Weekend August 9-10th - Summer Series?
Saturday 35 Knots and rain! Reaching start from the box so not too far to go. David Colebrook left the beach but returned in short order. The first mark was SW Pilsey, theoretically a gybe. Robin fell in and so did Bill Ingram who occupied the rescue boat for a good 20 mins  Nick, followed by Barry and Chris Powles, set off for East Head. Chris fell in and as Barry rounded the mark his kicker exploded. Ted was desperately trying not to hit East Head and was last seen tacking downwind to Astra. Trevor fell in twice at East Head and eventually followed Barry back home, where they passed Robin still plugging along having only just got himself sorted. Nick returned in fair order and was shortened at SW Pilsey. Ted who was a quite a bit later, carried onto Channel where he was eventually informed by the rescue boat that the race was shortened. After tea, Robin was observed finishing in 3rd place, albeit with a large hole in his sail
Sunday, Same again and 5 Solos ran down to the start at East Head! Only Nick and Tony started on time, Barry, Ted and James Gaskell having had a few problems getting there!. First mark Sandy, with the fleet very well spread out, where Ted and James decided it was a rather an unequal struggle against the waves. Running back to East Head, Nick fell in and then Tony, who had to be rescued by Frank and somehow lost a large piece of gunwale in the process. Next it was a beat up to Freddie Brooks and  back to East Head and the finish - and then it was another long beat home for Nick and Barry

Weekend August 2nd-3rd
Mengham had an Open Meeting for Solos - 5 races in all the which a lot of the club boats did not wish to do. They had 12 entered and were a bit miffed when a similar number turned up on our Club line. Nick won this event with George 4th and Barry 6th.
Saturday Club race and Chris Powell beat Tony with Peter Hickson in 3rd Place.
On Sunday, the weather was even more dismal than Saturday and only 4 boats bothered to brave the drizzle. Finishing order here was Tony, Chris Powell, James Gaskell and Ted

Weekend July 26th-27th
Saturday was a nice day with 19 boats on the line. Chris Powell was 1st from Nick and then Tim
Sunday had similar weather and 15 boats out. The start, which was somewhat confusing, was by Runway and the first mark Calvert i.e. the Winner bank was in the way! David Biddle tried the novel idea of going north round the bank but found that he had very little water which was going very fast against him.  Tim was first but was soon overtaken by Nick. Jerry Hack climbed up past Mike Brown and Chris Powell to finish 3rd

DELL QUAY DASH Tuesday, July 22nd. Run in conjunction with the Social Sailing Section, this is always a popular event and this year, summer actually started on the day! The 10 Solos, and Sheila Penfold in her Laser, had a gentle westerly which immediately shifted to negate the carefully planned beat back from Dunes to SW Pilsey before the long run to Dell Quay via East Head. This latter was just to keep everyone off the Stocker Bank. For no apparent reason, Keith managed to roll into windward rounding East Head and Ant Penfold kindly stood by, being the next person in line, until Mutoli turned around and came back to supervise. Despite the boat turtling, Keith seemed to lose very little time.  There were a few interesting planing puffs going through Itchenor but then it was back to a dead run up to the finish. David Colebrook, having started first, maintained his lead all the way and Tim, starting last, remained here  - there being very little room for any maneuvering. After the usual, very welcome lunch, sitting in the brilliant sun, it was the long slog back up wind. A few boats tried a gate start just for fun!
Thanks to Doreen for her organisation and to Jean and Liz Sagues of Dell Quay who did all the hard work and were awarded with a bottle and box of choccies in appreciation of their efforts.
The slight profit made on the lunches was to be donated by Dell Quay to the Harbour Trust,

Weekend July 19-20th.  Report from Nick Rawlings:-
I won at MRSC Regatta on Sunday, Peter Hickson was second and Bill Shepherd was third. Dave Sayce got bashed into before the start by Paddy - big bang - lots of shouting - and then capsized at the gybe and went home. Tim Randall elected to "do some decorating" !!
Nick Webb turned up for the club race.
Tim was RO on Saturday. Only 4 entries. I won; Chris Powles - 2, Ted - 3 and Robin Gadd - 4.
Both days - “shampoo sailing” - windy, sunny and warm. Bad weekend to miss!
 

Weekend July 12 -13th. Saturday was still blowing about 18 knots which tempted out only 14 Solos. Nick was in his element again followed by Tim. After battling all around the course, Anthony finally stayed in front of Barry for the finish. Ted Gadd’s son, Robin, was out today in the boat that Ted has rebuilt for him in the garage. He was not last
In the evening we all went round to Sheila and Anthony’s house and greatly admired their water frontage. We retired indoors before the rain started. A very pleasant evening - with a quiz at the end won by George and Fiona who are apparently renowned in their local for doing just this. Their prize was a large bag of Anthony’s runner beans and a box of choccies which they kindly shared.
Sunday, and there was so little wind that there had to be a postponement for an hour! After the start, David Biddle went up the correct side, making the most of the light and very shifty wind and arrived at Sandy first. He was shortly passed by Nick, Tim and the two Chrises, Powles 3rd and Powell 4th.

PENNANT SERIES 4 - Weekend of July 5-6.  Three boats went out on a lovely sunny day but, again, blowing about 25 knots. Nick , who says it was a glorious sail, came home first followed by Chris Powles and Ted Gadd. There were only about 12 club boats on the water in total this day!
Meanwhile at CYC OM about 12 boats finished the first race with David Sayce well up. We do not have any results as yet.
Sunday was a fierce 40 knots and everything was off! So the results for Saturday counted for the Pennant Series. This also means that Nick Webb, who had come down to continue the Trophy racing started on June 21st, has won the Fleet Handicap Cup.

Weekend June 28-29th was another  weekend with winds of 25 knots encouraging only the hardiest out to race. Sunday had 9 on the line and the finishers were Nick, David Sayce and Chris Powles.  However we do have the following report from David McGregor who ventured abroad :-

I thought you would like to know that I won the Nations Cup in Holland over the last three days. Although there was plenty of competition the strong winds on Saturday and Sunday played to my strengths and eventually I won 8 of the 9 races with one OCS. The event was wonderfully organised and the town of Workum is definitely worth a visit. The Dutch hosts laid on some great social events and watching the European Championship Final with over 300 miserable Germans made the long trip more even more worthwhile. Sailing on the Ijsselmeer is similar to Chichester Harbour without the tide. Very hard work upwind but fantastic surfing on the reaches and runs. Hopefully there will be some great photos.

Well done David!

He is hoping to get to CYC this weekend

PENNANT SERIES 3 - June 21st -22nd and Personal Handicap Race.
 Saturday was a nice day with a fresh breeze of 12-15 knots which tempted out 20 starters. Nick won this followed by Tony and George. However, Nick Webb who actually finished in 15th position was deemed to have won this race on his handicap. . He was not, however, able to come for the racing the following day
Sunday and 30 knots kept most of the fleet on shore although it was a brilliantly sunny day. James Gaskell was the first to retire winded and Barry came back after the first race. This left David McGregor and Nick battling round with David taking first in both races. George fell over, had to be assisted upright and came home in bits but OK. Chris Powles finished third in both races so these produced the overall finishing results.
 IT IS HOPED TO RUN THE HANDICAP RACING AGAIN IN MORE CLEMENT WEATHER DURING PENNANT SERIES 4, ON JULY 5TH-6TH

Saturday 14th June.  A sunny day with a nice westerly and clouds looming over the hills brought about a rather strong sea breeze - just as the RO was about to set his course out by Calvert. This put the first mark out towards the Pole sands and by the time the fleet reached it - after a general recall and one capsize on the line - it was blowing 20 knots with matching lumpy seas. George was first round  followed by Nick. Rather a lot further down the fleet Jane failed to bear off properly and with a gust and a big wave rolled in rather sharply. Just behind,  Jo, who went on to finish the race, later remarked that the backwards somersault off the gunwale was quite spectacular. Ted also had to keep clear round here and went over a bit too far before gybing and capsizing in the rough. There was a certain amount of confusion at East Head when Ken Tomlins decided to round it in the opposing direction just as the rest of the fleet were gybing. Nick eventually passed George and the race finished after one lap
Sunday and after an hours postponement the Sea breeze came in but not very strongly as the sun went in and it was very cold! Racing was outside in Bracklesham Bay and as the tide was ebbing it paid to go right - and then over stand the mark for the first time around . Those who didn’t do the latter ended up in a raft . Bill Shepherd was 1st round followed by Tim and Jane.  On the second beat, Tony went way over into the tide and arrived at the mark 2nd to Tim with Jane battling with Peter Best for 3rd. Next time at the CB there was some confusion and places were lost as the blue pin mark had been moved from the port side(?) to the starboard side, although apparently there was no need to go through the gate anyhow! By now Nick was powering up the fleet and overtook Tony and David Moseley who finished 3rd and 4th. Chris Powell put his engine on for the last lap and worked up to finish 6th behind Bill.

Saturday 7th June and the start of the Summer Series An Olympic course was set for the 21 starters over the Pilsey Sands in a very fluky NW wind. Two boats were well away at the start - Nick and David Sayce, with Barry leading the rest of the fleet - momentarily. Tim soon worked his way up, passing Nick, to finish in 2nd place behind David.
Gerald was out in his new (to him) boat as also was Nick Webb, a new member to the fleet.
Sunday and the racing was outside in Bracklesham Bay with the start opposite the new Bar Beacon Pole (as opposed to the new West Pole Beacon - Tripod!) 19 boats raced in a fluky N wind, the sea breeze plonking in smartly at 2.00pm. At the end of the first lap, Tim Dickinson, in Steph’s boat, was in the lead but, unfortunately, had to return home for a prior appointment.! This left Nick and Ken Tomlins to battle round the final five laps. George eventually cleared the pack and ended up in 3rd place behind Ken with Nick 1st. Donald deserves a mention here for completing all 6 laps outside. Cliff, out is his very new boat was getting the hang of it by its second outing.

We have some new Mug Shots and also an interesting one that you may care to peruse on :--- Fleet Officers.  All photography by Ted Gadd