News archive

The RYA Windsurfing North/Midlands Zone Squad Training tookplace at Beaver SC on the weekend of 9th/10th December 2017.

Due to the forecast snow on Sunday 10th the organisers decided to hold only the Saturday session. Despite the RYA’s preference that sessions be completed in all weather, the view this time was to ensure that no-one was put at risk when travelling.

Conditions on Saturday were generally good with light to moderate winds but very low temperatures. Water temperature was undoubtedly icy and these brave young participants deserve all credit for taking part.

Best wishes at your next meet.

From the RYA site:

Generally the RYA policy is to run zone squad weekends whatever the weather given the coaches have plenty of material to cover if it is unsuitable to go afloat. Should we cancel a weekend it is quite possible that we will be unable to re-schedule due to the logistics of reorganising weekends . (Clubs, sailors, coaches, Class calendars and RIBS etc

See also RYA profiling.

 

Beaver Sailing Club Annual General Meeting took place at the Club on Saturday 25th November at 11 am.

The meeting covered election of officers, treasurer’s report, adoption of accounts and other business specified in the agenda.

The meeting was well attended by members and after hearing the reports, new officers were elected by show of hands. A healthy post AGM Question Time was held and a number of matters were raised for discussion by the new Committee. Minutes will be posted on the Club notice board in due course.

Agenda

 

For information, a copy of the Club’s constitution can be read here.   

Beaver SC hosted the RYA Optimist North Zone Squad training over the weekend of 11th/12th November.

There were thirteen boats taking part and there was much enthusiasm from the young sailors (and their supporting friends and family). Winds on the first day were gentle with the odd gusty patch but otherwise they all settled in quickly to their training. In the afternoon one or two began to feel tired from too much concentration.

On the second day there were a more challenging set of conditions. Although sunny and bright with a more or less cloudless sky winds were strong with gusts around 30mph. Needless to say there was the odd capsize and those concerned quickly realised how cold Beaver waters are in November. These young sailors acquitted themselves well and responded positively to their trainers.

Beaver Sailing Club is delighted to have been host to this event.

Some photos here      

Thinking of starting sailing or windsurfing? Already sail or windsurf? If you sign up for new membership of Beaver Sailing Club between now and 28th February 2018 the fee is reduced by 1/3rd.

The fee will be only £143 for ordinary membership (any person 23 or over at 1 March 2017). This would include your partner and any children not yet 23. There’s a one-off joining fee of £40 plus a one-off fee for an entry key.

The application form is downloadable Membership form 2017 – residual period (Oct 2017 to Feb 2018 inc. Any questions about membership, please contact the Membership Secretary Quentin Tupper at membership@beaversc.co.uk

To meet someone face to face and discuss how to get started sailing there are always members present at the Club on Sunday race days from around 10.30/11.00 am.

We look forward to seeing you.

Even in the earliest days of dinghy sailing the keen racers quickly learned that some classes in a mixed  race fared better than others over a given course – assuming relatively equal skill of sailor.

Why not just compete against your own class? Good point. Perhaps the numbers were not large enough initially to sail by class but whatever the reason Mr Stanley Milledge in 1947, at Langstone Sailing Club, devised a handicap system using a base of 100 and eventually produced a set of tables (Langstone Tables) for clubs to use. Anyone who does race officer duty interested enough, take a look [here]. And you thought the latest formula calculation was difficult!

In 1952 Milledge created the Portsmouth Yardstick – a tool for converting elapsed time to corrected time based on a handicap number. In 1960 he handed over administration to the RYA and in 1976 a new format was used. The base number for calculation was 1000 (to accommodate the growing number of classes) so that a fast boat e.g. Dart 15 is set below the baseline at 931 and a Laser, being slower than a Dart, is set at 1097.

The sequence of events mapping the development of the PY rating system to its present day use can be viewed on this RYA chart

The RYA’s guide notes on how PY works, current listings, how racing clubs should feed into it and racing instructions can be found on the RYA site at this link ; http://www.rya.org.uk/racing/Pages/portsmouthyardstick.aspx

How much does any of this matter to Beaver sailors? Most of us will not know our PY rating by memory and generally, depending on our boat, we are simply aware that we have to lap other classes or beat them by a certain distance or a number of markers to stand a chance. Other less experienced sailors won’t even be aware of a PY rating and will commonly wait to see the published race results to see where they were placed.

On occasion there’s talk of one boat having a favourable handicap. Some sailors will even opt for such boat to ensure they win. The fact is that the same situation may not exist in another club which sails under a differing set of conditions. At Beaver we are an inland lake of relatively undisturbed water with a couple of prevailing wind directions. A shore based sailing club subjected to tides, waves, currents and sea breezes might favour the faster boats.

For the PY system to work well it needs feedback data from as many racing clubs as possible to average out the rating across a set of conditions. Unfortunately the RYA does not get as many clubs as it would wish making contribution. The outcome can then be dynamically changed or not so, depending on how those few contributing clubs perform.

So is the system fair still? Allowance is already made in handicapping for different sail types within class e.g. Laser Radial, Streaker wave, Topper 4.2 etc. Should it also account for sailor competency so that we each have an individual club handicap? We might feel frustration when we’ve sailed our utmost best only to be placed behind a sailor of a more favoured handicap who we feel is not as competent.

After 65 years of use and with so many classes of boat it’s a tried and tested method. Nothing’s ever perfect especially when dealing with so many variables of application (club conditions, sailor competency, data feedback). In the end it only makes us grind our teeth when we participate in handicap racing. When we race in our own class we can only cuss our own mistakes if we do badly and sing our praises when we do well.

So with PY rating well established most sailors racing handicap will nod to it as being acceptable (but with some boats having a more favourable handicap).

 

Martin Ibbotson, a strong, tall, silent type not known for his excesses and often seen gathering firewood for his log burner, recently made a brave step out of his comfort zone. It could be argued that he moved out of an uncomfortable zone by ending his Streaker sailing days. A tadge over the weight and height limit for that racy little dinghy, Martin was severely disadvantaged in lighter winds.

Big boys need big boats and what more appropriate than a Finn. Not exactly sleek in its looks but the boat of choice by international squads, this sturdy hull is capable of high achievement. A rare sight at Beaver SC and with its PY rating of 1045 it has to be well managed to win a handicap race.

On that note and as if to prove a point just cutting his teeth, Martin indeed won the second handicap race on Sunday 17th. Well sailed Mr Ibbotson. Sorry to see your little wooden Streaker up for sale on the Club’s board but if you keep up the winning results we may find a few others wanting a Finn.