Report by Mark Talbot, SBSC

It was an early start when you first heard the chinking of boats in the drizzle on Saturday morning. Some 14 children arrived ready to go. After some interesting board work on start lines while the wind ceased a little every one went to practise the theory on the water. Children worked hard to improve their starts and technique on the water. After a warming lunch only the hardiest stuck it out in the hardened winds to battle on short courses making the most of practising starts and rounding the marks.

 Sunday saw a brighter day with a remaining good strong wind which finally got the better of some of the novice sailors who had bravely gone out to give it a go! Well done to Annie Talbot, Sophie Talbot, Joe McCloskey and Alex MacFarlain. All racing was closely fought with excellent sailing. Will Taylor from Ardleigh found excellent downwind speed showing the importance of having adjustable kicker and outhaul and the ability to use them. George Cleary from Sutton Bingham was being quicker up the beats playing the wind shifts to his advantage.  Will finishing with first and George in second place. Flynn Davies from Burnham pushed hard at the start line –a little too far on occasions! With Ben Poe close on his heels. Anya Green from Porchester worked her way into 2^nd place and was very disappointed to have a capsize at that moment. Patrick Chapman, Ross Bickerton and Alexander Hutton all from Sutton Bingham, kept their positions through most of the racing and Chantelle Talbot was pleased to have sailed all four races in her first racing experience!

RESULTS: 1 Will Taylor, Ardleigh SC 2 George Cleary, SBSC 3 Flynn Davies, Burnham SC 4 Ben Poe SBSC 5 Anya Green, Porchester SC 6 Patrick Chapman, SBSC 7 Ross Bickerton, SBSC 8 Alexander Hutton, SBSC 9 Chantelle Talbot, SBSC 10 Sophie Talbot, SBSC 11= Alexander McFarlaine . Castle Cove SC11= Annie Talbot, SBSC 11= Joseph MacCloskey Castle Cove SC

On the Saturday we arrived at the sailing club at around 9.00 and began to rig our boats, it looked like it was going to be a good day as it was already very hot, others arrived as we were rigging such as Flynn Davies, Crispin and Hamish Beaumont and James Hutton-Penman, it was soon time for the briefing which Nick Hutton-Penman  was doing (he was our coach for the weekend) it was very light weather so we mainly focused on roll tacking and keeping the boat moving fast, the tide was very strong during the day proving to be a challenge for those who did not regularly sail in river or sea conditions. We were taught to go close inshore and do short tacks making a huge difference to those who attempted to sail across the middle of the river. We all gained a lot of light winds boat handling experience on the Saturday and were thoroughly prepared for another day of sailing, this time in race conditions.

 The Sunday started with a little more wind then the Saturday but it was still light winds so during the races I tried to keep my boat moving fast and put in as few tacks as possible aiming to gain ground on those who went to far into the even stronger tide, in the end we managed 1 race in the morning as there was not enough wind across the course to finish the second race. I won the first race but was closely followed over the line by James Hutton-Penman and Hamish Eckstean who finished 2^nd and 3^rd. We were all pleasantly surprised in the afternoon when the wind finally came out, it suddenly became very grey and very windy so that everyone was hiking hard, a few boats even went in but the racing was kept on, the next three races were a lot tougher with much stronger winds, James managed to win the second race with Flynn winning the third, the final race was battled for hard but James proved victorious once again sealing his first place overall position. It was tough conditions and we were forced to hike almost all of the way round the course tiring all the sailors out, after the 4 races there was a prize giving given by Richard Taylor, who also organised the weekend, for the Tera’s in which glass cups were handed out to every sailor that participated in the event and t-shirts were handed out to those that had come within the top 3 positions. This included me, James Hutton-Penman and Flynn Davies.

 Overall I think the weekend went very well with very good coaching from Nick and some good races run by John Hardy the race officer, even though the weather was giving him a hard time ( at one point the course had to be completely re-laid because of a 180 degree wind shift ).  Burnham Club provided a great welcome with excellent lunches and afternoon teas and superb organisation. As a bonus the weather was great for the spectators all weekend.

Joshua Aldridge 

Sailors from as far afield as Hampshire and the West Midlands gathered at the weekend for Burnham Sailing Club’s Feva and Tera ‘Train and Race’ Weekend. The Feva national coach, Niall Myatt, was on hand to put the crews through their paces and local RYA coach Nick Hutton-Penman took charge of the Teras.

With a near even split of Pro and Sport sails the Teras concentrated on perfecting their roll-tacking in the morning, followed by a longer session in the afternoon that covered racing starts and technique in near perfect sailing conditions. The hot sun saw sailors throwing off their aquafleeces and hopefully getting a taste of the sunny conditions to be had in July at Carnac for the Worlds. Parents were happy to see that everyone was coming off the water with great big grins plastered across their faces.

After a night of thunder and heavy rain the air was very close for the start of Sunday’s racing. After a briefing from BSC Commodore and Race Officer John Hardy the Tera fleet launched into slow conditions. Race 1 was completed with Josh Aldridge taking first place followed by James Hutton-Penman and Hamish Eckstein. Flynn Davies entertained onlookers by managing to capsize his Tera in airless conditions directly in front of the clubhouse.

 The second race started optimistically enough but soon saw the complete death of what small puffs of air there had been. With the tide ebbing out Tera sailors were soon heading back down the Crouch. After rounding the windward mark the back of the fleet picked up a small breeze and it looked for a moment as if they would overtake the front but the race officer’s hooter sounded to signal that the race was abandoned for lunch.

After filling up on pasta the Feva and Tera fleets headed out to make up for the slow start to the day’s racing. The new Race 2 saw alot more wind in the sails and James HP took first place and, (having discovered the benefits of staying upright) Flynn Davies took second followed by Josh Aldridge in third. Will Taylor repeated his success from the morning session coming in as first Sport sailor followed once again by Crispin Beaumont. The wind got up a bit stronger for Race 3 which was won by Flynn followed by James HP and Josh Aldridge in Pros and Will Taylor first  Sport sailor home with James Eales (making a promising start to his Tera racing) second.

Wind was at around 20mph for the last race of the day which made for some exciting sailing. First place went once again to James HP with Flynn second and Will Taylor edging ahead of Josh Aldridge to take third spot. A great weekend’s sailing came to an end and a big thank you goes to BSC coach Richard Taylor for organising the event.

Overall results were Pro – 1^st James Hutton-Penman, 2^nd Flynn Davies, 3^rd Josh Aldridge. Sport – 1^st Will Taylor, 2^nd – Crispin Beaumont, 3^rd – James Eales. Full results at http://www.burnhamsc.org/event_detail.asp?type=Results&id=724

Photos © Nigel Weetch

The RS Tera GBR Pro/Sport Squad weekend at Dover Sea Sport Centre started well with a long briefing from Jonathan Lewis. Then we set of into the light winds of the morning sail and sailing round the triangle sausage course.

We were focusing on boat handling skills. Jonathan told us to think of KIM

Keep

It

Moving

Especially in light wind

Sunday morning started with very light winds and beautiful sunshine, but the wind increased and the gusts were very strong. Both my mast and mainsail were damaged; you need less kicker in high wind !

All this training is for the Tera world Championships in Carnac, France. In July 2010.

So thank you to all the sailors (16 including me) who came from all over, even the Isle of Man and to all the organisers.

Oskar Bisset (Pro-sail Squad Member)

Burnham SC  Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, 5^th/6^th June

 Saturday 5th June – Tera Race Training

 Train with local RYA race coach Nick Hutton-Penman - all levels welcome. Entry £5, download entry form from Tera Website or contact Richard Taylor  at Burnham SC.  Please also see Event Poster and Entry Form on our website Library page

 Sunday 6^th June – Tera Race Open

 Registration 9.00am, First race 10.30 am, 4 races total.  Entry £10, download entry form from Tera Website.  

 Any queries please contact Richard Taylor (Burnham SC) or visit Burnham SC website (full details of the weekend can be found under the Sailing tab)

 Please also see Burnham SC Tera Train and Race Event Poster and Entry Form on our website Library page