Racing Report Sunday 16th June – IOMs !!

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It was a simply stunning day at Datchet Water today – incredible bright light, with blue skies and B Rig breezes,… occasionally top-end!!

Given it was Father’s Day, we had a super One Metre turn out as well – nine competitors on the water and the camaraderie-index felt extremely high – a good time! It was nine competitors even though our fantastic leaders … and regular sailors…, PH and HM, were absent.

We have had good membership growth this year and interestingly it’s at both ends of the fleet – growth in the “superheroes” and also growth in the…. “Corinthian” …end of the fleet. It all made for great atmosphere and friendship.

Without HM and PH we were naturally a tad less organised. DL was our speaking start-clock for a few races while we sourced a race timer on somebody’s phone. I’d guess we put in five races before the break and maybe 7 races after – but I don’t think we were quite organised enough the record the scores and nobody seemed to mind today! Racing itself was in no way informal (!), but intensely competitive at all levels. Learned a lot, …speaking personally!!

We started the day on the south course, then a quick skippers meeting shifted the racing to the north course. We sailed the boats across, while walking across the beach chatting in small groups – great entertainment!

We did a couple of races on the north side and came to realise that there is more to this Race Officer and course laying lark than you might imagine – thank you Hugh for everything you do !! So we reverted to the south side again until end of session. It was a miracle that we didn’t need to get the RIB out!

I guess we don’t get to sail on our B Rigs all that often. (First time ever for me!!) We had great Datchet waves in the stiff SW breeze, so there was plenty to learn about tacking efficiently and surfing downwind in these conditions. NB brought along his new developmental IOM rudder … so we shall all have plenty to talk about at dinner parties for the next month or so!! Amazing – take a look if you can!

A great day out!!

Rig Fittings – How to Make Some of Your Own!!

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Most of us will have rig eyes, deck eyes, hooks, rings, loops, prodders and clips on our boats. One of my own favourites is this gorgeous sheet hook in the photo above.

I’ve always wondered if I should carry a little stock of such things in my toolbox for the day something goes wrong. That is assuming you can find anyone who sells exactly the right hook in sensible minimum quantities.

What about making your own? One always has to wonder what incredible expensive tools you would need. Well, in this case try typing “jewellery pliers” into Amazon and see what comes up. Really not expensive at all !!

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You can see that this pliers will allow you to bend three pre-determined sizes of curve into your wire. It’s about £12 on Amazon.

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If you want more variable size curve-making ability, this red handled one was about £8.

In both cases, you’ll want a good pair of snippers and regular pliers (to hold the wire as you bend it).

So where do you get the stainless steel wire?? Our friends at SailsEtc sell stainless wire in different diameters and, I think, in about 30cm straight lengths. If you want to do this, I suggest get several lengths of each chosen diameter in one order – just to make sense of post and packing costs.

Good to share something like this between a buddy or two, or just make sure that one or two people in the Club fleet have the kit to make what the fleet needs.

A Huge Thank You

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Datchet Radio Sailing have hosted two major National Championships over the last two weekends. Starting with the Marblehead Class on the 1st/2nd June followed by the 10Rater Class over the 8th/9th June. Both events were successful despite tricky wind directions and feedback from competitors both local and international has been extremely positive. The success of these events would not have come about without the hard work put in by DRS members and others, from Race Officer and team to boat crew to catering and clearing up the club presented itself exceptionally and over half of our members along with support from the main sailing club as well as a volunteer from Guildford club were involved in making this happen. A huge thank you to you all for all your efforts it is very much appreciated.