Sussex Sailing Banter

As I sit and look at winds of 15 - 20 knots from the North West and clearing skies as forecast, am I alone in thinking that the decision to abandon the Christmas Cracker 4 race was taken rather prematurely?

I'll be there

Sorry I couldn't make the Single Handed this year as I was away. I'd be up for a re-run if it were to happen as I always enjoy racing Kingfisher even though I don't stand a chance against your handicap Jan!

Good for you David. Kingfisher will also be patronising SHYC (and Moonlight Saunter under the gin pennant!)

Thank you very much for that Godfrey. I'm sorry but I didn't see your initial response.

I think the splitting of the fleets as you suggest has real merit and is something I would like to try out probably from Summer Series 2. (It's too late for race 1 and David from Keltic C is OOD so that's one less for the PY1000+ fleet!)

I will obviously make a formal announcement as soon as the final decision on format has been taken.

Thanks once again for your ideas, please keep them coming.

Thanks for your comments Ben.

I was beginning to think everyone had taken a vow of silence on this one.

Is there anyone else out there with a view on this?

At the last Keelboat AGM it was stated that some of the smaller boats in the club no longer turned out for races as they felt they were not able to compete with the faster boats in the fleet.

As a result of this the Keelboat Committee agreed to look at the possibility of splitting the fleet for the Summer Series and offering different courses for the boats rating (for example) PY1000 and above.

This division will only work if sufficient 'slower' boats are interested in racing the Summer Series so my question is simple: Which boats out there would be interested in competing in such a series?

The start time for the Summer Series 2 race on the 10 June is 1110 as shown in the Keelboat Racing Handbook.
It would appear that there was a mix-up at the time the fixture card was produced which resulted in the incorrect time being shown.
I have also corrected the events calendar on the SYC main site which was based on the original fixture card file.

I think a central organising committee is a must to ensure that lessons from previous regattas are carried forward to future events. Basing the regatta at one venue, no matter how attractive, would inevitably lead to the event going stale with the same boats turning up (and not turning up) each year. Surely the best of both worlds would be to centrally oversee the racing side of things  but alternate the venue to allow each club to put their own slant on the socials.