser Fleet Autumn / Winter Newsletter 2006

 

So the end of another season.  Time for many to lay up the boat, put the feet up (after the working parties of course) and look forward to the winter festivities.  For the hardy there is the frostbite series and with global warming who knows, there may even be sailing days when the temperature remains above freezing throughout the whole race!

 

This year has been highlighted by significant growth in our fleet with several newcomers at the beginning of the season now becoming seasoned campaigners.  It has also been marked by some of the previous year’s sailors being distracted from regular appearances for a variety of reasons: work; university; injury or other sailing activities.  One of the main sailing distractions has been our attendance at open meetings and trials and we have had several representatives out on the circuit this year.  While we miss seeing you at the club, you are excellent ambassadors for us and congratulations on sailing regularly at the standard needed for open competitions.

 

Turning to our own Barnt Green waters, the season has had mixed weather with light winds during the summer punctuated by one race in particular when there was a solid force 5 with occasional stronger gusts.  Even our duo of rescue boats could not get around all the upturned boats when more than half the total compliment were on their sides!  For those who participated in the second race, it was real white-knuckle excitement and the winner seemed to be the one who capsized the least!

 

I can’t let this season pass without a specific mention of the new fleet members.  Welcome if you’re new to Laser sailing.  It is really good to see the different sail sizes on the water. The 4.7 provides an excellent entry point to the class especially in higher winds when the full rig can be quite a handful, particularly down wind.  The Radial with its excellent cut and lower centre of pressure is very little slower then the full rig and in competent hands (mentioning no names) can actually be faster than the full rig, especially in a blow.  In the class this year we had 5 - 4.7s, 6 - Radials, 9 - Full Rigs and (according to the handicap results) 10 undecided!  It just shows how much effort it takes to be OOD and keep all the results separate and correctly timed and we must be one of the fleets where we rely on the OOD to weigh or results.  So a proper thanks from all the Laser fleet to each of you who have taken on club duties and helped the three parts of our fleet have such enjoyable racing.

 

Finally, the sailing tip for the winter.  It was going to be something about remembering to put the bung in before starting or to sign-on before starting a race.  However, those who had that experience may have learned from it so a gentle hint may not be necessary!  I instead, a brief tip from the National Coach which is very applicable at all levels but especially to those just starting.  In a blow, it’s better to start with the sail too tight than be swimming round the boat at the start wondering if you can tighten something up a bit more.  So if the weather looks a bit frisky, start with the outhaul tight, the cunningham hard in and the kicker so tight that the boom just clears the top of the transom (block-to-block on the mainsheet pulleys).  Like this, the boat will be at its most controllable. It won’t necessarily be very fast but it’s much less likely to take you swimming and it’s always easier to slacken off something to make the sail fuller for more speed than vice versa.

 

Oh try as I might, I’d better just mention, for the really hardy, the frostbite series is now underway and the first start is 11:00 on Sundays.  The Snowflake series will start in early January 2007 with a massed start of all fleets at 11.00, again, on Sundays.  More details will follow soon.

 

Your Laser scribe,

 

Cassandra

Laser Class Report Spring & Summer 2006

I’m afraid that the contents of this report may be a little thin this time due to our normal scribe being on the injury list and I have been away doing the Midland Grand Prix Open Meetings. It has been an interesting experience to compare other clubs with our own. I have to say that I think we are one of the best that I have seen so far.

Our own Open meeting was a resounding success with 25 boats on the water, 19 of whom were guests, all this despite a pretty poor wind forecast. Congratulations to Kelsey Suggitt best youth, best lady and best Barnt Green boat.   Here's a picture of her from 2005 showing off her Euphony sponsorship.

A special welcome to the new members of the fleet and although I probably haven’t crossed tacks with you yet, I hope you are enjoying your sailing as much as I am.

As a final observation, On a recent Monday evening I sat and watched Mandy’s Lady Sailors. How nice it was to see 5 Lasers out and all making excellent progress in the strong winds. I hope we will see more of you chasing the regulars around the lake on Sundays and Wednesday evenings.

 

Laser - The Worlds Favourite Sailboats Online  -  THE LASER CENTRE

We still need a website sponsor for the Laser class.  The Laser centre have been approached but have not responded.  Do any members have any ideas about who might like to sponsor the Laser section of sailingbarntgreen.com?

 Please contact Webmaster if you do, thank you.

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