Peter will be known to many of you as an active member of the Flying Fifteen fleet. He maintains a keen interest in the organisation of the club and makes it his business, from time to time, to keep Council and Flag on their collective toes.

Despite the honour, we shall not be making any new concessions to him at the windward mark!

Race teams are mostly complete through to the end of June but there are one or two vacancies on our Committee Boats, as follows:

If you are able to help out on any of these dates, please inform the Office or mail Barry Wyatt. You may, of course, self-select your place on the race management team by logging on to DutyMan.

There are also several other vacancies in our race teams later in the summer: these will be posted here in due course – but you can always monitor the situation by accessing DutyMan yourself.

Previous experience of race management is not necessary – nor even any particular knowledge of racing. We’re happy to provide ‘on-the-job’ instruction and most recruits find the work interesting and enjoyable. You’ll certainly have one of the best seats in the house from which to observe the racing!

Barry Wyatt – Vice Commodore

The course is intended for those people involved in mark­‐laying for Open Meetings (now or in the future). It will cover:

• Mark-laying kit and procedures at GWSC
• Working with the Race Officer
• Use of GPS
• Signalling course changes
• Laying leeward gates

Part of the session will be onshore but most of the time will be spent on the water.
If you’re interested in participating, please contact David MaNamee (Safety Coordinator) or the office.

On Sunday, June 9th, when most of you were safely tucked up in bed, four members of the GWSC Rescue Fleet braved the summer chill and the attentions of a hundred or so maniacs who chose to immerse themselves in Marlow Bay (on the far side of Grafham Water from the club) in the first phase of a Triathlon. Close-quarter safety cover was provided by a fleet of canoes and kayaks – our RIBs were there as ‘base ships’ to ferry any casualties ashore. Fortunately, demand was low – but the Grafham Hi-Vis jackets provided a reassuring sight!

The exercise is due to be repeated on three more occasions through the summer – hopefully in rather higher temperatures than those prevailing this weekend.

46 Laser classes (mostly double-handed, but including single-handed Vagos and Vortexes – or should that be Vortices?) descended on Grafham for their annual open meeting over the weekend of June 8th-9th.

They enjoyed challenging racing in a 12-15 knot north-easterly breeze, though ‘flaming June’ was hardly an apt description of the temperatures, which had race management teams regretting the thermals they’d left at home!

Over the weekend, six races were sailed on  an ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ windward-leeward course configuration with separate starts for L2000s, L3000s / L4000s / L5000s and Vagos / Vortexes. Once the initial exhuberance of the L2000s had been quelled by use of a black flag, racing was slick, with minimum delay between starts.

At the end of the event, fleet winners were:

1st L2000 – Jasper & Laura Barnham (Snettisham Beach SC)

1st L3000 – Peter Heyes & Amy Adams (Wilsonian SC)

1st L4000 – Dave Marchant & Alayne Seymour (Grafham Water SC)

1st L5000 – Beth Matthews & Dan Ellis (Royal Plymouth YC)

1st Vago – Dave Baxter (Yorkshire Dales SC)

1st Vortex – Mike Gower (Wilsonian SC)

Download full results here.

These evenings are growing into a great event for anyone who is looking to develop their skills and take advantage of the free coaching, ample rescue cover, and assistance.

This week, for once, we had all the right ingredients for the 25 participants to enjoy a great evening sail. They took to the water in a range of boats including our first cruiser, Laser radials and 4.7, Pico, Dart 12 and 15, Vago, RS Vision, and Laser Stratos.

Due to the great conditions most joined in the “catch me if you can” pursuit which ran for 45 minutes and gave them a chance to explore more of the lake, whilst others just enjoyed the conditions and practised closer ashore.

The evening finished as usual with everyone gathering in the top bar where Lisa had another treat of either Boeuf Bourguignon or Chicken Kiev and everyone sat and chatted late into the evening much to the children’s delight!

Is this really an event you and your friends can afford to miss?

Grafham’s under-19 sailors achieved a creditable second place in the inaugural Grafham heat of the Cambridgeshire Youth Sailing League, which took place in close to ideal conditions on Saturday, June 1st. 34 boats in all took part, including six from GWSC.

In Saturday’s event, Daniel Wigmore scored a fine second place and Holly Dabson was placed 5th, taking home the first lady prize.

Ben Chapman placed 28th (and had the distinction of being the youngest competitor).

A Grafham boat took first or second in each of the three races!

Complete results here. You may download more event photos from the Fotoboat website!

NEXT EVENT 23rd JUNE AT ELY SC