The annual Herne Bay St George Cup competition against Hampton Pier Yacht Club this year took place on the 19th August with the racing hosted by Herne Bay Sailing Club with a lovely tea hosted by Hampton Pier.
Despite poor visibility and heavy rain at noon, six Hampton Pier boats rigged and began the sail to the other end of Herne Bay to be met by seven Herne Bay boats. Richard, RO, set two handicap 45-minute races. The marks were set in a parallelogram shape, but to spice up the racing the competitors were to race from the start to mark 1 to 3 to 2 to 4 and then back past the start line. The additional challenge, however, turned out to be the wind (and perhaps the waves) as it swung between the pier and the clocktower. The first race was particularly close with exciting racing and all the fleet finishing within 10 minutes, despite the odd capsize or two. There was only 14 seconds separating first and second place on corrected time and the First place: Harry N (Hampton) Second place: Laurie Dengate and Jo Norrington (HBSC) Third place: Olaf Throndsen (HBSC). A couple of marks were moved for race 2 to compensate (partially) for the wind shifts, and then the racers were off again. First place: Laurie Dengate and Jo Norrington (HBSC) Second place: Harry N (Hampton) Third place: Olaf Throndsen (HBSC). The overall cup results were based on the top six boats from each fleet. Hampton won race 1 on low points and HBSC won race 2 on low points. Combining the results led to the St Georg'es Cup being awarded to Herne Bay SC. Harry N won the Youth Cup for the third year in a row. Everyone at HBSC enjoyed their afternoon sail, the camaraderie and excellent tea at Hampton Pier and many HBSC members finished a great day by attending the Herne Bay Jazz and Swing Fest. We look forward to next year's Cup. Quotes from the competitors: `Combined age of 94 beats 16 year old in endurance test'.
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The day after the Herne Bay pier anemometer recorded 39 knot gusts, the sea was very smooth at HBSC and the wind WSW to W, avering around 12mph but gusts to 25mph.
It was the annual short short course racing but with only three boats, probably due to the recent forecasts. There were 3 increasingly-shorter races (due to the tide) with Olaf and Graham taking turns at racing in Olaf's Laser Radial while the other helmed the Safety Boat with crew David. Laurie and Jo raced the 2000 and Lester raced his Radial. They all enjoyed the afternoon. Wind dropped during the afternoon, but was still gusty right to the end. The RO managed to get everyone off the water successfully (just!) by 1545h as low tide was 16.18h. Laurie and Jo were the winners. Congratulations to them and thanks from the sailors to those in the race tower and galley for sticking with it. Quotes from some of the sailors: I had a blast! It was fun! Nice afternoon sailing with a little bit of wind. The Pirates, Manta Rays, Sting Rays, Dolphins and Barracudas ready to go on the icecream cruise on the Wednesday morning: Clubweek 2019 started on Monday with beautiful weather and perfect wind, though we knew that we were not due to see the same on the Tuesday or the Wednesday. After a welcome briefing, the 51 5-17 years olds dispersed to rig their boats. Here are the Sting Rays, the younger new sailors, sailing in their Optibats: And here are the Manta Rays-ranging from new to sailing to able to sail but not a triangle--in their Picos and RS Teras, having a practice before playing Ben says... and demonstrating they can sail on one leg: Here are some Dolphins: And here are the Barracudas: The wind on day 2 was a bit more exciting and only the Sharks went a sailing: The wind on day 3 started nicely and some Sharks, Barracudas and Dolphins went out in 2s and 3s. However, the wind picked up and the Fevas were soon back on shore after falling over several times. Puffin, Salulso and a couple of powerboats took the little ones out for a ride while the 420s and the four-up Vision young sailors showed the adults how to reach in big seas and gusty weather: The final afternoon included racing for the keenest, litter picking for all and the Great Custard Pie challenge: A great three days enjoyed by all the children, the instructors and their assistants, the safety boat teams, the shore teams, galley teams and all the parents/guardians who got stuck in too. And finally also hopefully enjoyed by A and T, the organisers who did an amazing job. Thank you all. Comments from parents: Had the very best time!! Thankyou. Outstanding fun for both my son and I, with my wife wanting to be part of it next year as well. You are all a very welcoming bunch of people, thank you. Thursday saw five boats and a power boat head west for the annual clubweek cruise. By launch time the wind was dropping, as predicted, and the fleet went out past the old pier head in order to make the most of the tide and what little wind was left. Just after Hampton, the wind died and everyone turned around and headed for the Hampton beach for lunch. The wind never returned so the Wanderer and Humber towed everyone home after we had finished with our beers or ice creams.
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